Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Concerto de Aranjuez - Who has the best Performance
I am up here at 2am in the morning on YouTube checking out the performance of Narciso Yepes playing the Aranjuez Concerto and just wondered who pleased Rodrigo the most with his/her performance! I have heard it played by all the greats in my lifetime and before and including PACO DE LUCIA with Rodrigo on site. Another great performance is of course the DVD of PEPE ROMERO, who personally knew Rodrigo! I must say that the most impressive performance I witnessed was in 2004 when SHARON ISBIN played the Aranjuez at the 1st World Guitar Congress in Maryland! BOY she had it all together! Her phrasing was pin perfect and her on stage gestures perfectly complemented the phrasing. She was amplified which was not part of the original makeup of the Concerto but in Sharons' case,it was a perfect balance achieved. I also must point out the great job my friend and colleague DENNIS KOSTER did several years ago when he performed the Concerto Without AMPLIFICATION conducted by Scott Jackson-Wiley. It was prefaced by an evening spent by the New York Classical Guitar Society in which Dennis and Scott traveled through the Concerto point by point with Dennis detailed what fingerings he used and how he approached some of the phrasing. That was a great night and there should be a symposium with the great minds of the Guitar world putting in their personal comments of the same. After all this is THE MOST POPULAR Classical Guitar Concerto in the World and it is unfortunate that so many other worthy Concertos don't get a chance to live.The Mexican Guitarist Alfonso Moreno over 30 years ago impressed the hell out of me when I heard him perform it! It was gutsy and full of spunk! I LOVED IT!!! His attack was bold and the middle movement was sweet. You should look at the wonderful job GRAHAM WADE did when he published his extremely well done book in the Concerto.The best job point by point in print! Well let me get back to this piece of meat (the Yepes Rehearsal)on You Tube. I see that I'm all stoked about this and will seek out other performances on You Tube. In my gigs around town, I usually paraphrase that gorgeous 2nd movement and do an improvised Jazz version. People love it. I hope to set aside time to learn all three movements and perhaps eventually arrange the complete concerto ( Just before I pop into my grave probably!). Anyway,food for thought! Sorry for delaying several posts but I have been scattered in my efforts these days as I gig like crazy around town and try to catch concerts and gigs of friends plus handle a few projects that have me trying to tread water here! I may have taken on a bit much,but I know that I am ALIVE!!!Next month I will be 62 and feel like a 20 year young punk! Trying to get back to working out and eating right so I can have another 62 years! I refuse to have a future walking around with a Cain or walking apparatus. I will play the guitar until my last breath and love my dear and special wife forever! There is no amount of payback that will equal what my wife has done for me. I constantly tell her I don't deserve it.This year marks our 25th anniversary in July and we have been together 27 years! W O W ! What a record!!! Speak to you soon!
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