Mel Bay William Kanengiser: Classical Guitar & Beyond

In this live studio performance DVD, classical guitar educator, concert artist and founding Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser offers an in-depth look at two facets of his musical interests through a repertoire of classical and modern masterpieces. Throughout, William demonstrates the effortless technique and thoughtful interpretation that have kept him at the forefront of the classic guitar world for more than two decades. In exclusive bonus tracks, St. Louis radio personality John Clayton provides a thoughtful and informative artist interview, and William Kanengiser makes his debut as an actor and comedian in a hilarious celebrity roast of 20th century guitar icons.
Customer Review: Uninspired
While Mr. Kanengiser has all of the “mechanics” of the guitar worked out, I found his playing to very uninspired. Mel Bay (as usual) has produced an excellent product; all of the close-ups, great sound recording, everything the viewer could want. The performance of the guitarist is where this DVD is lacking, Mr. Kanengiser just appears to be “executing” rather than stiving to communicate to the listener the feeling behind the music. I would recommend ANY of the other “GFA” recordings by Mel Bay over this particular selection.
Customer Review: A great personality in the classical guitar world…
The highlight of the DVD is his presentation at GFA providing insight into the personalities of 22 influential classical guitarists and teachers. That alone is worth the price of the DVD (5 stars); a brilliant presentation….

…as for the performances, each piece is introduced with a little background, and sometimes a little speculation behind the motivation of the composers of the pieces he performs.

In the first half, he performs pieces from Sor, Aguado and Giuliani with a colorful musical interpretation and technique (considering the periods in which they composed, it takes good musicianship to make these interesting). You can tell he truly enjoys playing these pieces.

The highlight (to me) of the performance is in the second half, where he plays three pieces of Joaquin Rodrigo (En Los Trigales, Tiento Antiguo, and Fandango). He also plays a little bit of a hodge-podge of pieces: Missing Her by Frederic Hand (very pretty, with jazz influences), Sketches for Friends by Brian Head, and Keyunbaba by Carlo Dominiconi. He wraps up the second half with two encores (The Miller’s Dance – De Falla, and Rondo all Turak – Mozart).

Finally, he is interviewed and tells us a little about his life: when he started playing, his life at USC, playing with the LAGQ, and a little bit on balancing life with music (focused practicing). He also reveals who his greatest critic is (you’ll have to get the DVD to find out who that is).

A good DVD if you are learning any of these pieces. I found the Rodrigo works to be intriguing, as the phrasing in Rodrigo’s works can be difficult at times to figure out. Bill Kanengizer expresses them very well, and the viewer can “see where the piece is going” musically. “BUY NOW”