Gramophone Magazine
September 2021
Editor's Choice
BBC Music Magazine
October 2021
Recording of the Month
Sean Shibe (guitar)
Falla: El sombrero de tres picos: Danza del molinero (farruca)
José: Pavana Triste
Mompou: Cançon y Danzas. Nros 6a, 6b, 10a, 10b
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Falla: Homenaje a Debussy
Mompou: Suite Compostelana
Poulenc: Sarabande for solo guitar, Op. 179
Camino is guitarist Sean Shibe’s first PENTATONE album, an introspective programme exploring French-Spanish musical borders, a pilgrimage leading from Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante défunte, Satie’s Gymnopédie No.1 and Gnossiennes 1 and 3, Poulenc’s Sarabande, De Falla’s Miller’s Dance and Homaje, pour le Tombeau de Debussy and José’s Pavana triste all the way to Mompou’s Cançons i dansas 6 and 10, as well as his Suite compostelana. Shibe has deliberately granted Mompou a central role on this album, as his music demonstrates that melancholy, aimlessness and a whole host of other feelings are not things to be avoided or fixed or solved, but experiences to be felt deeply: not with sad nostalgia, but with genuine wonder and excitement at what this means for the future. In that respect, Camino also documents Shibe’s personal quest to overcome the challenges of a time dominated by Covid-19, and to ultimately see the world anew.
Multi-award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe brings a fresh and innovative approach to the traditional classical guitar, while also exploring contemporary music and repertoire for electric guitar.
"Shibe subverts expectations from the off: another artist might be tempted to despatch the de Falla's arresting opening chord with splashy flamboyance, yet in Shibe’s hands it takes on an austere, arid beauty which immediately announces that this musical journey through Spain is going to be more akin to a pilgrimage than a package-tour...this is yet another indispensable album from one of today’s most thoughtful and original young artists – I warrant you’ll revisit it time and again, discovering new riches on every hearing." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical, 20th August 2021.
