Greatest Classical Guitarists (According to Classic fm)

[@BernardGreenberg]

What the heck happened to Agustín Pío Barrios, the greatest guitar composer this hemisphere has ever produced??? Deeply happy to see Xuefei Yang here....

[@ramdav8950]

Worlds best classical guitarist rn without any words is marcin dylla

[@Johncesarguitar]

He is certainly one of the best

[@AlanMcCarthyguitar]

Not having David Russell on list makes it a total joke

[@Johncesarguitar]

I KNOW!!!! Haha so sad

[@juliusdeme9543]

...plus Marcin Dylla, Ricardo Garcia Gallen, Alex Garobbe, Anielo Desiderio, Ida Presti, Roland Dyens, Costas Cotsiolis, Pavel Steidl, Leo Brouwer, Barios, Kazuhito Yamashita...

[@juliusdeme9543]

...Zoran Dukic, Abel Carlevaro, Jorge Morel, Antonio Lauro, Miguel Llobet, Stepan Rak...

[@michaelmcelwee1389]

Paul Gailbraith should be on the list.

[@Johncesarguitar]

10000%

[@bertalink]

The first half of the entries are greatest because they are played by the second half? A great divide happens with Segovia were the guitarists are primarily performers and not composers anymore.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Thats a great way to look at it. But i feel some of the first half no one even plays ☠️

[@waynecupo3194]

Where is Barrios?

[@Johncesarguitar]

Not on this list :/

[@RumichaCaballero]

Giulliani was the cellist in bethoveen N° 7 Simphony, people say they were good friends, but another say they were just acquaintances, whatever was it's great to know they meet each other, I have my mental theory that Giulliani wrote the Sonata Eroica influenced by bethoveen. I like some of the guitarrist in that list BUUUUUUT as I saw that top is like a more "classical" guitarrist, leaving behind other great guitarrists like Andrew York, Roland Dyens, Leo Brouwer, etc but well preferences are preferences jajaja That's why I didn't follow some of those "well-known" pages or groups, but Im fine with that jajajaja Great video John, we hope to have you in Perú soon again!!!

[@Johncesarguitar]

Thank you my friend! Hope you have been well! Great info about Guilianni as well as the list haha

[@kaseycarmody6749]

Hey John! Yeah...what a strange list.....certainly many on there are great players, but seems like someone who knows very little about classical guitar just went on google found some names and made a list, haha...wow.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Hey Kasey! Thank you for your comment. Yea very interesting not sure what they were totally going for when making this list

[@selfTaughtGirl]

classic fm is a classical music station in the uk, famous for usually only ever playing a single mvt from any piece. It promotes itself as a lifestyle. Ogden/Yang/Milos are resident in the UK and appear on classic fm quite regularly. I doubt they've ever heard of David Russell. The state broadcaster BBC Radio 3 might play a piece by Russell once in a blue moon. More likely Bream or Williams. They do have a young artists program (3 year funding), two guitarists have been selected over the recent years, Sean Shibe & Thibault Garcia so there are periods when one hears them for a while. Back in the 1970s/80s one of the BBC R3 producers was very found of the guitar and made many special 1/2hr guitar programs. I recorded about 100 of these, I've slowly been uploading them to my channel.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Thank you for sharing that’s really interesting to hear! I always remember that time. They publicly mixed up John Williams, the guitarist, and John Williams, the composer. Easy mistake, of course but not one that a classical music site should be making.

[@segovianity]

Are permissions sought and any payments made to the BBC and the artists featured for use of the recordings, necessary under copyright law? I have most (if not all) of the recordings mentioned, made for personal use only - allowable under copyright law.

[@mattie5161]

What do I think of this list? Well, I think it was most likely compiled by an office junior who’s presently “working” from home and retrieved all his/her information from a quick Google search & was threatened with the sack if he/she didn’t big up certain people….I’d like a job like that come to think of it

[@Johncesarguitar]

Well I guess it makes sense why they got that job then haha

[@marcrijav07]

Number one: Andrés Segovia, number two: Manuel López Ramos, then all the others.

[@Johncesarguitar]

No david russell ? :(

[@marcrijav07]

Yes, David Russell is a great artist@@Johncesarguitar

[@oscarliguitar]

Clearly written by someone with barely c.g knowledge. For modern guitarist, there is no villa lobos? No Roland dyens? Sergio assad? Leo bouwer? Barrios? Not even mentioning all the outstanding players out there who doesn't really compose or transcibe.

[@guitaralan]

Craig Ogden??? Foscarini?? Seriously, who created this list? To completely ignore players and composers who are truly world famous (Russell, Barrueco, Ida Presti, Eliot Fisk, a long list of GFA winners etc etc ????) makes it a completely ludicrous exercise, and inexcusably inaccurate.

[@ramdav8950]

Exactly 👍

[@MiguelFerreyraGuitar]

You’re back! 🙌🏽

[@Johncesarguitar]

Yes! How have you been?

[@zuav]

Interesting. Definitely agree with you that parts are a bit weird. Do we really know how good de Lhoyer was? I wonder, who puts these things together? And why? Do you know if they are supposed to be in a particular order? Maybe you're right that it's partly marketing and that's why Milos was 20?

[@Johncesarguitar]

Haha thats do true too! How would we know how good he is

[@zuav]

Also, I wish we had better recordings of the legends from the last century, like Presti and Barrios. Maybe they were even greater than we realise? @@Johncesarguitar

[@dinkogrgat5188]

Have you ever heard of Alexey Zimakov?!He's most probably the best classical guitarist that ever lived.No one even came close to the level of his technique,especially in fast passages.

[@Johncesarguitar]

I will check him out! Thank you so much! Personally, for me, people who are incredibly fast/technical are impressive but it is not what I used to judge who is a great player. Just a personal preference though

[@christofinb]

I don’t think they made a clear distinction between composers and players. Anyway Anna Vidovic, David Russell and Christopher Parkening all should have made it, to name but a few.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Sure mkaes sense but then why are bream and williams there… either way weird list.

[@orlandoguitarist]

What a ridiculous list, indeed. Half of those mentioned were more composers than concert performers -- we don't have any recordings of them and have no idea how they played. There are hundreds of amazing classical guitarists who have been performing over the past fifty years. Here's my top 50 list, in no particular order: 1. Yamandu Costa 2. Benjamin Verdery 3. Roland Dyens 4. David Russell 5. Marek Pasieczny 6. Pepe Romero 7. Victor Villadangos 8. Sergio Assad 9. Marco Pereira 10. Julian Bream 11. John Williams 12. Manuel Barrueco 13. Denis Azabagic 14. Eduardo Martin 15. Elena Papandreou 16. Xuefei Yang 17. Petra Polackova 18. Jose Maria Gallardo Del Rey 19. Jorge Caballero 20. Jan Depreter 21. Pavel Steidl 22. Paulo Bellinati 23. Kazuhito Yamashita 24. Tilman Hoppstock 25. Norbert Kraft 26. Jozsef Eotvos 27. Ana Vidovic 28. Jason Vieaux 29. Artyom Dervoed 30. Eliot Fisk 31. Fred Hand 32. Goran Krivokapic 33. Grigoreas Kostas 34. Ida Presti 35. Julia Trintschuk 36. Merce Font 37. Matt Palmer 38. Raphaella Smits 39. Scott Tennant 40. William Kanengiser 41. Zoran Dukic 42. Tariq Harb 43. Thomas Viloteau 44. Antigoni Goni 45. Bryan Johanson 46. Gary Ryan 47. Dale Kavanagh 48. Johannes Möller 49. Kaori Muraji 50. Leo Brouwer

[@bull419]

Andres Segovia, el Maestro.

[@davidpelham4861]

Silly. So many great guitarists omitted, as you have pointed out, but I am particularly irritated by one omission: Dionisio Aguado. He wrote a most influential method that is still in publication today, with many of the most didactic yet wonderful little studies, ever. His quirky guitar stand aside, he has moved out of Sor's shadow and history has vindicated his method.

[@TheScientist2233]

Finally! 🎉

[@Johncesarguitar]

I am back haha

[@twoodmusic8677]

Def don't agree with this list! Side note: I asked a Chinese colleague once how to pronounce Xuefei and she said it's "Shoo-weh-fay" or more like "Shweh fay" when said quickly.

[@peterjespersen9418]

This is a list devised by people who are not players.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Or a computer…

[@udodolz7338]

Gary Ryan, Andrew York?

[@Johncesarguitar]

Nope not here :(

[@paulysguitarjournal]

What??? No Christopher Parkening???

[@Johncesarguitar]

Nah classicFM doesnt like him

[@memarks]

These lists are always impossible. More importantly, with the explosion of academies and access to tutelage, there are literally thousands of classical guitarists who play better than most of the master of old. None of them will be described as great but they are all more proficient than most of the greats . Thousands.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Haha it is hard. The greats are greats but times change. I think these people were all influential to the development of the guitar. But not the greatest of all time…

[@dr.davidgerstenaminoacidth2421]

You’re kidding me. Angel Romero I’d not on the list…in spite of being a lifetime Grammy winner. Chat GPT could have done better.

[@donaldanderson6604]

BBC Radio 3 regularly feature Sean Shibe, who should be on the list. I doubt if Classic FM have heard of him (or David Russell.) These lists are preposterous and should be ignored.

[@JVDAfghan]

Hmmm. Christopher Parkening not on the list.

[@Johncesarguitar]

Haha yea…a little weird if you ask me

[@zuav]

I recently listened to his rendition of the famous Bach Chaconne. Remarkable@@Johncesarguitar

[@JVDAfghan]

@@Johncesarguitar I have studied with three of his students. CP is a real link to Segovia.

[@anybodyhandle]

If nobody see Marcin Patrzalek is a joke 😂😂😂

[@anybodyhandle]

The list is a joke 😂😂😂