With all the political turmoil that’s enveloping us here in the U.S., this week I’m looking for a little serenity (and escape). So, who better to provide that than Julian Bream? In this video, excerpted from a famous TV series Bream made a number of years ago, the master guitarist performs Enrique Granados’ beautiful and much-loved La Maja de Goya (interspersed with footage of Goya works and various contemporary women). What passion and exemplary technique and attention to detail he displays!
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The piece was written in 1910 as one of Granados’ Tonadillas al estilo antiguo, for voice and piano; the words being drawn from poems by Fernando Periquet. Most guitar versions do not include singing, though Christopher Parkening and soprano Kathleen Battle recorded a gorgeous voice-guitar rendition of the piece on their 1986 album Pleasures of Their Company, which you can listen to here. —Blair Jackson