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LOS ANGELES GUITAR QUARTET

For over three decades on the concert stage, the members of the Grammy® Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet have continually set the standard for expression and virtuosity among guitar ensembles, while perennially redefining themselves in their musical explorations. Popularly known as the LAGQ, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, is recognized as one of America’s premier instrumental ensembles. As one of the most charismatic groups performing today, their critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground.

The LAGQ has given recitals in many of the world’s top venues, including Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, Tokyo Opera City, and New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. They have toured extensively in Europe and Asia, where they were featured at the Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila International Arts Festivals and recently made highly successful debuts in China and Australia.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet kicked off their 2016-17 season with a tour ofGermany.  Performances throughout the season continue to span the United States, bringing them to Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachussetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Premiere performances of a new work by guitar legend Pat Metheny, commissioned specifically for them begin in October at Denver’s Newman Center and continue into the 2017-18 season.  They bring the electric Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” to the Waco Symphony Orchestra and, for the holidays they reprise their beloved “Nutcracker Suite” on subscription and family concerts in San Francisco.  Continuing to grow the repertoire for guitar quartet and guitar orchestra, the LAGQ will premiere a new work written by composer and longtime LAGQ member, Andrew York, throughout Arizona in April 2017 and plans to reprise this project in the Washington DC area the following month. 

Among last season’s highlights are a collaboration with Dweezil Zappa on a new work at the Crown of the Continent Festival in Montana, a reprise of their “Night of Spanish Romance” collaborative program with mezzo-soprano Janelle DeStefano and L.A. Flamenco to capacity crowds, and a tour the Baltics.

Additional highlights include LAGQ’s role as Artistic Directors of the 2015 Laguna Beach Music Festival.  As the focal point of the festival, they treated audiences to four days of performances, outreach activities and celebrations including: a joint concert with the LA Percussion Quartet, in which the combined octet premiered a new work by composer Jeff Holmes, a “Latin Romance” Valentine’s program with flamenco dancers plus a vocalist, and a closing performance of “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote: Words and Music from the Time of Cervantes” with guest artist, Firesign Theatre veteran and voiceover actor, Phil Proctor. This last work was captured live at St Louis’ historic Sheldon Theater and released on DVD in March 2012. This multi-disciplinary project was originally developed and premiered in collaboration with the British actor John Cleese in Santa Barbara. 

Recent seasons have focused on many works written specifically for them including “Interchange,” the concerto written for them by Sergio Assad, and “SHIKI: Seasons of Japan,” a work written for them along with Guitar Orchestra.  The world-premiere performance of “SHIKI” took place as part of an extended residency in Loudoun County (VA) a few days after the one-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake. Since the premiere in 2012, this work, inspired by and dedicated to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami, has been performed in numerous communities throughout the United States.  Pushing boundaries once again, the LAGQ participated in the ground breaking 2015 premiere of “How Little You Are” for voices and guitars, by Nico Muhly, one of today’s most sought after composers. The works was hosted by Texas Performing Arts in partnership with the Austin Classical Guitar Society and Conspirare.

The Telarc release of “Interchange,” marked the LAGQ’s first recording of concertos by Rodrigo and Assad. “Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra,” the concerto written specifically for these four virtuosi by Brazilian composer and guitar master, Sergio Assad and featured on the Telarc CD, received a Latin Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.  “Interchange” premiered at the Southwest Guitar Festival with the San Antonio Symphony in 2010 and was later recorded with the Delaware Symphony and Music Director David Amado, along with the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz”.  Performing the work at the composer’s official centenary in Spain at the invitation of his daughter, for a “Live with the Boston Pops” television feature, and to a crowd of thousands at the Hollywood Bowl, are especially memorable events.  Members of the Quartet also performed and recorded two works of Osvaldo Golijov with the Atlanta Symphony in Atlanta and at the Ojai(CA) and Ravinia(IL) Festivals.

The LAGQ’s CD, “Guitar Heroes,” released on Telarc, won the group their first Grammy Award in 2005. It is a heartfelt salute to the great players who inspired the quartet, as individuals and as a group. It has received raves for its unique ability capture the feeling and fervor of diverse musical styles such as jazz, bluegrass, rock and flamenco. In November 2008, this recording joined those by artists such as the Who, Pink Floyd and Dire Straits on Sound and Visions “Top 10 Surround Discs of All Time”. Their first Telarc CD, “LAGQ – Latin,” features their popular transcription of Bizet’s Carmen, along with works from Chile, Cuba and some new original works by members of the quartet. This CD, which has received raves from listeners and critics alike, received a 2003 Grammy nomination and the Super Audio CD (SACD) version won the award for “Best Made for Surround” at the 1st Annual Surround Music Awards. The LAGQ’s release, “SPIN” (Telarc, 2006), shows yet again that the group is equally at home in a wide variety of musical genres and also features several commissioned works from their recent collaboration with percussionist Colin Currie. LAGQ-Brazil (Telarc, 2007) continues to receive raves and includes performances with singing sensation Luciana Souza. The LAGQ’s “Interchange” CD (Telarc, March 2010) features their long-awaited recording of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto Andaluz” and the premiere recording of Sergio Assad’s “Interchange” with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. The DVD of “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote” (March 2012) appears on the Mel Bay Artist Series, along with their first live-concert DVD. Their newest recording, entitled “New Renaissance,” released in March 2015 is a modern take on classic works.  It includes long-awaited instrumental works from “Music from the Time of Cervantes”, and new works by Bogdanovic and Krouse, among others. 

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New Renaissance

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Los Angeles, California

The Grammy Award-winning LAGQ is one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. They consistently play to sold-out houses world-wide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. ...   more

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Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

John Dearman | Matthew Greif | William Kanengiser | Scott Tennant

For nearly thirty years on the concert stage, the members of the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet have continually set the standard for expression and virtuosity among guitar ensembles, while perennially redefining themselves in their musical explorations. Popularly known as the LAGQ, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, is recognized as one of America’s premier instrumental ensembles. As one of the most charismatic groups performing today, their critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground.

The LAGQ has given recitals in many of the world’s top venues, including Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Opera City, and New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. They have toured extensively in Europe and Asia, where they were featured at the Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila International Arts Festivals and in June 2008 made a highly successful debut in Beijing.

The LAGQ kicked off their 2009-10 season with a return to Wyoming’s Grand Teton Festival and then followed that up with a tour of Europe including stops in the England, Germany and Poland. They appear as a hallmark event at La Guittarra California, and undertake their first tour of “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote – Words and Music from the Time of Cervantes.” With Firesign Theatre veteran and voiceover actor, Phil Proctor the LAGQ stops at Northwestern University in Chicago,IL, The Modlin Center in Richmond,VA, and the Tisch Center at the 92nd Street Y in New York; plans for additional performances in the US and Europe are underway for 2010 and beyond. Solo concerts and residencies take the LAGQ to venues throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Puerto Rico, as well as on several tours of Europe. A highlight of Spring 2010 will be the Telarc release of their first recording of concertos by Rodrigo and Assad. The Quartet’s 2008-09 season featured two exciting additions to the repertory. The first is “Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra,” a new concerto written specifically for these four virtuosi by Brazilian composer and guitar master, Sergio Assad.

This work premiered as part of the Southwest Guitar Festival with the San Antonio Symphony and subsequent performances included the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Seattle, New Jersey, Santa Barbara and Delaware Symphonies. The work was then recorded with the Delaware Symphony and Music Director David Amado. The LAGQ’s appearance in Santa Barbara was part of the second week-long guitar celebration sponsored by the Symphony that they helped to curate. In addition to the Assad concerto, the LAGQ premiered “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote – Words and Music from the Time of Cervantes,” in collaboration with the brilliant British actor, John Cleese. In addition to the above, the LAGQ brought multiple performances of the vibrant Rodgrigo “Concierto Andaluz”, their popular solo concerts and residencies to venues throughout the United States, Germany, Poland, Spain and England.

Past highlights have included performances of the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” at the composer’s official centenary in Spain at the invitation of his daughter. Tours in support of their “Brazil” CD with vocalist Luciana Souza and as a special New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Tisch Center at the 92nd Street Y(NY). Members of the Quartet also performed and recorded two works of Osvaldo Golijov with the Atlanta Symphony in Atlanta and at the Ojai(CA) and Ravinia(IL) Festivals.

The LAGQ’s CD, “Guitar Heroes,” released on Telarc, won the group their first Grammy Award in 2005. It is a heartfelt salute to the great players who inspired the quartet, as individuals and as a group. It has received raves for its unique ability capture the feeling and fervor of diverse musical styles such as jazz, bluegrass, rock and flamenco. In November 2008, this recording joined those by artists such as the Who, Pink Floyd and Dire Straits on Sound and Visions “Top 10 Surround Discs of All Time”. Their first Telarc CD, “LAGQ – Latin,” features their popular transcription of Bizet’s Carmen, along with works from Chile, Cuba and some new original works by members of the quartet. This CD, which has received raves from listeners and critics alike, received a 2003 Grammy nomination and the Super Audio CD (SACD) version won the award for “Best Made for Surround” at the 1st Annual Surround Music Awards. The LAGQ’s release, “SPIN” (2006), shows yet again that the group is equally at home in a wide variety of musical genres and also features several commissioned works from their recent collaboration with percussionist Colin Currie. The ensemble’s current release, LAGQ-Brazil (Telarc, 2007) continues to receive raves and includes performances with singing sensation Luciana Souza. The LAGQ’s next Telarc recording [March 2010] “Interchange” features their long-awaited recording of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto Andaluz” and the premiere recording of Sergio Assad’s “Interchange” with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. The LAGQ’s first live-concert DVD appears on the Mel Bay Artist Series.

For more information about the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, visit their website at www.lagq.com.

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Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Marks 40 Years of Inspiring Guitarists, Composers, and Fans Around the World

• August 17, 2022
• September-October 2022

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) is as renowned for its virtuosity as for its adventurous musical programming. They are not your typical classical ensemble. The quartet’s individual members’ musical tastes cover a vast spectrum. While classical music (from the Renaissance to the present era) is the anchor genre, the group’s influences add jazz, flamenco, folk, bluegrass, rock, and world music to the mix. 

Each member has burnished educational credentials and holds teaching posts at notable California universities, yet they don’t herald intellectualism in the modern music they play. Nor do they strive for commercial appeal when incorporating popular music elements. The group is about sincere, joyful music-making done with exacting precision while projecting warmth and enthusiasm. The LAGQ also has a sense of humor, as evidenced in the cheeky “Pachelbel’s ‘Loose’ Canon,” from their 1996 Baroque album For Thy Pleasure . It opens with a straight-faced statement of the beloved theme before taking it through hilarious and irreverent disco, rock, rumba, big-band, and other stylistic variations.

Now and Then

The group recently marked four decades of performing and recording together. To date, they have received three Grammy nominations and won the award for their 2005 album, Guitar Heroes . The ensemble formed at the University of Southern California, where original members Bill Kanengiser, John Dearman, Scott Tennant, and Anisa Angarola were all students of Pepe Romero of the famed Romero family guitar quartet. (Dearman had previously studied with Celín Romero, Pepe’s brother.) At USC, Dearman recalls, “I met Bill, and we began playing duos. When Scott came the next year [1980], Pepe suggested we form a quartet with Anisa.” “We assembled to play in Pepe’s masterclasses,” Tennant adds, “and were thrilled to perform his arrangements of great Spanish pieces.” 

They went by the generic moniker USC Guitar Quartet before becoming the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in 1982. “That was the year we became a professional group,” Kanengiser remembers. “We did our first tour in Mexico and got a manager. We released our first album the next year.” In 1990, Angarola decided to pursue a different direction and formed her own quartet. “Anisa is a great musician and guitarist,” Dearman offers. “We were doing a lot of what the Romeros did—playing Spanish and other classical music. Bill and I had a different musical introduction to the guitar with electric guitars and steel-strings, and started exploring things closer to our roots. Our musical direction changed.” Fellow USC alumnus Andrew York—who also had a diverse musical background—joined the group upon Angarola’s departure.

“When Andy joined, we decided to be our own group, not just a second-best version of someone else,” Tennant states. “He started writing, and for the years he was in the group, we played a new piece by him every season.” York’s gift for composing and arranging enhanced the ensemble’s unique identity.

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After 16 years and the Grammy win (for Best Crossover Classical Album), York left to launch his own successful solo performing and composing career. In 2006, Matthew Greif, a former student of Tennant and Kanengiser at USC, took York’s place. “It wasn’t an upheaval because Matt’s playing could cover the things Andy did,” Dearman says. “His jazz playing is excellent, he’s a great reader, and a really good arranger.” Greif made his recorded debut on the 2007 album LAGQ Brazil and appears on the group’s Interchange and New Renaissance CDs, plus LAGQ’s Ingenious Gentleman: Don Quixote DVD. The current lineup is also featured on Pat Metheny’s 2021 Road to the Sun album [ see story in the July/August 2021 issue of AG ] playing the five-movement title work commissioned by LAGQ.

Synthesis of Sound and Light

April 2022 saw the release of Opalescent , the 16th album in the LAGQ catalog. The title reflects the album’s dedication to the late Australian guitarist and composer Phillip Houghton. Described by his friends as a synesthete, Houghton perceived colors in musical notes and timbres. “Phillip’s Opals was the starting point for this recording,” says Kanengiser. “We met Phillip years ago in Sydney, and fell in love with this piece. After he passed, we thought it important to honor his memory on the recording. His two pieces [ Opals and “Wave Radiance”] are the most overtly related to sound and light. We feel that all the music on this record in some way plays on this synthesis of sound and light.”

The movements of Houghton’s tripartite Opals were inspired by different varieties of the gemstone. “Black Opal” features subdued but insistent rhythmic figures ricocheting between the players as the piece roams through minor-mode territory to a place with glowing, multihued harmonies. The moody “Water Opal” is grounded in D minor and driven by various percussive taps and knocks, interspersed with bursts of color in concerted lines harmonized with notes outside the key. Harmonics appear throughout like droplets of water that taper off at the end of a rain shower. “White Opal” is upbeat, powered largely by a midrange pedal tone, arpeggio accompaniment figures that break into melodic fragments, and chord clusters. It concludes on a triumphant A major triad.

Aside from Opals , the album contains two other major offerings—German guitarist-composer Tilman Hoppstock’s Suite Transcendent and Robert Beaser’s Chaconne —in addition to five shorter works. The Beaser piece comprises nine variations on a repeating passacaglia bass figure loosely based on the descending line in Henry Purcell’s “Thy Hand Belinda,” an aria from the English Renaissance composer’s only opera.

“It’s a pretty big and ambitious work by a non-guitarist,” says Dearman, who votes it his favorite piece on the album. “It’s not what our quartet is usually identified with, which is music that’s pretty approachable. I always find something different in playing this piece. You can dig really deeply and keep finding new things.”

Kanengiser adds, “There are some neo-Baroque variations—one having French-overture aspects with its dotted notes. Some are jumpy, almost pop-sounding variations. Some are expanded in a minimalist style. The last two have a world music feel. The final one is like a Cuban dance. Beaser throws in so many styles.” 

As for Suite Transcendent , Kanengiser explains that Hoppstock, who has composed in the Impressionist style under the non de plume Allan Wilcocks, “wrote a series of preludes, etudes, and other works that were amazing. They seemed like pieces Debussy could have written for solo guitar. I asked him if ‘Allan’ could write a guitar quartet, and we got this five-movement piece inspired by an imaginary exhibition of Impressionist paintings.” 

“We recorded it in 2017 for Tilman’s label,” Tennant adds, “and remastered it for this project. There are very coloristic tones in his musical directions in the score. It’s very impressionistic music.” (On the album the piece is credited to Hoppstock, not Wilcocks.)

The first movement, “Open Landscape,” is airy, with scampering whole-tone passages and pianistic figures orchestrated across the quartet. The brief “La Grande Cathedrale” is notable for its dark and dramatic chords and harmonics that arc upwards before plateauing for a hushed finish. Fittingly, “A Breath of Wind” has a lively tempo, breezy feel, and whole-tone motives. Its latter part gives nods toward Ravel’s “Empress of the Pagoda.” Kanengiser feels “La Porte du Ciel,” the fourth movement, is one of the most alluring: “It’s written almost entirely in harmonics and requires a strange tuning to produce them. It doesn’t sound like four guitars. To me, it almost sounds like a xylophone.” “Danza Diabolica” starts with vigorous antiphonal strumming and rapid-fire cross-string trills. Rich, strummed chords appear before a fugal passage rises up from the low end. Then, a series of arpeggiated chords recalling Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” lead to an emphatic concluding bass-note punctuation.

Frederic Hand’s “Chorale” began life as a piece for guitar orchestra before Hand reworked it for the quartet. Hand has written that it “is inspired by the Renaissance and Baroque choral music that I listened to in my youth (especially Bach’s chorales). Although I’ve integrated some of my favorite jazz harmonies and rhythms into the fabric of the music.” The opening theme has a reverent, vocal quality and unfolds with pleasing harmonic shifts. As the piece evolves, it becomes decidedly guitaristic via pizzicato effects and arpeggiated accompaniments, before a serene ending.

In “Alki Point,” composer Kevin Callahan creates an intricate texture with overlaid arpeggio patterns and melodies tossed between the players. A creative interpolation of aspects of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery’s tune “Four on Six” appears about two minutes in, highlighting an appreciation for jazz by both composer and performers.

Matthew Greif has long been intrigued by Michael Hedges’ watershed acoustic guitar piece “Aerial Boundaries,” and arranged it for the group. “I always thought it would be a great concert opener for the quartet,” Greif says. “The energy, crispness, and innovation in it are stunning.” While Hedges played melodic fragments, bass notes, chordal accompaniment, sweeps of harmonics, and percussive tapping on a single guitar, it becomes expansive on four. Greif divvied up the original parts and added a new section. “The guys thought it was good to cover what Michael played, but felt I should add something to give us more of a reason to play it,” Greif notes. He used Hedges’ material and wrote a contrapuntal episode that precedes the recap of the theme. Bookending the album are Andrew York’s sprightly “Hidden Realm of Light” and Houghton’s luminous “Wave Radiance.” The York piece, recorded previously on LAGQ’s 2006 album Spin , gets a replay as the opener on Opalescent .

“‘Wave Radiance’ is almost like a bonus track,” Kanengiser says. “ Suite Transcendent ends with a bang and then ‘Wave Radiance’ carries you out on a beam of light. It’s a meditation on subtly morphing waves of light beams. I don’t think we’ve recorded a piece like that.”

Lasting Legacy

On June 27, 2021, the Guitar Foundation of America celebrated the four decades of LAGQ, presenting them with the Artistic Achievement Award and inducting them into the GFA Hall of Fame. Pepe Romero presented the award in a ceremony that also acknowledged past LAGQ members Angarola and York, who were on hand. In the June 2021 issue of Soundboard , the journal of the GFA, Romero shared reminiscences about the group’s evolution, writing: “In short time, LAGQ developed their own musical direction and style and became an enormous success, playing concerts, making recordings, inspiring composers to write for them, which provided a huge contribution to the guitar quartet literature.” Additionally, LAGQ has helped to popularize the guitar quartet internationally and inspired numerous other groups to form.

Judging by the stylistic diversity of their repertoire, some may think the LAGQ has left the traditional canon behind. But classical music is well represented in their discography alongside other types of music. The group’s live show paints the full picture. “We’ve always taken a balanced approach to our recitals,” says Kanengiser. “We open with the overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and end the concert with music by Manuel de Falla. We also play an arrangement I made of the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata.’ It’s become sort of a hit for us. Once we establish our bona fides with a chamber music audience, then we can hit them with Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix.”

What They Play

On Opalescent, John Dearman plays a 2018 Dennis Tolz spruce seven-string with D’Addario XT hard tension strings , Bill Kanengiser plays a 2016 Gernot Wagner spruce with Savarez Cantiga Blue , Scott Tennant plays a 2010 Philip Woodfield spruce with Savarez Cantiga Creation Red , and Matthew Greif plays a 2015 Antonius Müller cedar with Savarez Cantiga Red . —MS

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2022 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Mark Small is a New England-based classical guitarist, composer, and music journalist.

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Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Danse Négre from African Suite op. 35

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The Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) is one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. The LAGQ, comprised of four uniquely accomplished musicians, Bill Kanengiser, John Dearman, Matt Greif, and Douglas Lora, brings a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from Bluegrass to Bach. They consistently play to sold-out houses world-wide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. Programs including Latin, African, Far East, Irish, Folk and American Classics transport listeners around the world in a single concert experience. Their ‘Don Quixote’ collaboration with Firesign Theater veteran, actor Philip Proctor, continues to expand and delight audiences and the work ‘SHIKI: Seasons of Japan’ written for the LAGQ plus guitar orchestra by composer Shingo Fujii is connecting communities across the nation.

Winner of a 2005 Grammy Award, their “Guitar Heroes” CD released on Telarc is a brilliant follow-up to their Grammy nominated “LAGQ-Latin”. “Spin” (Telarc, 2006) continues their explorations of jazz and contemporary music. “LAGQ: BRAZIL” (Telarc, 2007), including collaborations with vocalist Luciana Souza, was released to rave reviews, and their newest recording of the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” and Sergio Assad’s “Interchange”, written specifically for them, was released on Telarc in Spring 2010, and quickly climbed to top spot on the Billboard charts.  The live DVD of “The Ingenious Gentleman: Don Quixote” was released on the Mel Bay label in spring 2012. In 2015, the LAGQ released their latest album titled “New Renaissance,” a unique blend of renaissance originals and renaissance-inspired compositions by Dusan Bogdanovic and Ian Krouse.

“…unrivaled joy, technical élan, and questing spirit.” —Los Angeles Times

“…the performance was revelatory.” —New York Times

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The Music City Review

Nashville's source for arts review and discussion.

Live in Franklin:

• LAGQ Concert at Franklin Theatre

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet brought a warmth to Franklin Theatre on an April night of near freezing temperatures at show time. The intimacy in which the four guitarists blend their sound suited the small crowd. One patron informed me that LAGQ had been booked for dates nearly two years ago but was postponed until events could resume without pandemic restrictions. Now the quartet begins a three-show stint at Franklin Theatre before heading to Oak Ridge, TN.

We were a special crowd due to the fact that LAGQ released their album Opalescent that day and were happy to feature some of the works from the record. This would be their first live performance in quite some time in a year in which they celebrate 40 years as a quartet. 

After opening with an excellent arrangement of “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”, member Bill Kanengiser introduced the piece “Opals” by Phillip Houghton and explained how the music depicts “the glints and reflections of the gemstones.” Houghton was a synesthete meaning he saw specific colors when he heard musical tones. Kanengiser explained that in the score he writes certain colors that are represented above some notes. 

“Chorale” by Frederic Hand was performed with the utmost attention to ensemble interplay with the purpose of turning four guitars into an acapella vocal ensemble. As all four musicians took cues from their scores on music stands, I could not help but think that they were putting more into the music than just reading from the page. There was very little physicality happening on stage but the sound had this wonderfully dense, warm harmonic movement that swept you along.

John Dearman introduced two movements from Road to the Sun (2021), a project composed by Jazz legend Pat Metheny for LAGQ. Metheny’s themes weave in and out of colorful harmonies and the four guitarists are constantly trading melody, strummed chords, and other parts of the music. This lengthy performance that pulled us into the musical world of a brilliant composer and defied genre took us into an intermission.

Returning from the break, Matt Grief spoke about a past project called Guitar Heroes (2004) that featured the group’s arrangements of some of their favorites. These tunes included an infectiously groovy “Peaches en Regalia” by Frank Zappa and an elegant medley of “Blue Ocean Echo” and “Country Gentleman” by Chet Atkins with a coda of “Wind Cries Mary” by Jimi Hendrix seamlessly added on. Matt Grief subtly slipped a glass slide on his left hand to add something special to the Chet Atkins songs and completely fooled us that he was still playing a classical guitar!

The audience cameras went up during the second movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” which Scott Tennant introduced as a special arrangement done by Bill Kanengiser after an invitation to the Beethoven Fest. It was captivating and especially effective for guitar, making good use of the bass notes on John Dearman’s 7-string guitar. 

The finale was an explosion of notes from composer Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo . The two movements “Canción del fuego fatuo” and “Danza ritual del fuego” satisfied the crave for Spanish guitar music and exhibited some of the polished musicianship that comes with 40 years experience performing as a group. 

The LAGQ have been inducted into the Guitar Foundation of America’s hall of fame and received the honor from Pepe Romero of the famed quartet The Romeros in a special 2021 ceremony. In a conversation with Bill Kanengiser one week before this show, he told me they have enjoyed the journey and he addressed the future of the guitar ensemble by saying the guitar quartet is here to stay. We are thankful to have hosted them here in middle Tennessee and I believe LAGQ will continue to bring these high level performances to audiences across the country for many more years.

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Classical guitarist, music educator, and contributor to Music City Review from Murfreesboro, TN

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One Comment to LAGQ Concert at Franklin Theatre

I’ve been a fan of these guys for so long! It’s nice to know that they are so down to earth.

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