Gramophone Magazine
May 2026
Editor's Choice

Sean Shibe (guitar)

Adès: Forgotten Dances
Birtwistle: Beyond the White Hand (Construction with Guitar Player)
Dillon, J: 12 Caprices
Adès: Habanera from 'The Exterminating Angel'
Birtwistle: Oockooing Bird (arr. Henderson)
Birtwistle: Sleep Song
Birtwistle: Berceuse de Jeanne (arr. Henderson)
Birtwistle: Sad Song (arr. Henderson)
Birtwistle: Je sui aussi

Sean Shibe’s fifth PENTATONE album, Vesper, presents a striking collection of contemporary guitar works by the late Harrison Birtwistle, James Dillon, and Thomas Adès—all composed by musicians who do not play the instrument themselves. Recorded here for the first time, these recent miniatures explore the guitar’s expressive range in profoundly different ways: ritualistic and evocative in Birtwistle, elemental in Dillon, and allusive in Adès. Shibe’s interpretations reveal the instrument’s extraordinary colour, subtlety, and capacity for transformation, bringing each work to life with profound imagination and nuance.

"You find yourself marvelling at what Shibe can do with two hands and six strings in the space of one bar - the micro-achievement of his articulation, colouring and mastering of that fragile resonance; the macroachievement, the depths he plumbs, on his instrument, with these miniature stories." — Gramophone Magazine, May 2026

"...this thoughtfully curated programme can be equally enjoyed piece by piece as a series of mind-expanding flights of fancy. ...In Vesper (for Henry Purcell), Adès reimagines the consolation of the older composer’s Evening Hymn. Shibe’s playing throughout is acutely articulate and technically impeccable…" — The Guardian, 17th April 2026