When the news of the world is getting you down, what better place is there to turn to than the music of J.S. Bach? This week’s Video Pick finds the Brazilian virtuoso Marcelo Kayath playing the last two movements of Bach’s Lute Suite BWV 997, originally written in C minor, but generally played by guitarists in A minor (Segovia, Williams, Bream, et al). The whole piece is marvelous, of course; I chose the video of these two movements for their bright and lively Baroque energy and complexity, which cheered me up instantly!
The entire suite can be found of Kayath’s excellent 2016 GuitarCoop album called Suites & Sonatas, which besides the Bach, also includes the Suite in F major by Weiss, Sor’s Sonata Op. 15B, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonata Op. 77 (Hommage à Boccherini). The album, Kayath’s first in 25 years, features great sound (engineering by Ricardo Marui) and playing!
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And if you’re looking for some really thoughtful and illuminating writing about the history of classical guitar, check out Kayath’s “Reflections on the Guitar,” posted earlier this year on Guitar Salon International’s website. —Blair Jackson