Sean Shibe (guitar). Lakeside, Nottingham, 01 May 2025, 5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: William Ruff.

Photo Credit: Lakeside.

Sean Shibe (guitar). Lakeside, Nottingham, 01 May 2025,

5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: William Ruff.

“Sean Shibe: boundary-pushing repertoire plus exceptional artistry.”

Sean Shibe’s Lakeside recital on Thursday isn’t the first time he’s played in Nottingham.  He came to perform the Rodrigo concerto a few years ago (not really his natural habitat) and he’s also taken part in a cutting edge Manchester Collective concert.  Neither really allowed audiences to experience what makes his guitar playing so special.

His 2020 CD of the music of J.S. Bach took the musical world by storm, winning all sorts of awards, with many listeners (and frequently not guitar buffs) going overboard with their praise, such as describing his playing as  “the best ever on guitar”.  This Lakeside recital was the real deal and allowed the audience to experience the breadth of a boundary-pushing programme in the high-definition acoustics of the Djanogly Recital Hall. 

First came three anonymous pieces from 17th century Scottish lute manuscripts, song-like pieces which were not only delicately wistful but prepared listeners’ ears for what was to follow.  Much of this music was very quiet indeed, sometimes at the very threshold of hearing.  And it was that extremely intimate sound which defined the evening and which ensured an atmosphere of rapt concentration.  You just couldn’t afford not to be fully involved.

After the Scottish pieces came a work specially written for Sean Shibe in 2023 by leading British composer Thomas Adès, Forgotten Dances.  It begins with an Overture entitled Queen of the Spiders, a piece that scuttles about rapidly, shrouded in mystery.  The following five dances all have suggestive names, including Paradise of Thebes, Carillon de Ville and Vesper for Henry Purcell.  It’s music which extracts some extraordinary sounds from the guitar.  In his introduction Sean Shibe talked about how Adès goes beyond what anyone had previously thought the guitar could communicate.  And Shibe confesses that, in learning it, he felt as if both his fingers and his guitar were exploding. 

You’d probably need to be a guitarist to appreciate all the work’s technical demands and all the allusions to other composers buried beneath its often spiky surface.  What’s easy to grasp, however, are the hugely contrasting and rapidly evolving textures.  In the Carillon, for instance, the guitar even has to imitate the sound of a bell.  It’s highly virtuosic, seemingly tailor-made for Sean Shibe’s technical mastery, as well as his spirit of adventure. 

In the second half came attractive short pieces by Harrison Birtwistle (Oockooing Bird; Berceuse de Jeanne) and Frank Martin before the altogether more familiar territory of J.S Bach.  Shibe’s arrangement of Bach 1st Cello Suite held all that one could have wished for, especially the transparent textures, allowing the intricate counterpoint to shine through.  Bach’s music was originally written for a bowed instrument, so it might seem a wide stretch to perform it on a plucked guitar; however, Shibe’s imaginative insight into the music makes you temporarily forget the original. 

His encore piece (by Federico Mompou) brought to an end a recital whose repertoire was sometimes challenging but which left one in no doubt that Sean Shibe is an exceptional artist.

Sean Shibe (guitar)