Quatuor Van Kuijk with Sean Shibe
Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh - 3/2/25
Quatuor Van Kuijk: Nicolas Van Kuijk violin, Sylvian Favre-Bulle violin, Emmanuel Francois viola, Anthony Kondo cello, with Sean Shibe guitar
The well-established New Town Concerts series in Edinburgh continues to demonstrate that it is possible simultaneously to pay homage to established musical traditions while opening doors to new insights and possibilities, and to attract an attentive audience for both.
In this case, the much-anticipated arrival of award-winning international performers in the shape of Quatuor Van Kuijk, alongside equally acclaimed guitarist Sean Shibe, provided the opportunity to showcase the Scottish premiere of a shimmering recent work by Thomas Adès.
First, however, we were treated to Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 12, composed in 1829. The quartet took the drama of this mature work as a springboard for the evening. Their rendition combined Classical poise and Romantic sensibility beautifully, building towards the energy of the concluding vivace, while also highlighting the composer’s purposeful gestures towards Beethoven, anticipating his own late string quartets. Part composed in Berlin, this piece was finished in London as part of a British tour featuring the Hebrides Overture and Scottish Symphony, providing the perfect stylistic bridge into what was to follow after the interval.
Before that, Edinburgh-born Sean Shibe took to the stage to present Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet in G-major, G. 488. This is one of six works arranged by the composer (also an accomplished cellist) for guitar and string quartet at the behest of a wealthy patron. It opens in sweetly reflective mode and proceeds to combine Italian lyricism and Spanish folk influences in the two more spritely movements that follow.
Shibe’s guitar blended effectively with the quartet in a well-rehearsed performance. However, due to the particular acoustic of the Queen’s Hall, much detail and some of the higher accents were lost further back in the audience, leading to the slightly strange experience of being able to see notes being played that you struggled to actually hear. A sort of musical equivalent to ‘cocktail deafness’ at a party.
Thankfully, all nuances of solo guitar performance were fully audible after the break, with Adès’ six-movement Forgotten Dances being delivered with exquisite accomplishment and commitment by Shibe. For me, this was the highlight of the evening: a work of undeniable contemporary expressiveness and invention, yet fully resonant to the glories of the past. References to Max Ernst and Hector Berlioz (among others) appear in the midst of this breath-taking 20-minute piece, concluding with a gently dancing Vesper drawing upon Henry Purcell’s Evening Hymn.
Sean Shibe gave the world premiere of Forgotten Dances in Vienna in the Autumn of 2023, and then took it on a European tour. His knowledge and mastery of it was evident this evening, smoothly negotiating a series of intricate and unusual shifts in tempo, haunting harmonics, and mysterious melodic moments. On occasions it felt as if we were suspended in time within a magical forest. Alongside Michael Tippett’s underrated The Blue Guitar, written exactly forty years earlier, this shining work by one of Britain’s leading composers merits recognition as one of the most imaginative and evocative pieces written for the acoustic instrument over the past half century.
The full span from eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through to the twenty-first was completed in this fine concert with twentieth century master Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Opus 143 Guitar Quintet, bringing all five musicians together again for a fitting finale. The Italian composer, though not as well-known as he might be, did more than most to re-establish the guitar as a significant voice in classical music once again. This quintet is graceful and melodic, unapologetically referencing Classical and Romantic influences as part of its own distinctive idiom. This time the guitar seemed to cut through the acoustic much better. The performance, as expected, was superlative.
New Town Concerts: https://www.newtownconcerts.com
Sean Shibe: https://seanshibe.com
Quatuor Van Kuijk: https://www.quatuorvankuijk.com
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Simon Barrow is a writer, journalist, think-tank director and commentator whose musical interests span new music, classical, jazz, electronica and art rock. His book ‘Transfiguring the Everyday: The Musical Vision of Michael Tippett’ will be published by Siglum in 2025.
