Julian Bream, a life on the road

by Tony Palmer

This book contains a number of passages about the history of the guitar,the guitar performance and guitar building.... Julian Bream acknowledges the importance in these fields of Graham Wade whose Traditions of the Classical Guitar was published in June 1980 by john Calder (Publishers) Limited.

Genres: Music

216 pages, Hardcover

First published September 23, 1982

Reviews

[Daniel Shugrue]

My first introduction to Julian Bream was as freshman in college. I bought the Bach Lute Suites for Guitar. That and the Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations became the cornerstones of my classical music collection. Actually, if I am honest, they were 2 of the maybe 4 classical music discs I bought until around 3 years ago. Why only 4 discs? First because I didn’t have much money, but also because I had the sense that those two discs simply couldn’t be topped, and no that I have a slightly larger collection of classical music I think in some ways I was right.

These days the ONLY discs I buy are classical music discs. I still don’t buy many, but I buy classical music on disc b/c there’s a relative paucity of classical music on Spotify and the classical radio station seems to only play “sleepy” classical music. At any rate I am still a fan of Julian Bream and I still believe that his playing and his interpretations are perhaps the best I’ve ever heard. I like listening to Bream better than I like listening to Segovia, though perhaps that I only because the recording quality is more modern and has less “hiss” than Segovia’s recordings have.

I bought “A Life on the Road” because I wanted to learn more about the player whom I’ve listened to so much. I was pleasantly surprised by how readable and accessible the book was. Tony Palmer’s writing largely lets Bream’s personality shine through. It felt like the majority of the book was direct quotes of Bream. Bream speaking about booking concerts, Bream speaking about managing his estate, Bream speaking about commissioning works, Bream speaking about traffic in Italy, Bream speaking about playing with John Williams. It is all here, and I found 90% of it to be fascinating. Bream’s voice shines through -- he is British. His dry wit is ever-present. He is demure. He is self-deprecating.

A couple of highlights of the book for me, and a bit which I found curious and perhaps racist.
The first highlist was Bream’s description of his aversion to the recording studio: “Music is made, and then it is gone. It has disappeared, and therein lies much of its real magic. The fact that you can’t go back to the beginning again is one of the truly wonderful things about music to my mind”. The second was Bream’s description of the never ending struggle to maintain a home sustain a career as a performing artist: “My life here is something which has become a perfect foil to the total commitment involved in trying to voice properly and elegantly the linear counterpoint of a Bach fugue. A perfect foil, in fact, to my life on the road”

The curious and perhaps racist bit was at the end of a chapter describing a tour of the US. A Japanese fan and student of guitar approaches Bream and tells him he has traveled all the way from Japan to see him. Bream brushes him off, saying he is “tired”, and asks him to look him up in Britain. Later the student comes to Bream’s house in Britain and Bream hides behind the curtains until the dejected student leaves. I am sure that this scene was meant to be funny, but I couldn’t help but feel it was more trafic, and I was left wondering if the fact that the poor student was Japanese was somehow supposed to make the reader feel more “in” on the joke.

At any rate, Bream likely does have a few warts and perhaps this anecdote reveals one of them. As a description of a singular artist’s life on the road, this book is enjoyable and informative.

[Wilbur]

Very chatty. Lots of Bream talking about Bream. Very enjoyable.

[William Dury]

I started studying classical guitar in 1970. At that time there were four recording classical guitarists: Andres Segovia, John Williams, Christopher Parkening and Julian Bream. I heard it expressed more than once that Bream was the “best.” I believed it myself.

I’m less sure of that judgment now, but only because- well I don’t know. The quotes around “best,” I guess. I’m listening to him now on some old CDs and wouldn’t bet against him.

The book under discussion is a wonderful record of a lost world, Bream traipsing about Europe and New York City, holding forth, getting paid in cash, putting the money in his guitar case and toddling off to the next concert. At home, making music with various people, holding forth again, an opinionated man, old school. Brilliant player. Listening now, I can’t make out how he makes the instrument sound so good, much less remember all the notes. Good Lord, no wonder we thought he was the best.

[Adam Toth]

I picked up the classical guitar in the mid-seventies after hearing Bream and Williams’ album ‘Together’ and instantly fell in love with its sound. I thought Bream was the best guitarist around at the time. This book is a fascinating look at Bream’s life and art during his writing period, though I imagine it’s most interesting to musicians. Plus, it really brings the 70s to life!

[Jeff]

Given that this book is largely assembled from excerpts of interviews with Julian Bream, author Tony Palmer does a remarkable job of weaving these disparate elements together into a cohesive whole. And given that so much of the text is delivered in Bream's own voice, it makes for a breezy and truly enjoyable reading experience, since Bream is equal parts charming and fussy, and well-versed in the wider picture of how the guitar fits into the world of music in general (not just classical music specifically). Definitely a recommended read for serious Bream fans.

[Mike]

Read it again. Just something wonderful to sink into on a night, as long as you can get past Bream's old school pomposity, which in its way can be seen as part of his eccentric charm.
I'm guessing that Tony Palmer carried a tape recorder around with him for months and just pressed record every time he say down. Because what you get here are verbatim Bream soliloquys on life, music, philosophy, history and very little politics. Thank God.