for Guitar by Canadian composer Rodney Sharman was commissioned by Vancouver-based guitarist Adrian Verdejo in 2016 with a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. This performance is taken from an online solo guitar recital presented by Vancouver New Music in February, 2021. The video comes via Verdejo’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). Rodney Sharman is one of Canada’s most prominent composers so we are very lucky he has heard something special in the guitar. Double lucky to have the wonderful performances and work on new music commissions by Verdejo. You may also want to check out Verdejo’s performance of In a Room by Sharman. Here’s Sharman notes on the piece via his website:
for Guitar (2016) is based on a short melodic figure that appears in some of my other pieces (The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,Incantation, etc.) reworked for guitar so that boundaries between timbre, harmony, and melody blur and disappear. Boundaries are blurred, too, between repetition, variation, and contrast, as the figure seems to repeat, but is always varied. The natural resonance of the instrument, too, is central to creating and sustaining the atmosphere of the piece. for Guitar is dedicated to Adrian Verdejo, who commissioned the work through the Canada Council for the Arts. – Rodney Sharman
You can also check out this nice interview between Verdejo and Sharman. You can learn more via RedShift Radio podcast.
