Mark Antony's life with classical guitar

by Mark Antony
(UK)

My first classical guitar concert was to see John Mills in Birmingham, UK. It was very formal and on classical lines, with first half of the concert dedicated to Baroque and classical, with the second more contemporary. Mills has fine technique, and musicianship.

In those days, as a guitar student, my "guitar Gods" were Julian Bream and John Williams. Almost everything they played was considered definitive. These days, there are far more guitarists and many terrific techniques to admire, but we should always remember Bream and Williams, and before them, Segovia and Barrios, as doing so much to popularise the guitar, and inspire.

My favourites of today...I think Karin Schaupp is perhaps the one I most admire. Such impassioned playing, and she has a real talent for judging rubato and romantic phrasing. Other players I admire are, Antigoni Goni, David Russell, Li Jie and Simon Dinnigan.

It interests me the guitars vocal qualities. For example, if you hear Pepe Romero playing Spanish music, it really captures the atmosphere of Spain. Bream, and Williams, play this type of music as fine, classical interpretations, I think, but they do not play with a "Spanish accent". This despite Bream's great talent for playing Albeniz, I think, none better, just not the Spanish accent! Also, likes of Savio and Barbosa Lima play with Latin flavour, Vladimir Mikulka plays with the more harsh Balkan accentuation, yet with it's own particular charm.

This is one reason I favour Schuapp. She can really get into the style of many areas of world music. Though I have not yet heard her play much classical works by Bach, for example.

My most recent concert experience was Richard Durrant. I reviewed this concert on my blog here; A much more informal concert than normal classical, which I am used to!

Thank you for reading my submission.