Julian Bream

When London-born Julian Bream finally made his Schubert Club debut in 1970 he was indisputably the world’s leading classical guitarist. He inherited that mantle from the legendary Andrés Segovia who had established the instrument’s serious solo concert credentials. But whereas his mentor Segovia had tended to focus on the composers and uniquely rich repertoire of his native Spain, along with his own arrangments of Bach, Bream expanded the instrument’s geographical boundaries by commissioning new pieces by major composers from Germany, Japan, Cuba as well as his native Britain. This filmed concert from 1978 ends with Nocturnal after John Dowland (at 34’44) which Benjamin Britten wrote for him in 1963. Bream ended his second Schubert Club recital with this haunting work in 1974:

Bream’s other claim to undying fame commenced in 1950 when he took up the Renaissance lute in order to play compositions from Elizabethan England. He became a crucial figure in the lute’s revival as a modern concert instrument, both in his solo recitals and with the Julian Bream Consort he founded in 1961 to perform early ensemble music.

The BBC compiled an excellent hour-long Bream documentary in 2014. Tracing his career, it captures both the artistry of a great musician and the spirit of a captivating man: