Julian Bream’s Japanese footstool 💫

 

The japanese footstool (from the words of someone who knew him)

My mentor and teacher was Siegfried Behrend (1933 – 1990), who, like Julian Bream, enjoyed a worldwide career. 

He once told me the following story: In the 1960s or the early 1970s, Bream had a concert date in Berlin. On the day of his arrival he realized that he had forgotten his footstool. 

The organizer immediately knew what to do: He knew Siegfried Behrend, who in this time was living in Berlin, went to him and asked him to lend Bream a footstool. Behrend gave him a traditional footstool that he had brought with him from a bathhouse in Japan (Furo-isu (風呂いす) or Hinoki), which Bream was allowed to keep as a gift. Bream did'nt know these benches and was - as Behrend said - absolutely thrilled with the small wooden bench and continued to use it in his performances - as it also can be seen here in the photo out of this time. 

Another note: Despite all the differences between the two, Behrend admired Bream without any envy as a “great master of the guitar” and “a consummate an beautiful musician” whose recordings he always enjoyed listening to and admiring.