The Japanese guitarist Kanahi Yamashita, currently based in Berlin, came to the Siccas Guitars studio for a full concert — and brought a programme with an unmistakable centre of gravity. You can read more about her in our artist profile of Kanahi Yamashita.
Almost everything in it points to one composer. That is no accident: Yamashita took third prize at the European Bach Guitar Award in 2022, a competition given over entirely to Bach.
Bach: Lute Suite BWV 997
The concert opens with the Fuga from the Lute Suite in C minor, BWV 997, followed later by its Gigue and Double.
The Fuga is among the most demanding movements Bach left to plucked instruments. It is long, strictly worked, and asks the player to keep three voices distinguishable on an instrument that can barely sustain one — while the Double that closes the suite takes the Gigue and dissolves it into continuous running figuration. Our article on Bach's lute suites looks at this repertoire and its sources, and our Bach repertoire guide maps the works that have made the transition to six strings.
Tansman: Inventions "Hommage à Bach"
Between the two Bach groups stand three movements from the Inventions pour guitare by Alexandre Tansman — a cycle of five pieces from 1967 subtitled Hommage à Bach. Yamashita plays the Passepied, the Aria and the Toccata à deux voix.
Alexandre Tansman (1897–1986) was a Polish-French composer who wrote for the guitar almost entirely because of his friendship with Andrés Segovia. The Inventions belong to his late work and do exactly what the subtitle promises: baroque forms and two-part writing rendered in a twentieth-century harmonic language. Programming them beside the real Bach is a deliberate move — the listener hears the model and the homage within minutes of each other. Our Tansman repertoire guide introduces his guitar works.
Barrios: Canción de la Hilandera
The concert closes far from Leipzig. Canción de la Hilandera — the spinner's song — was written by Agustín Barrios Mangoré in Mexico in March 1933: a gentle andantino in F major whose accompaniment turns steadily, like the spinning wheel of the title.
After an hour of counterpoint, a piece that asks only for a singing line and an even hand is the right way to end. More about the composer in our introduction to Agustín Barrios.
Six pieces, six guitars
Yamashita changes instrument for every item on the programme, which makes the recital a comparison as much as a concert. The Bach Fuga is played on a 2026 Antonio Marchese, the Gigue and Double on a 2026 Patrick Mailloux double-top with a 64 cm scale. The three Tansman movements are spread across a Siccas Luthiers Recital Traditional, a 2026 Paul Hildebrandt in spruce and rosewood, and a Siccas Luthiers Synthesis double-top.
For the Barrios she turns to the oldest instrument of the evening: a 1976 Hermann Hauser II, No. 1014/a. Read more about that workshop in our article on Hauser guitars.
Watch the Concert
Another guitarist from our channel, Robert Kwiedacz, reached the live semifinal of the same Bach competition in 2025. Browse more repertoire in our overview of famous classical guitar pieces.
