Ricardo -> RE: Segovia and Yepe (Mar. 24 2006 21:50:58)
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My parents were classical guitarists. They had respect for flamenco, in fact that is how I first heard it, from my dad's records. Unfortunately, classical guitarists in general have A LOT of misconceptions about flamenco. They see it more as flashy techniques. But at the same time, a lot of flamenco guitarists have little or no respect for classical players, or think that there is something wrong with you if you need to read music. I think the younger generation that I have met, has mutual respect for what is going, although there are still misconceptions. I was impressed by Scott Tenanat's Pumping Nylon. Anyway, a big problem I can see is rhythmic interpretation. Nowadays classical players are better at doing rhythmical things, than those of Segovia's generation. So what happened is a lot of people went to Segovia and said wow have you heard PDL? He probably got tired of the same old defense and started to say things like there is more to technique than fast picados, fast runs. He still wanted to keep the idea of classical guitar as a more "noble" thing, you know, BACH is REAL music, even though a lot of young flamenco players had amazing abilities. But IMO, no classical player in the world can play LIKE or as good as PDL. But, they don't need to really, it is different music, a different world. So why compare at all? Well what happened is Paco played Aranjuez. Ever heard Yepes? Like many other classical players the guy had no timing, no groove, the orchestra chases him left and right. Paco is maybe the only guy that plays the concierto with a solid rhythmic feel. In fact, in print Paco said that was the whole point of his interpretation. If I was a Yepes, I would take those words personally, but maybe Paco said this AFTER he performed. Whatever happened, Yepes said that Paco had no business crossing over into the classical world, and that he ruined the concierto. The composer himself (Rodigo) thought that it was very "exotic". Paco's tone is NOT classical, and that is looked at as a big part of technique in classical. The flamenco player likewise sees the "flamenco sound" as part of the technique. Ever seen Bream talking to Pena about his "unrefined" sound? Give me a break. But that is what I mean by "misconceptions". I feel very strong about this subject and have lots of stories, but enough for now. Ricardo
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