CRAMPHORN LUNCHTIME CONCERT

Bill Bradley, guitar

09.09.09

We had no programmes, no enthusiastic intro. And Bill Bradley had forgotten his sheet music. But his love of the guitar, and his memory, guaranteed a delightful hour, the first of this season's Cramphorn lunchtimes.

He began with a John Williams arrangement of Bach's Third Cello Suite, with his familiar Bourrée. It was an intense but gentle performance, as he caressed the melodies from the strings.

Quieter still was the René Lacote guitar, 1820, Paris, inlaid with jet and ivory, which he used for a Bach Waltz.

Despite the beard and the cider bottle, Bradley is not a folk song collector, but his own English Suite [obviously influenced by J S Bach] incorporates many traditional nautical melodies: a skiff in a storm, a calm idyll, then rain and the sun setting over the island of Fand.

The set ended with jazz – a tribute to Ellington “who wrote music that for many people became the sound of love.”

The regular Wednesday sessions continue weekly into January, including return visits by Cramphorn favourites like Kay Usher, Saxology and Susie Self.