UnOriginal: Julian Bream’s Unpublished Transcriptions

Julian Bream had a key role in the developing of the guitar and its repertoire in the twentieth and twenty-first century. In addition to being dedicatee of new music by contemporary composers, he also contributed to the growth of the repertoire through numerous transcriptions.

My project focuses on this aspect of his career and heritage. My will is to promote the transcriptions that have not been published by the guitarist, whose scores are kept at the Jerwood Library of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of London. The corpus of arrangements includes works by Scarlatti, Weiss, Mendelssohn, Albéniz, Granados, Bartók and Lutosławski. The title “UnOriginal” refers to the fact that the pieces are not originally written for the guitar but for different instruments or ensembles. Nonetheless, Julian Bream employs all the technical and timbrical resources of the guitar to make the music sound fully natural in this new version.

My project involves the realization of a recording that collects all these works. This represents my little contribution to the rediscovery of this fascinating music and a humble tribute to the figure of Julian Bream.