It was an absolute pleasure to meet the members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: Bill Kanengiser, John Dearman, Matt Greif and Scott Tennant last night. It was their first concert in Granada ever and Bill expressed their satisfaction at finally making it here. This is why we need CSU Summer Arts and the Guitar Festival in Granada. As usual, guitarists, guitar-makers, organisers, students and assorted family members traipsed off to the nearest open-air restaurant for refreshment in the mercifully cooler evening after the concert. Bill had plenty of questions about the Alhambra which he was visiting the next day and as always I found myself wishing for a bit more knowledge about it.

Bach, Bizet, Debussy, Hand, and various Spanish and English renaissance composers made for an eclectic and thoroughly enjoyable concert. In addition to the pieces on the programme they played two movements from Metheny’s Road to the Sun, a wonderful piece written just for them. Most of the arrangements seemed to be the work of either Bill or Scott. The guitars all seemed to do what was asked of them in the relatively large hall along with some discreet miking. My only complaint of the evening was the thing that Bill plays, although it has huge volume, it doesn’t sound like a guitar at all.