Search - Mel Bay William Kanengiser: Classical Guitar & Beyond on DVD

A great personality in the classical guitar world...

G. TEPPER | the OC, CA | 03/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The highlight of the DVD is his presentation at GFA providing insight into the personalities of 22 influential classical guitarists and teachers. That alone is worth the price of the DVD (5 stars); a brilliant presentation....

...as for the performances, each piece is introduced with a little background, and sometimes a little speculation behind the motivation of the composers of the pieces he performs.

In the first half, he performs pieces from Sor, Aguado and Giuliani with a colorful musical interpretation and technique (considering the periods in which they composed, it takes good musicianship to make these interesting). You can tell he truly enjoys playing these pieces.

The highlight (to me) of the performance is in the second half, where he plays three pieces of Joaquin Rodrigo (En Los Trigales, Tiento Antiguo, and Fandango). He also plays a little bit of a hodge-podge of pieces: Missing Her by Frederic Hand (very pretty, with jazz influences), Sketches for Friends by Brian Head, and Keyunbaba by Carlo Dominiconi. He wraps up the second half with two encores (The Miller's Dance - De Falla, and Rondo all Turak - Mozart).

Finally, he is interviewed and tells us a little about his life: when he started playing, his life at USC, playing with the LAGQ, and a little bit on balancing life with music (focused practicing). He also reveals who his greatest critic is (you'll have to get the DVD to find out who that is).

A good DVD if you are learning any of these pieces. I found the Rodrigo works to be intriguing, as the phrasing in Rodrigo's works can be difficult at times to figure out. Bill Kanengizer expresses them very well, and the viewer can "see where the piece is going" musically."