John
Williams is often quoted as being the best currently living and performing
classical guitarist, yet his peer, mentor and former recording partner
Julian Bream takes the cake when it comes to sheer daredevil classical
fretboard pyrotechnics. For five decades, the U.K. based Bream was
the preeminent classical guitar virtuoso on RCA Records. For their
2008 two CD set of The Essential Julian Bream, Sony Legacy
and BMG join forces in crafting a truly essential set consisting of
the cream of Bream during his RCA years. Compiling from a number of
different RCA album releases, Breams Legacy Essential set features
tracks recorded between 1959 and 1990. Guitar players of all ages
should check out Bream and revisit the vital influence he had and
has still upon just about every great U.K. guitaristfrom prog-rock
classicist Steve Howe to jazz fusion legend Allan Holdsworth and beyond.
Liner notes are concise, beginning with Breams October 1958
debut in NYC at Town Hall and track discography. www.sonybmgmasterworks.com