Avie Records

FLASH: The 2007 Classic FM/Gramophone Award for Classical DVD of the year has been given to Avie for Julian Bream: My Life in Music.

This critically acclaimed profile of one of the most popular classical artists of the 20th century contains over three hours of material, illustrated with over one hour of complete musical performances, includes contributions from John Williams, Peter Pears, Igor Stravinsky, William Walton, George Malcolm, Richard Rodney Bennett and Ali Akbar Khan. Bream's influence has resulted in a repertoire rich in contributions from Britten, Walton, Henze, Takemitsu, Tippett, Rawsthorne, Lennox Berkeley and countless others. Bream enthusiastically communicates his musical passions which are celebrated in this generously documented DVD.

Highlights include Julian's return from retirement to the concert hall for a performance of Britten's Nocturnal, written for the guitarist, an emotional return to the composer's home in Aldeburgh, and – as a special bonus in a disc already rich with features – an exclusive BBC Radio 3 recording of Bennett's Sonata for Solo Guitar. Previously offered as a limited edition only through the producers, Avie makes My Life in Music commercially available for the first time to the general public.

The Program:

My Life in Music (119:30)

original soundtrack and alternate director's commentary
new recordings of Britten's Nocturnal and Falla's Homenaje made especially for this edition of the film with alternate camera angles
over one half hour of "bonus chapters"

Four archival music clips of Bream (18:00)

Dionisio Aguado: Rondo in a minor, Op.2
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Etude No.11
Thomas Morley: Galliard to the Sacred End Pavan (with the Julian Bream Consort)
Sir William Walton: Bagatelle No. 5

An interview with the makers of My Life in Music (10:40)
Bibliography, discography compiled by Judy Caine and Graham Wade, research notes and an illustrated Guitar Timeline examining guitars from the renaissance to the 20th Century
A Rare Stills Photo Montage accompanied by Tárrega: Mazurka in G (2:49)
First release of Richard Rodney Bennett: Sonata for Solo Guitar, recorded in the chapel at Wardour Castle for BBC Radio 3 in 1986 (23:39)

Produced by Judy Caine
Directed and presented by Paul Balmer