Watch a marvelous 2009 performance by LAGQ co-founder William Kanengiser of one of the most famous pieces in the instrument's repertoire: Grand Solo by Fernando Sor.]]>
Watch the great young Chinese guitarist Haicuong Mu play Giulio Regondi's variations on themes from Bellini's opera "I Montecchi e Capuletti"]]>
Watch Czech guitarist Pavel Steidl perform three parts of a Baroque-era lute suite by Jan Antonin Losy.]]>
May 29 is Isaac Albéniz’s birthday (he was born in 1860), so we honor him with our favorite guitar-duo version of Asturias, by the exceptional Kupiński Guitar Duo, Ewa Jablczynska and Dariusz Kupinski. This exciting version really captures so much of the power and sophistication of the piano original—that’s part of the magic of two guitars. Check it out! —Blair Jackson And here’s a link to another sensational Kupinski Guitar Duo performance: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.]]>
May 17, 2021 marks the great and eccentric French composer Erik Satie‘s 155th birthday, so we salute him with this fine version of his compelling and mysterious Gnossienne No. 1 (originally written for piano) performed by Slovenian guitarist Karmen Štendler, who also plays with the outstanding Weimar Guitar Quartet. This first of Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes was written in 1890, published in 1893, and has become a veritable fixture in the modern guitar repertoire over the past quarter-century, having been recorded […]]]>
John Williams is one of the all-time great classical guitarists, a player who has managed to stay relevant and near the top of his game for more than 60 years now!]]>
It’s been while since we’ve had a Barrios “Pick,” and this Vals has long been a personal favorite of mine—as is the young Polish guitarist Katarzyna Smolarek, whom I had the pleasure of seeing perform (virtually) at the December 2020 Changsha Guitar Competition, where she was outstanding (though ultimately not victorious). Enjoy! —Blair Jackson]]>
Depending on which calendar you prefer (Julian or Gregorian), J.S. Bach’s birthday is either March 21 or March 31. I don’t get involved in these sort of controversies; I’m just happy he was born at all, and since it was 336 years ago, what’s ten days? Anyway, this seems like the perfect moment to showcase this brand-new version of the epic fifth movement—the Chaconne—of Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004, written between 1717 and 1720. Since Segovia—who premiered his […]]]>
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I stumbled across this video, which had been re-posted from Classical Guitar Planet by Michel Caron. I realized it had been a long time since I’d thought about the late Venezuelan guitar great Alirio Díaz (1923–2016), so I checked it out and was completely dazzled by Díaz’s confident and expressive performance of this wonderful joropo, Seis por Derecho, by his fellow countryman Antonio Lauro (1917-1986). It has been recoirded and performed by […]]]>
It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything by the great Spanish guitarist Margarita Escarpa, who has long been a favorite of mine. This video from a 2016 performance really shows this gifted guitarist at her best: a brilliant and commanding performance of Leo Brouwer’s arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s La muerte del ángel. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll revisit something I wrote a few years ago about the piece: As for the work itself, writer James Reel noted: “This is […]]]>