A direct contemporary of Bach, Weiss was the great lutenist of his time. After Weiss the lute did not really hit the levels of virtuosity again again until its relatively recent revival. This is played on Rob's Hybrid guitar - recorded in May 2013. 

Support the show

An arrangement I did of the prelude from the 1st sonata for unaccompanied cello. It follows John Williams version quite closely - less support for the main line of the piece than a lot of other versions and the drop D tuning. Recorded on Rob' s Hybrid Guitar 25th May 2013.

Support the show

 William Lawes. Salisbury born. Brother to the more famous Henry and a court musician to Charles I.   Shot in a battle at Rowton Heath, near Chester on 24 September 1645 in the English Civil War despite being put in a post by the King that would "keep him safe". This is part of a beautiful three movement suite. Arranged for guitar by the late Julian Bream as a duo for two guitars.. Wendy Partridge - a  fine guitarist-  and I worked together for about 10 years between about 1997 and 2007. We recorded this on electro acoustic guitars I'm not sure why 

Support the show

The chord sequence is taken from a piece by Emilio Pujol in his  3 volume Guitar School. Rob on cajon and finally finished and re-mixed in 2020.

Support the show

The third of the contradanzas from Manuel Saumell. An upbeat way to finish the week . 

Support the show

A second piece from Manuel Saumell the 19th century Cuban composer. He lived between 1818 and 1870. The father of Cuban nationalistic music. Recorded on a CD of Latin American Guitar Music in 2002.

Support the show

Three short Cuban pieces from the early 19th century take us to Friday this week. Brian, a pupil of mine in the late 1990's collected the Contradanzas when he visited Havana and was kind enough to bring them back. The first today opens in classical style before heading off into something quite different in the second section. Recorded in about 2002.

Support the show

Sunday evenings between about 2001 and 2003 meant jazz rehearsal with Kenneth - a very serious concert pianist - and his assorted band. 'Round Midnight - Thelonius Monk's tune was a favourite. This is not a piano piece but for guitar - certainly late night with a little bit of improvisation.

Support the show

A piece in the style of a West African guitarist Jean Bosco. Written in the early 1990's - recorded in about 2012. 

Support the show

From 2008/2009 - a recording of songs we later used in our folk set in 2013.  A mythical figure in lots of cultures, I was looking at old nursery rhymes and their history. It had come up in the Lord of the Rings and Tolkein wrote an imaginary song "The man in the moon stayed up too late". I was just looking at "Hey Diddle Diddle" in particular. Talk Talk's the Colour of Spring, Mark Knopflers guitar style and John Martyn are influences on the sound.

Support the show