Released September 23rd 2016
Maxwell Davies: An Orkney Wedding & other works
Category: Uncategorized
Graham Wade on Andres Segovia, December 2012
I was browsing through a couple of issues of Classical Guitar Magazine last night and saw a few words from Graham Wade on a comments page from the December 2012 issue. Segovia is one of those great guitarists that I've tried to love so many times, but I have never been able to enjoy - [...]
Serenades of the Unicorn
Today, Einojuhani Rautavaara died at 80 years old. His few works for guitar remain woefully underplayed... Let's solve this. https://youtu.be/mByi-i6nW8E
Apollo Music London
I had an amazing time yesterday visiting two primary schools in North London for Apollo Music Projects. It was pretty rewarding to hear the kids respond with "this is my FAVOURITE BIT!" when they were asked to use their imagination in describing how a piece made them feel. I think that this skill is actually [...]
Talking about Brexit on Norddeutscher Rundfunk (North German Broadcasting) earlier today: http://www.ndr.de/ndrkultur/Reaktionen-zur-Brexit-Entscheidung,brexit176.html For those who don't understand German, a translation: That's just the nature of democracy. I am of course disappointed about the result, but we must now look ahead and try to make the best of the situation . There is no way back. [...]
Warmth
David Lang is pretty damn cool. Who knows of truly great solo electric guitar pieces in the classical genre (whatever you might interpret as being)? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJXYs1kd5Ho#t=30
Brutally Early Club
I feel like I moved to London, in part, because I there was a single day where I realised that most of my friends had moved South. But, as Ai Weiwei points out, in the larger cities things today, things are decided weeks in advance and it's difficult to pin people down: I actually don't [...]
Kaupo Kikkas: “When city sleeps”
Kaupo and I had a nice few days together in Edinburgh a week or so ago, and he's posted some early content up on his blog under the title: "When city sleeps". See the rest of the set here.
Pre and post Aldeburgh festival activities
Aldeburgh: practise, beach, bed.
Today I was working on alternate fingerings for the second song in Tippett's Songs of Achilles and it was raining outside. it is the rain and it smells of christening; it is the rain and it tastes of silver Transported in an instant to the first time working on these songs in humidity and the [...]
Achilles’ blank slate
I realised that it's been nearly a year since I was at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont... Working there last Summer was, as ever, an inspirational experience, and a highlight was surely working with Spencer lang on Tippett's Songs for Achilles. I'm returning to these songs with tenor Robert Murray when I arrive at [...]
Rodrigo’s Aranjuez with The Little Orchestra
This last week I've had the pleasure of working on Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with The Little Orchestra, a work that gets the reputation for being a classical guitarist's warhorse concerto, but curiously, that I've performed RELATIVELY seldom over my career so far. It's been really cool to rediscover forgotten secrets, unearth some new ones, [...]
3 programmes, 3 countries
I really need to start booking UK train travel well in advance - a month ago I grabbed the cheapest unreserved ticket for Scotland-bound trains on 24/03, not quite clocking on to the fact that yeah, that'd be the day of the Easter break beginning... Needless to say standing for 3 hours with two suitcases [...]
BBC Music Magazine Cover CD/New 2016 dates
I've taken the time to add in some concert dates including some that are pretty exciting! Sharing a little of the Wigmore Hall stage with Mahan Esfahani and Avi Avital in February, off to Germany to play in Heidelberg with Isang Enders in April, and making my debut at the Aldeburgh Festival over the Summer! [...]
Bayerische Rundfunk listen again link
A performance from last night's performance in Munich (Milla nightclub) is available online here. I featured accompanying the fab 'cellist Isang Enders along with the violinist and fellow BBT alumna Byol Kang in works by Westhoff, Bach, Piazzolla and Beethoven.
Concerts near London this week
I'll be taking the train down to Faversham in Kent (19/11, 1930) and up to Stansted (22/11, 1500) this week, performing works by Dowland, Bach, Britten, Rodrigo and Ginastera. Check the diary page for details. The above image is the view I had over the course of last week's journey on the Inverness - Thurso [...]
Back for a short Scottish tour
Over the next week or so I will be performing in Scotland in Inverness (12/11), Thurso (13/11) and Corstorphine in Edinburgh (15/11). Check the diary page for full details! Sadly missing the Ullapool fields of gold this time around...
A Note on Wigmore Hall lunchtime programme for 03/02/14
John Dowland – Forlorn Hope Fancy, Fantasia Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude, Fuga and Allegro BWV 998 Hans Werner Henze – Drei Tentos (Du schoenes Baechlein, Es findet das Aug’ oft, Sohn Laios) Benjamin Britten – Nocturnal after John Dowland When exploring the relationships between the musics of England and Germany I discovered fertile [...]
Appearing on BBC Radio 3 In Tune
Watching Mad Men, drinking wine, changing strings. Could I possible encapsulate the various problems of my age (binge drinking, multitasking so to ruin the few good TV series we have) in one photo? Tragedy I know. But I change my strings for a reason! I will be bringing some Catalan warmth to the Broadcasting House [...]
Sean Shibe 