‘Julian Bream is probably the most universal guitarist of the 20th century.’ I quote from the inlay booklet accompanying the Westminster disc. The 28­CD set of his recordings made during his long association with RCA (0902 661584­621‚ 8/93)‚ to which add his six later recordings with EMI and Virgin‚ and this new compilation from the four LPs he made with Westminster in 1955­56‚ all testify to the truth of this claim. They represent the most comprehensive recorded archive to any guitarist‚ alive or dead; the reissue of the remaining Westminster tracks would make it complete. The Westminster recordings‚ made during the 21st and 22nd years of his life‚ signalled the emergence of the first truly significant English guitarist in history‚ potentially capable of becoming worthy of mention in the same breath as Segovia – a status he indeed achieved. Segovia not only brought new life to the 19th­century repertory of the guitar‚ he also extended it by ‘borrowing’ suitable music originally written for the lute and the early guitar‚ and by persuading then­contemporary composers to write for him. Julian Bream has done likewise but‚ with the benefit of later scholarship‚ in greater depth. On one hand he has played a major role in the revival of the lute itself and the Elizabethan consort; on the other he has received works from an impressive list of famous composers – unrestricted by Segovia’s innate conservatism. All in all‚ it is a unique achievement. The Westminster recordings reflect Bream’s initial emphasis on what is known as ‘the Segovia repertory’‚ though the Maestro never recorded all five Preludes of Villa­Lobos. What they reveal is the astonishing maturity he displayed at this early stage. The combination of infectious freshness and instinctive understanding of what lies behind the written notes is redolent of the early Segovia – but without the latter’s idiosyncratically free approach to rubato. He is‚ too‚ less devoted to ‘orchestrating’ the music via a wide variety of tone colour‚ but his sound is no less ‘three­dimensional’ and he is no less conscious of the function and character of every note. The re­mastering of the recording per se is spectacularly successful in conveying the crystal clarity of every aspect of these wonderful performances. The RCA disc is‚ as the heading of this review declares‚ a compilation drawn from recordings of Bream in his full maturity‚ of particular interest to those who have not invested in the full 29­CD archive. It contains none of the items in the Westminster disc but these are to be found in other RCA issues and they enable one to compare Bream’s interpretations of individual key works at the start of and nearer the end of his joyous odyssey.