Profesión
Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 3 in A minor (Homage to Bach); 12 Studies; Barrios: La catedral; Ginastera: Sonata, Op. 47
Sean Shibe (guitar)
Pentatone PTC 5187 054 62:05 mins
Sean Shibe’s album Profesión – the title of which is taken from the composer Agustín Barrios’s poem ‘Profession of Faith’ – presents much of the significant classical guitar repertoire of the 20th century, drawing on an astonishing array of styles and sonorities. Indeed, the opening chords of this recording produced such resonance and vibrancy that at first it seemed as if the sonic effects had been produced electronically. Copious sleeve notes however, revealed the recording was made in the beautiful Medieval Crichton Church, providing all the magical and spiritual sensory experience one could hope for from an acoustic recording.
This comprehensive programme produces at times astonishing effects that are all the more surprising because of their immediate juxtaposition of dynamics and colours; Shibe has the extraordinary ability to perform dramatically contrasting moods without any sense of it coming. The Canto from Alberto Ginastera’s Sonata for example displays a startling range of techniques and flourishes, while in Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Allegro non troppo from 12 Studies the sounds were so soft and shimmery, one could barely hear any contact with the strings at all; the notes just seem to spill out of the instrument. The exploration of phrasing is also fully exposed and the clarity of slurs and beautifully controlled ornaments, as well as the percussive effects of ‘comping’ (most notably in the Brazilian flavoured Finale) are joyfully unleashed.
This is a gleaming and brilliant album that doesn’t fail to awaken the senses to the exhilarating world of un-adulterated acoustic sound. Anne Templer