Beatles For Classical Guitar

The Beatles were not only hugely influential on the world of popular music. The creative genius of John Lennon and Paul McCartney inspired many classical musicians to create their own arrangements of these iconic songs. This 2-CD set is the ultimate classical Beatles collection, featuring a selection of arrangements. The first CD consists of arrangements for classical guitar (surely the most appropriate of all classical instruments!) including Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s suite for guitar and strings From Yesterday to Penny Lane. The second CD, Fron Male Voice Choir newly-recorded performance of Yesterday and Hey Jude, and a rousing finale of Let It Be by Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops. One of the highlights of the set is The Beatles Concerto, an arrangement for two pianos and orchestra featuring eight Beatles songs, by the celebrated English composer John Rutter. Also included is Beatlecracker Suite, a fascinating arrangement of Lennon and McCartney songs in the style of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite – a true lost classic composed in 1965 at the very height of ‘Beatlemania’.

The next step in the evolution of the bass guitar! The idea of a concerto for bass guitar is something that I have been dreaming of for decades. Since its invention, the bass guitar has firmly established itself as an essential and integral part of practically every genre of music. The bass guitar, as we now know it, was invented and produced by Leo Fender starting in 1951. The more portable bass guitar, in comparison to the large and unwieldy double bass, was capable of playing at higher volumes via amplification and satisfied the new sonic demands created by the widespread use of electrification in popular music. By increasing the overall scale of the electric guitar and only using the lowest four strings (E, A, D, G), Fender gave birth to a new instrument. Traditional double bassists could quickly adapt, with the added benefit of more accurate intonation due to the frets. Hence the original name: The Precision Bass. At the same time, guitarists could also become bass players when called upon. As a result, many of the early bass guitarists began their musical life as guitar players, with the most well-known example being Paul McCartney of The Beatles.

Guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny is one of the most successful jazz musicians in the world. He is the only artist to win 20 Grammy Awards in 10 different categories. A consummate stylist and risk-taker, his musical signature melds a singular, euphoric sense of harmony with Afro-Latin and Brazilian sounds, rock, funk, global folk musics, and jazz. His 1976 debut, Bright Size Life, and the self-titled Pat Metheny Group two years later resonated with audiences and critics for its euphoric lyricism, dynamics, and rhythmic ideas.