Minoru Inagaki is a leading guitarist in Japan. His mellow sounds played by his elegant guitar Buchet is relally makes me relax. Listen several of his CD's if you like his playing.
This piece is a prime example of how difficult a certain piece can be on one instrument and easy on another. Playing this on piano is pretty much a walk in the park for any average player. On guitar, it already takes years of practice to play the variations. This guy is good though. Very good.
johnquantran, He has the tempo variation for artistic taste, he sped up and slowed down at his own will for he is the musician playing the song and this is the way he hears it himself. Many musicians do such with the songs they play. As for example, Johnny Cash redid "Hurt" by Nine inch Nails the way HE heard it, not exactly as they played it. ^_^ just thought I would answer your question.
the first variation (whatever you'd like to call it, that's what my book says) is arguably my very favorite thing to play on the piano. I love it. I love this song!
Segovia was the first to record this (in the 1950's - American Decca DL 9647/Brunswick AXTL 1060) but did not publish his transcription - I Christopher Parkening got it from his teacher or 'lifted it' from that recording. It might almost have been composed for guitar as the original version for harpsichord (Suite Dm, HWV437) can be played unaltered by reading 'up' an octave. Julian Bream performed it and published his transcription (Clifford Essex Music, London) but, alas, did not record it.
@Selinja This is a "solid" performance. The reason behind its small popularity is the enormous amount of "extraordinary" performances by legendary guitar players available in youtube such as John Williams and Julian Bream.
Many pieces, notably Scarlatti's, lose something when played on the guitar, but they also gain something - the tonalities of the guitar and its inherent music chamber makes its own contribution through tonal properties that other instruments do not produce. That's not to say this is any better, but there's no reason to be judgmental about it - just recognize that this music has a place in the guitar repertory and enjoy that for what it offers.
@DjangoMeetsColtrane When transposing a piece from one instrument to another, there are going to be some things that are different. Sometimes octaves are switched. And sometimes whole voices are temporarily taken out because they can't all be played on the new instrument. Whether its keyboard to guitar or orchestra to piano, some things are going to change...so I think an improper mordent is of no consequence here.
His bass strings sounds rather bright, they are probably new. My guess is that he has to change the strings just a few days before, and on a classical guitar the nylon strings need up to a week to stabilize (all strings are nylon, the bass ones just have a metal wire around the nylon core). His guitar was probably tuned at the beginning of the piece, and he was afraid of finishing out of tune. He's perfectionist anyway, I can't hear anything, and it was just a few seconds before the end.
I wonder why he did not has he tempo steady. You can hear after the Introduction, he sped up in Variation 1.... if you notice that. I play the same version as he played.
Was not expecting this!!! It exceeded my expectations. Very beautiful interpretation of this piece. P.S: This is a huge compliment, knowing that my only reference for this piece was by Christopher Parkening!!!!!!
Hello Minoru ! Comme d'habitude ton jeu est magnifique ! quel talent... je me souviens des bon moments passés ensembles ! Je t'embrasse affectueusement, Jean Marie RAYMOND
Very nice. Has anyone ever seen a theatrical performance of Saraband where there are what looks Roman soldiers dancing to this music? Saw a small clip on TV and would like to see it again.
Sir or madam, racism is not a path you want to follow, the guitar is for everyone and the music is as well, no matter the faith or background. I'm an English Muslim, with Arab origins and I'm a classical composer.
