John Williams- Recuerdos de la Alhambra-LIVE (REACTION & REVIEW)

[@emdiar6588]

My first gig, I was 12, and it was Sky, a brilliant prog/classical band with John on classical guitar.

[@EgilSOdegard]

My teacher during my music studies in Oslo was a student of Williams in the late 60's, early 70's. J.W.'s position of his right hand fingers is something he brought on, in his turn, to his own students.

[@juliannavarro8400]

Thank you for this reaction. John Williams is a legend in the classical guitar world and he's probably one of the best is not the best classical guitarist ever. Recuerdos de la Alhambra is the classical guitar national anthem, it's the most emblematic piece composed by Francisco Tárrega. Many guitarists can play it, but few can do it so effortlessly as John Williams does, his technique is flawless. I had the pleasure of watching him live twice, he signed some of my CDs, a truly amazing guitarist and person.

[@markspooner1224]

Good grief, I never thought I'd see Les Dawson on here, a great comedian. John Williams was also in the band 'Sky', they had some chart success with albums of popular classical interpretations.

[@keithhider2170]

John Williams is best known for his tune Cavatina - otherwise known as theme form the film The Deerhunter - this is the piece that Les Dawson was murdering on the piano at the opening of the piano. Its a beautiful tune, you should check it out. You should also check out his classical/rock/jazz fusion band called Sky - formed with some other musicians you will recognise.

[@davecleggett9371]

John Williams also had a close friend, also a classical guitarist, by the name of Julian Bream. Both of them were the best of the best in their genre. John Williams also had a career as a 'Group artist' with a classical rock band called 'Sky' - check 'em out, all classical musicians in a rock band, totally amazing.

[@spongo]

For me, this is the most emotional classical guitar piece, played to perfection by one of the greatest players who learned from the absolute master.

[@jfergs.3302]

A classic piece played by an absolute master. The vid speaks for itself.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Yep. I can't put into words how hard that tremolo speed is to maintain cleanly, whilst simultaneously playing the bass and melody parts. I remember learning some Carcassi and Tarrega back in the day, but I was never anywhere near this fluid.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

I play a little classical guitar, but I bow in the presence of a master.

[@renemokum]

My favorite classical guitarist. I particularly love his playing of the classical compositions from the Spanish masters: Rodrigo, Albéniz, Tárrega, De Falla, Granados, etc.

[@davepb5798]

You should listen to Andrès Segovia, unbelievably talented.

[@rsm3t]

Williams was one of Segovia's students.

[@markmaxwell1013]

The master of classical guitar!

[@andkat]

Got to see him live at a church cathedral in Jacksonville FL. He is amazing!

[@Theagchm]

1st time I saw this, I was looking for the other guitarists!! A beautiful piece of music, played to perfection by Mr Williams, clearly a master of his art.

[@kevind4850]

Thank you for sharing this nice performance that I hadn't seen before; a dreamy exposition with just a bit of edge. The real flamenco tocaores (Escudero, the Montoyas, Segovia, Ricardo, Sanlucar) are also worth exploring and comparing their techniques, interpretations, and styles even when playing the same works. I agree 1000% with your comments on talk shows. There were many (Cavett, Steve Allen, etc.) that featured quality acts and insightful interviews. The variety show format is also missed. Both were a big part of advancing musical careers back in the day. What brain-dead executives thought we wanted more "reality" shows and game shows?

[@skyscratch]

"Out Of Town" and "Old Country" were two popular TV shows that made a version of Recuerdos de la Alhambra fairly well-known to a British audience in the 70's/80's.

[@andrewclayton4181]

Less Dawson was a British comedian who specialised in dead pan delivery. He could play classical piano, but in his act would play bum notes to great effect. Very funny guy, sadly no longer with us. John Williams is brilliant. I've seen him live a couple of times. Mainly plays classical guitar. He started in the 60s. The two of them were attempting Cavatina, his most famous piece. a. because it's gorgeous. b. because it was used as the theme to the film The Deerhunter. Obviously Les messed up there. John did form a short lived act called Oasis, but later coordinated a group called Sky. It was quite successful. I've got a solo album from 1970, on which John recorded some great music. Bach Changes, Cavatina, Spanish Trip. Try some more of his work. It's very good

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

And he recorded an amazing album with Maria Farantouri. :)

[@-davidolivares]

Had a few roommates in college, one had I think Sky & Sky 2. Did like it but haven’t really heard it again since. Just found them on Spotify, so I’m set. From him, John Williams has always been on my radar since ; I play some John at work along with other classical players, Assad Bros etc. Something that interests me but have yet to try. May never, but it’s beautiful to listen to.

[@vinsgraphics]

I had these back in high school, early 80s. It was boarding school, so we all heard each other's musical interests, and I'm sure they all got tired of me playing Sky 2 all the time...

[@delorangeade]

Tremolo practice for me as soon as this video is over. At one time, most comedy shows on TV would feature a guest musical performer, and variety shows featuring acts from across entertainment genres were common, so John Williams was a familiar face on British television. Arguably more famous than almost any rock guitarist of that era.

[@JustJP]

Hope practice goes well :D

[@delorangeade]

@@JustJP Thanks. Practice means trying to stay at the level I've managed to attain. Mr. Williams plays at an entirely different level.

[@brucefelger4015]

Williams took up the hat that Segovia wore before him.

[@GlennRobert71]

Jusr WOW.. Thanks for this upload.. I am now a John Williams fan/worshiper... Tarrega has some beautiful compositions.. Gran Vals ie, which we all heard daily some years ago :D

[@EwanV]

Funny music numbers in variety and comedy shows used to be a thing in the UK. You should try Morecombe & Wise doing Greig's Piano Concerto with Andre Previn... then their Shirley Bassey sketch!

[@thomassharmer7127]

John Williams technique is flawless. Fingerpicking with thumb and three or even four fingers is often used by acoustic folk (e.g. John Renbourn and Martin Simpson) and ragtime blues players (e.g Stefan Grossman and Ralph McTell) This classical piece uses tremolo, which is very hard to get smooth, and to keep the melody line sounding distinct. Williams is the master of that. The guitar had been called "a six string orchestra" for the reasons you highlight.

[@randyrandelman1878]

My favourite female artist and my favourite classical composer back to back, JP is in my head I swear lol

[@vanburger]

Widely regarded even amongst some of the greatest andalusian flamenco guitarists, as the master/greatest picker of all time. I remember this clip at the time it brought a tear to my eye, the damage to this video stopped me blabbing again.. Great reaction to something that rarely gets a look in these days. Can I suggest you react to Judy Tzuke- Stay with me till dawn.

[@sheldonhowells3083]

Hi Justin. You would have heard a little of John Williams before, as he played the classical guitar parts on, " The Morning Fog " on, " Hounds Of Love ". You may also enjoy his work with the classical rock band, Sky. I would recommend the track, " Westway " from their first album, " Sky " (1979).

[@gaiaeternal5131]

Hi Justin. Dave, a bit Hot And Bothered in sweltering London. You may recognise the piece he sort of played with Les Dawson. It's Cavatina, aka The Theme from The Deer Hunter, and played by John Williams on the soundtrack. I have seen him live playing Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez (also on Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis), and also in a crossover classical/rock band called Sky. I learnt the classical guitar for a few years and John Williams was one of the players I idolised. A piece like this I probably played at about one tenth of this tempo, and also struggled to maintain strong enough nails on each finger and thumb of my right hand. P.S. my song ref Hot And Bothered is by Duke Ellington

[@williambissell972]

Most astonishing guitarist I've ever seen in person, Benaroya Hall 2005. 90 minutes, perfect technically and artistically!

[@oomphlagwumpla650]

He’s not using his pinky, but fun fact, flamenco guitar player uses their pinky or basically adding one more note to their tremolo.

[@vinsgraphics]

John Williams (Australian, born 1941) is regarded as perhaps the most technically accomplished classical guitarist ever, and has been recording since the 1950s. He shared a Grammy with Julian Bream, perhaps a more well-known classical guitarist. In the early 80s Williams teamed up with a few musicians* to create an eclectic instrumental group called Sky, performing a mix of classical interpretations and progressive rock instrumentals. Their rendition of “Toccata” reached #5 in the UK singles charts. *musicians included: - session bass guitarist Herbie Flowers (the baseline in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”; played bass on 500 hit singles) - percussionist/drummer Tristan Fry (percussion on Beatles’ “Day In The Life”; worked with many artists including Sinatra, McCartney, Olivia Newton-John) - keyboardist Francis Monkman - guitarist (fellow Aussie) Kevin Peek After a few albums Williams moved on; the band continued for a bit with other musicians. Notable singles worth checking into include “Hotta,” “Fifo,” “Vivaldi” and more. A new rabbit hole to explore, not to mention Williams’ own repertoire (over 100 albums, still recording). He’s even performed with other artists, including Kate Bush. Great to see Mr Williams get some spotlight!

[@stevemd6488]

I studied guitar under a man who knew John Williams, actually had John come give a tutorial for his very advanced students, all of whom let him down because "you need to go home and practice your scales". I learned this piece a long time ago, the tremolo technique is not hard to learn but it's VERY hard to not fatigue out. JW studied under Segovia, started guitar when he was very young, widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists ever. Lastly the beginning stuff was from "The Deer Hunter" movie which JW played on.

[@wolfhart309]

Another flamenco artist to check out is Gino d'Auri. Sadly he didn't record a lot before he died but he left us with some wonders.. He plays the piece you just listened to on his 2nd album Flamenco Mystico.

[@-davidolivares]

Will do, thank you. I did hit a little of today’s song by Gino, it seemed a tad slower which makes John’s performance even more jaw dropping.

[@sicko_the_ew]

He's a Julian Bream Level classical guitarist. (I would claim that he was the only such, but I'll leave that kind of claim to the experts. And actually that's just what my ear thinks.) From what I've heard, the entire classical music world is quite brutal when it comes to technical (and every other) proficiency, so even a classical triangle player will probably do things that amaze us mortals. Just to get a job in the field, you have to be incredibly good, and then to rise to the very top, like John Williams ... we don't have words for that that is. Us mortals. A mortal classical guitar player will give the lower three strings (or the top ones if you think like I tend to) to the thumb, and then each of the three high strings will belong to a finger. An advanced player has a more advanced allocation of responsibilities between fingers. So the thumb will pick out the bass line, while the fingers pick out all the twiddly bits. Hard work for the right hand. And then the left hand either runs through scales or barres off chords in "blocks of four frets" - so one fret per finger - for the mortal guitarist. Advanced guitarists break all those baby rules when necessary. You might find the *Julian Bream* masterclass series interesting, just to get an "insider view" of the whole culture of performing this music in that world. (You don't need to know how to play guitar, just how to listen to music). The general pattern is what sounds like a pretty competent performance of a piece, and then that performance being pulled apart in an informative way. At the end, at very least you get some idea of what a master of the instrument considers important. Here's an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXjaqpKwgs6IrrM (Julian Bream died in 2020. John Williams is still alive.)

[@vinsgraphics]

Williams and Bream shared a Grammy in 1973, Best Chamber Music Performance.

[@chrisbeach6642]

Hi Justin I am glad you enjoyed John Williams. If you enjoyed this you might want to dive into his albums with the group SKY. Sky were an English/Australian instrumental rock group that specialised in combining a variety of musical styles, most prominently rock, classical and jazz. The group's original and best-known line-up featured classical guitarist John Williams (Australian), bass player Herbie Flowers, electric guitarist Kevin Peek (Australian), drummer Tristan Fry and keyboard player Francis Monkman. Amazing guitar work and thank you reacting to your not run of the mill act. Keep up the great work Justin. Excellent production.

[@rsm3t]

And Monkman played in Curved Air.

[@keithhealing1115]

I second Sky. Herbie Flowers was the go-to session bassist (Walk on the Wild Side and Diamond Dogs), Tristan Fry was percussionist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Monkman was an absolute master of the Harpsichord.

[@jaybird4093]

If you’re interested in digging deeper with Francesco Tarrega, I suggest Capricho Arabe. It’s another iconic piece in the classical guitar repertoire. Tarrega might be considered the greatest classical guitarist of all time if not for Andres Segovia. John Williams was a pupil of Segovia which it part of the reason why he’s such a great player. Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra) was written to commemorate the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain. Here’s a video of the palace, supported by Segovia’s playing, to help provide prospective. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2PGY2Bje6ajndU

[@wushu_jingwu_ar]

La Catedral from Agustín Pío Barrios and the Prelude from Lut Suite in E BWV1006 from Bach are two of his finest performances.

[@Richard_Ashton]

Williams showing how it’s done for classical guitar. Try Richard Thompson ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’ for another virtuoso piece. My favourite is at the ‘Songwriters’.

[@MisterWondrous]

Sublime. Love to hear his Concierto d'Aranjuez of Rodrigo...who may have written this. He was so cool and collected. Those Williamses are built for music. Funny show too!

[@EmmanuelPehau]

Francisco Tarrega wrote this piece. But, hey, Rodrigo is so huge, it's easy to think he wrote everything.

[@davidchaplain6748]

Stunning Technique!

[@noheamike5036]

You have heard John Williams before, he plays the classical guitar on The Morning Fog from The Ninth Wave on Honda of Love.

[@mjdillaha]

Oh I see you’ve gotten to John Williams, definitely the greatest guitarist in the history of the instrument.

[@darrenjones5885]

Have a look at Adam Rafferty and Alexandr Misko (I’ve probably spelled that wrong). Different to John Williams but also with an immense amount of talent. I forgot to mention John 5 as he’s mostly known for playing Telecasters, and wringing every last possibility out of them.

[@jaybird4093]

The right thumb plays the accompaniment (outlines the chords) while the ring, middle, and index fingers play the melody. The technique is called tremolo. Guitar notes in the melody don’t sustain well so the tremolo technique was created to play sustained long notes that wont get covered up by the accompaniment. The left hand has to be able to sustain the chords while adjusting to the melody. This piece is surprisingly not too difficult to play. It was written by a guitarist, Francesco Tarrega, who understood the mechanics of the instrument well. Getting the tremolo up to speed is the hardest part, IMO. About a year of focused practice can do it. I love classical guitar because of the melody/accompaniment balance. It’s like playing the left and right hands of a piano together but on a stringed instrument. This video is an SDL (stop, drop, and listen [watch]) for me. Great job! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@rsm3t]

This is correct. The pinky finger isn't used. It might appear that way because it is moving alongside the ring finger. I can't play this piece, but I have the score. The thumb is playing on every 8th note, and the other three fingers play repeated 32nd notes for the tremolo. The first 32nd note of each group of 4, coinciding with the thumb strike, is not played, so it's a constant p-a-m-i fingering (thumb-ring-middle-index; classical guitar music uses abbreviations for the Spanish words to notate right-hand fingering). Such a pretty piece. I've been a fan of it and Williams since the 70s.

[@JustJP]

The fabled SDL! Glad you enjoyed Jay, and ty for the info

[@warrenbridges1891]

@@JustJP John played on Kate Bush "Hounds Of Love" album.

[@roberttaylor5997]

I used to be able to sort of play this and no doubt I didn't get the tremolo up to speed but what really beat me was the little flick of a hammer-on within the tremolo, which I never mastered at all.

[@JulioLeonFandinho]

Francisco Tárrega "a guitarist" 🤦🤦🤦 literally THE guitarist, the most important figure for guitar as a player and composer.

[@thebones]

great that you discovered John, a super nice man, I've met him a few times. And a master musician, his technique is standard classical guitar technique but performed at the highest level. I wish that you had chose na better sounding performance. i.e. the one recorded in Granada in the Alhambra Palace.

[@tamaspolyak5564]

Recuerdos de la Alhambra is by Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega from 1899 ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuerdos_de_la_Alhambra ) Mike Oldfield used it for Killing Fields but named it Etude: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKW4hoCggr6jY7M

[@markmaxwell1013]

Excellent composer! I was watching the Ana Vidovic version of this a few days ago.

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

"He's not even trying"! They say you have to practice ten thousand hours to get "good" on the guitar, and that is the product of millions of hours and thousands of days of perfecting every little facet of his art and it's a labor of love & hate! I hate to repeat myself but Jon Gomm will have the same effect on you! "Passionflower" live is a stunningly beautiful and mind blowingly complex! Do yourself and us the favor of giving it the same treatment as the legendary Mr. Williams. Thanks & Peace.

[@Richard_Jones]

John Gomm's great. I even enjoy the ten minutes of chat whilst he tunes up for the next tune.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Ohh, and of course the late great Les Dawson, the man who terrified my childhood by dressing up as an old woman lol. Only a musical genius could play the piano as consistently badly as he could sometimes. 😉

[@kuhnhan]

As someone else already posted, the song they started playing at the beginning is called "Catavina". I actually prefer that song over this. It isn't as technically proficient, but it's more melodic. It kind of reminds me of the guitar solo at the beginning of "Blood on the Rooftops" by Genesis.

[@wushu_jingwu_ar]

The classic guitar technique performed is called "tremolo".

[@leegarcia7054]

He wasn’t using all the fingers of his right hand. The piece is known as a tremelo study which is thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. The composer did not write the piece to include the pinky finger.

[@paulparker1565]

I'm not qualified to talk about the amazing guitar playing of John Williams but just a quick word about the host Les Dawson. He was a very talented comedian, actor, and piano player however, as in this clip, he often would play the piano out of tune for comedic effect.

[@cosmiccat6708]

I play guitar, but, uh...not like that, lol. I've got some John Williams in my music collection, as any lover of the guitar should have. It's the perfect music to relax to. Watching him play is just mesmerising. This is an opportunity to remind you (it's been suggested in past comments) about a young French girl (aged about 17 yrs at the time) named Tina S, who is a phenomenal talent on the guitar. Start with her rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, third movement, which is mind blowing, then there are other equally amazing performances to check out. I would suggest that you listen to the original third movement of the sonata first, played on the piano, because it is an incredible piece of music. The whole suite is, but you need to check out this lady's version for sure. 😺

[@arielquarante]

Notice that the four fingers always playing the "same note". Only the thumb plays the bass and melody. It is of course very impressive, and requires a real amount of technique to "scratch" a single string with so much regularity and speed, and to be able to desynchronize the thumb. But, if I can say so, it is actually very simple. The left hand don't do nothing but simple work. It is of course years of training and the man is obviously mastering is instrument, but again, frankly, in fact, I am very much impressed when I see guitarists perform country finger picking music. This piece was very beautiful and the man awesome. As your channel. Thank you.

[@brucefelger4015]

Check out the Muppet show. they had some amazing musicians performing.

[@maruad7577]

Love me some great acoustic guitar.

[@nickgee461]

John played on 'The Morning Fog', the fantastic closing track on Kate Bush's ' Hounds of Love'. Well worth a listen. You actually reviewed it very briefly along with the rest of Side two of that album a couple of years ago. Worth a proper revisit on its own?

[@spongo]

I would recommend Pepe Romero and the Assad brothers for further exploration of classical guitar.

[@-davidolivares]

Love the Assads. Checking out Pepe!

[@Richard_Jones]

John Williams was a great classical guitarist, Julian Bream was arguably even better. If you want to hear somebody doing something similar, but in the Jazz form, try Martin Taylor. His recordings are worth listenong to in stereo, believe me.

[@mmoura1104]

He is great

[@thomasw78]

Appreciate your reaction to the great John Williams. You should listen to him play Miller's Dance by Manual De Falla. Its freaking epic and his version is the best imo.

[@roberbonastre3380]

Viva España

[@barriehull7076]

Les Dawson is not French. Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 - 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife. Les Dawson was born at Collyhurst, Manchester, on 2 February 1931,[2] the only child of bricklayer Leslie Dawson, Sr. and Julia Nolan, who was of Irish descent.[3] His first job was in the parcels department of the Manchester Co-op.[4] He worked briefly as a journalist on the Bury Times.[4] Wikipedia.

[@jeffreythaw3333]

Congratulations on discovering John WIlliams. He is one of the finest classical guitarists to emerge from the late 1950s...along with the late Julian Bream. Williams' repertoire was unusually expansive and his technical facility was peerless. This particular piece is now somewhat standard fare for classical guitarists (no, he is not using every finger on his right hand, though four out of five). There is another well known tremolo study by Agustin Barrios called Sueño en la Floresta. Here is Williams playing that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKWymJmfe5d6hM0 While these pieces require an accomplished technique they are not the repertoire's most challenging. You might want to listen the Bach lute suites. Williams is a master with those as well...although I prefer David Russell's recent renderings: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5eqZ5p6iNmDZ5Y As for guitar gymnastics, if that is what impresses you, you might check out the late flamenco guitar god, Paco de Lucia. He was, and remains, the most exciting and original flamenco guitarist. kzbin.info/www/bejne/in7FgYCjhK5sgtE

[@JustJP]

Thank you Jeffrey!

[@jamesadkisson7510]

After seeing this, you may recognize, hear that Steve Howe does this some. Not this complicated. But inspired by.

[@renepeterse1884]

Thats classical guitar, and the technique is called tremolo. You use almost every finger on the right hand.

[@dragonan5674]

For more classical guitar, may I suggest Fiona Boyd. I heard about her in the early '80s and bought her album at the time.

[@artrock101]

I think you mean Liona Boyd.

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

Thanks!

[@JustJP]

Ty James!

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

@@JustJP Long overdue!

[@stephenhillier3522]

Perhaps it's time to mention again "Concerto Antico", a guitar concerto written by Richard Harvey of Gryphon specifically for John Williams. There's only one recording of it that I know of, of course with John WIlliams playing. Someone's posted it on KZbin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4HGq3utarqqq6c It's a marvellous combination of classical ideas and prog styling. I'm sure you'd love it.

[@rsm3t]

Check out Sky, a 5-piece prog band featuring Williams as well as Curved Air's Francis Monkman. I recommend the double album Sky 2, as their other albums are weaker. The tracks Hotta, Sahara, El Cielo, and Scipio are among the highlights.

[@rsm3t]

Same album also has the band's rendition of Bach's well-known Tocatta in d minor.

[@vinsgraphics]

I played Hotta for the guys at the Guitar Center in Brea a couple weeks ago. Blown away.

[@10shamen]

Check out Jon Gomm - Passionflower, just something else, a master at his technique

[@maraboo72]

As always it is a thing of individual taste whose playing you like more or less. In this case I prefer the version played by Kyuhee Park: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKqXaXaGq6iEibs. In my opinion her tremolo is even more consistent and with more dynamic differences what makes her interpretation of this wonderful piece more emotionally captivating. In my mind at least but other people will see it completely different.

[@fayellaf]

Lyndsey Buckingham, Mike oldfield and any one that plays Spanish guitar.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Now, try to Munir Bashir, Carlos Paredes, etc.

[@warrenbutson349]

Gotta do Toccata by Sky or have you already?

[@CucamongaRob]

Thank you, not bad for a song that's like 150 yrs old, right?. They don't make em like they used to.

[@sall3n879]

Check out Sky Tocatao

[@spongo]

Re: Late night TV - the problem is the shows exist to pimp product, hence the never-ending parade of actors (promoting new films and TV productions) and celebrity authors.

[@markmaxwell1013]

Yes, some monologues and comedy bits aside talk shows have become long advertisements and miss out unreal talent like this.