Classical guitar culture of an international order has made its way into town recently, from different trajectories. The acclaimed Assad Brothers duo brought its serious and semi-Brazilian musical mission to the Lobero two weeks ago, and the artist known as Miloš — born Miloš Karadaglic in Montenegro — made a more diluted, serio-crossover statement Sunday, February 23, at Hahn Hall.
Miloš, joined by a quintet from the London-based 12 ensemble, made his Santa Barbara debut, as part of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ “Up Close and Musical” series. This admirable program normally focuses on serious musical business, but Miloš injected crowd-pleasing jolts of pop song arrangements into his otherwise classic guitar repertoire. In an odd bedfellows situation, Paul Simon's “Sounds of Silence,” tunes by Lennon-McCartney, and the Radiohead brooder “Street Spirit,” shared the bill with such classic guitar chestnuts as Granados’ “Andaluzza,” Albéniz’ “Asturias,” and Villa-Lobos’ Prelude No. 1.
All the guitarist played with impressive technical command and expressive charisma, despite periodic glitches. But the smorgasbord effect — 20 separate short pieces — kept us from diving deeper into his aesthetics. Although the program was billed as “Bach to Beatles,” the guitarist played no Bach, whose transcribed music is a staple of the classical guitar repertoire, and a test of any guitarist’s mettle. Bach duty came in the form of a string quintet arrangement of the famed “Aria” of the Goldberg Variations, which can feel lonely and detached when heard divorced from the complete, integrated variations.