There's no one that hears music quite like this guy, amongst guitarists. Segovia claimed that the guitar is an orchestra in miniature, Yamashita actually wholly makes good on this statement.
I saw Kazuhito Yamashita in Vancouver about 1989 I believe. He performed his iconic Pictures at an Exhibition, and New World Symphony. I was a guitar student at the time, and was blown away. About that time the critics of the classical guitar world panned him for sacrificing tone for blinding technique. However I knew I would never reach the technical mastery I saw him perform that evening. A night to remember.
I was at that concert and really enjoyed his musicality and command. My only criticism was that it was for a Recital Society audience that was used to musicians from the larger classical music community (pianists, string soloists etc.), quite a few in the audience were not impressed by the idea of the New World Symphony on solo guitar, more than a few actually walked out. Great recital but bad image for the guitar in the larger classical music world.
Espero que migre para o Violão de 8 cordas (com uma afinação estilo Galbraith, para ampliar a tessitura), e leve o Instrumento a patamares nunca dantes atingidos...
Such mastery, that reaches the very end - simplicity. No show off, and no need for show off. Calm perfectionism and majesty of sound and rendering. What music!
His understanding and approach to playing the guitar is utterly amazing! I've rarely witnessed anything like it. Though criticism is natural and in most instances understandable, such things as: counting errors, and how he holds the guitar, or it's too fast - one of the major criticisms from the peanut gallery - or his gesticulations, is silly and childish. Suppose he play it like the hundreds of other schoolboys who have played it, would that satisfy you? In truth, I believe the real problem is that Mr. Yamashita is doing it his own way, very well, while the schoolboys are still doing it the way they were taught. He's a man leading the way, not following. That's his crime. To play it any differently is a bad idea.
adam2eve Wonderful adam2eve!! you have sintetized the "problem" Yamashita engenders in "school boys... and the amazing reality in musical terms, that actually means Yamashita!
He really has technical security. But for me the way he plays this piece is a complete mess of notes and structural playing which is ABSOLUTELY necessary in classical guitar in order to avoid the well known excessive guitar presence in the score of the music. I dont understand how such an advanced guitarist from a technical point of view does not understand this basic concept of guitar interpretation.
Honestly, I have some issues with this style of playing, because in comparison with other great guitarists on his technical level, yamashita is just incapable of bringing out the warm and soft side of the sound-spectrum of the classical guitar. The instrument isn't very well suited for complex and fast playing, for me the Sound always matters most. His right hand is opened to the right, which makes him play mostly with the middle and right side of his nail, whereas almost all players from tarrega and segovia on adopted the slighty closed hand-position, which makes you play mostly with the left side of the nail. He also seems to have very long nail and doesn't seem to play with the nail/flesh-combo of Tarrega/Segovia
@@ubelstesje call me crazy but I absolutely love his sound on most his recordings, his bach disk was a bit too bright for my taste. I think you can take it or leave it but I do think taste aside he is sonically one of the more important players since Segovia died. There are a lot of robots out there and some are good our amazing but still smack a little of robotic guitar training.
I just had a vision of him playing in front of Andres Segovia at one of his Master Classes which I was fortunate enough to see the Maestro teaching in New York . Yamashita would have lasted less than a minute before Segovia dismissed him . He’s not holding the guitar properly . He moves it all over the place plus he’s emotive and his face shows it all forbidden by Segovia . Personally, I don’t care if he plays on his head . He’s a great musician who possesses a Paganini like technique and is exceedingly expressive . He’s is a very underrated guitarist because of the above . In my mind , he may be the best guitarist of this century .
@@channel_archistoriac Yeah, he (Yamashita) has some fans, but not that many. Segovia is a giant who changed the classical guitar status in the world. It's an outrageous insult to compare him with this eccentric guitarist.
I just must add something. He's idiosyncratic. He holds his guitar differently and moves it in subtle ways that modify the sound, and it looks like he utterly invented his own technique of playing this instrument. I don't know, maybe he borrowed techniques from Japanese Samisen or Koto playing? but it sounds absolutely amazing, and beautiful. There's some thing Japanese over the whole rendering, like... there's no person behind the music. just music.
Also the way he picks the strings in different spots, going close to the bridge for a brighter sound, and a mellower going up to the sound hole. We are tought to add these dynamics in playing pieces, but he seems to use litterally every inch/cm of the string to bring out so many different tones. As usual Yamashita brought the thing to another level.
I agree with you this time, Motti! Aren’t you relieved, lol. It really is incredible, isn’t it, how he seems to have left no stone unturned, no orthodoxy unexamined. And I totally agree, the music just seems to be there in the world. I see him working hard but the music is just free of all that. I am experimenting with listening to him with closed eyes, and it is very different - I am clearly bringing ideas and thoughts from seeing into my hearing and missing a lot of dimensions. Though, wow, so many dimensions! Of course it is easy to become disoriented!
Jajaja de todos modos quien se tomó la molestia de colocar todos los errores y el tiempo en el que suceden tiene un oído privilegiado.No cualquiera los habría notado.Y para quienes critican su sonido potente,tiene su interpretación una gran cantidad de matices y una energía que no se vé en ningún otro interprete.
This is a phenomenal performance. For most professional guitarists this piece would be impossible to play and yet Yamashita plays it with ease, or so it seems to me.
Not true. Playing this piece is possible for most professional guitarists. But nothing obliges them to at all times play it with the velocity of Yamashita! That's not written in the music. He takes "affretando" to extreme limits
Sin duda unos de los mejores guitarristas intrepretes de corazon de las piezas mas complejas transcrita para este instrumento superando en matices y velocidad al príncipe de la guitarra es una lastima que sea menos preciado por su original técnica. Sin embargo a mi parecer juliam brean, kazuhito y Williams los mejores
Su tecnica es sobrehumana y excede a la de muchos de los mas grandes virtuosos del mundo.Criticarlo solo porque se le corrieron un poco los dedos en algunos pasajes me parece una estupidez.Esta interpretación es increíble!!!
How did Kazuhito make out on the Beethoven Symphonies? I heard he was working on all of them. LEADER! He certainly is a leader and this rendition of the very difficult Castelnuovo-Tedesco work is superb!
Excelente! Qué importa esa "teatralidad" si toca como lo hace. Las mismas críticas he oído sobre Glenn Gould, pero nadie puede discutir la maestría de Gould ni de Yamashita con su instrumento!
his musical brilliance is absolutely outstanding among all classical guitarrists that i now. the range of tone colours, dynamics, accelerando and diminuendo, everything comes naturally and flawless. his technique is so superbe, that he can forget about it and focus just on the music. sometimes he might exagerate the speed, but any guitarist of some skill will deeply appreciate the efforts of this master. thanks kazuhito 4 inspiring
Sempre Yama supera il possibile...in modo incredibilmente interpretativo...a qualsivoglia musica egli (divino maestro)ponga il suo sguardo,questa sviluppa subito la massima potenzialità...è sublime in tutto ciò che egli interpreta con una tecnica di altri mondi...
Amazing work by the master. Well filmed. You can see every nuance of his playing. Slightly blurry but that is from the video. This is one of my all time favorites.
¿QUIENES DE TODOS LOS QUE COMENTAN ERRORES, ETC, TOCAN 1/5 PARTE DE LO QUE TOCA YAMASHITA? PONGAN SUS VIDEOS ASI OPINAMOS TODOS. ESTE TIPO ES UN MAESTRO TOTAL.
from Jose' E. Sepulveda.......Kazuhito Yamashita is as great a musician as I have ever seen on ANY instrument. There is not now, nor has there ever been a greater guitarist, or if there has been they never recorded anything because I have seen or heard ALL the great ones. Maestro Yamashita is at LEAST as good as I have ever heard......EVER! I truly believe he is the greatest living classical guitarist......if anybody disagrees, name the one who is better....and PLEASE don't say Eliot Fisk!!!
