Classical Guitarist Sean Shibe writes in the liner notes of his album ‘Vesper’ that he sought “ to explore the potential of the guitar. And especially playing repertoire on one crafted in 2021- his Sylvette, which is made with spruce and cypress wood, slender bodied and strung to be very responsive to the player’s touch It was modeled after the proto-modern guitars of Andalusian luthier Antonio de Torres in the 19th century..
And indeed, on Vesper the compositions by Thomas Ades, Harrison Birtwistle and James Dillon inspire a startlingly wide range of sonorities, effects, and feral acoustic dynamics articulated by Shibe.
Each composer expresses in part an artistic connection to Spain, including poet Frederick Garcia Lorca, filmmaker Luis Bunuel and particularly Pablo Picasso. The Sylvette is illustrated with painting by French-British artist Lydia Corbet who was Picasso’s muse.
Ultimately, it’s all about the music and Sean Shibe’s technical and interpretive artistry in this repertoire is stellar throughout.
Shibe opens with Ades’s 2023 ‘Forgotten Dances’ a roving six movement work, the first seductive adagio gives way to meditative journeying riffs. In the album liner notes Ades explains his musicological process, “I have no choice. There is an image in my head which to me is completely real. There are obstacles in my way, dense solid knots like ganglia,… By undoing it these knots, I release a living thing.”
Actually the dances are more accessible (and entrancing) than that sounds, starting with
Its Overture: Queen of the Spiders then onto a Berceuse: The Paradise of Thebes with its swirling, silvery rain of notes showcasing Shibe’s precision virtuosity. Then Ades’ tingly Courante for Dada, an homage to sculptor Max Ernst followed by a Barcarolle followed by a lyrical prayer dedicated to Hector Berlioz titled The Maiden Voyage. Carillon de Ville for pre-baroque master Henry Purcell
Harrison Birtwistle (1934-2022) ‘s Beyond the White Hand: Construction with Guitar Player is arresting in it ponderous atmospherics, and mapping out undiscovered guitarist vocabulary. Birtwistle was inspired by Picasso’s cardboard guitar sculptures, Birtwistle said he wanted to compose ‘idiomatic guitar effects’ for these five miniatures textural string and instrument effects contemplating, for instance’ a hollow sort of sonority, suggestive of bleakly evocative landscapes…(not to mention) “irregular ostinatos and enigmatic expression” The miniatures’ – Oockooing Bird, Sleep song, Berceuse de Feanne, Sad Song, Je sui aussi– collectively journeying, meditative, journeying musical freedom. The musical errand into a maze- unsentimental, technically stunning and a guitar ballade for those among us who loves those feral evocative landscapes.
The finale of these recordings is James Dillon’s introspective lyrical guitar studies of James Dillon’s ’12 Caprices.’ Dillon’s notes his music expresses “a trip not taken, the guitar itself as something elusive.” He cites Lorca’s poem ‘ Capriccio’ (Shivering in Italian meaning) Lorca’s lines ‘In the moon’s web/the sky spider/stars are entangled/whirling…’ sets the mood.
‘Vesper’ is one of the best classical albums of the year so far, its roving fusion of Spanish classism, mystical soundscapes and folkloric guitar intimacy entrances throughout.
