68 Quotes by Julian Bream

It is difficult to understand the fortunes of an instrument. There was music written for the guitar until the mid-19th century. Then the instrument declined in popularity.

A violin is tuned to a fifth. But a guitar is tuned to a fourth with a one-third middle. It is very perplexing to composers.

Music has been my real solace. And that's why I play music. And that's why I'm so determined, or have been so determined to pursue what I wanted to do, come what may.

I think that the first World War put an end the kind of music that Mahler, Bruckner and Richard Strauss were writing. A change of fashion was needed.

I used to drive myself about in an old Austin van... and then have to sleep in the back because I couldn't afford a hotel.

Some composers end up writing for the guitar as they would write piano music or, more often, harp music. It isn't the same.

My father was a very clever man. My mother was not clever. An extraordinary woman, but simple.

Wanting to play the guitar was neither a wild dream nor a realistic ambition. It was simply inevitable.

The Nocturnal' was very nearly beyond me.