Hotel Mark

I had the pleasure of seeing guitarist Richard Durrant in concert earlier this month. The concert format he uses is “The Guitar Whisperer”…Richard once toured with group Sky, John Williams late replacement.

The concert is a mixture of classical guitar favourites, electric guitar multi tracked, and Richard’s other beloved instruments, the Banjo, Ukulele.

The concert setting was impressive under the lighting, with the array of instruments in a circle, creating an atmosphere of playing beneath the stars. The first half was classical works, beginning with Spanish classics “Recuerdos de la Alhambra”, the evergreen evocation of the Alhambra palace near Granada, by Spanish composer Fransisco  Tarrega. After that came ”Asturias” or Leyanda by Albeniz, “Cavatina” by Myers, “Sakura Variations” the charming variations on a Japanese folk song.

It’s always a wonder to me how the guitar can “vocalise” in many accents. For example, Spanish music played by Pepe Romero for example is so typically steeped in the Spanish accent. Yet Romero playing Latin American music does not always have the latin accent brought out by players such as Diaz or Rojas. This is NOT to say it sounds inferior, just the way the idiom comes accross. Julian Bream’s renditions of albeniz and Granados I think  peerless, but even this does not bring out the Spanish flavour. I think of them as classical interpretations of these works. Durrant has a gift of bringing out the musics natural idiom, even adding his own personal touches to Alhambra and Leyenda.

Then came a suprise, as the performer took up his banjo, inserted two clothes pegs under the strings, and proceeded to play a Bach prelude! Followed by a Bach Cello suite on the Ukulele. The Banjo exuded a much higher quality sound than I have been accustomed to hearing, and the Ukulele sounded much like a Baroque guitar, far removed from George Formby Banjo-Ukulele! Following that was a more recent Cuban composition for guitar, steeped in the tradition of the Rumba.

Second half, apart from Gomez Crespo’s charming Inca folk song “Nortena”, was mostly electric guitar, featuring the old Sky track written by Herbie Flowers, “Westway” inspired by traffic moving along a main highway. Lastly, Durrant’s interpretation of Steve Reich’s “Electric Counterpoint”, which included two previously recorded tracks for backing. An off the cuff encore followed, mostly audience requests.

Richard Durrant is an engaging performer, who clearly enjoys mixing with the audience, meeting and talking to us in the interval. All in all, an enjoyable night.

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