Sharon Isbin

Described by the Atlanta Journal as "The Monet of classical guitar... a master colorist". This 12 piece recording is released on the Sony Classical label. Grammy award winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as the pre-eminent guitartist of our time & belongs to the worlds greatest & best selling classical guitarists. This new album is an extraordinary musical exploration that has a definitive Latin American flavour, but the album is focused more on her musical mentors & is produced by multi-Grammy winner David Frost.

She is Winner of Guitar Player magazine’s “Best Classical Guitarist” award, the Madrid Queen Sofia and Toronto Competitions, and was the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition.

It is noteworthy that many of the twelve titles on the album are premiere recordings, including the Barbosa-Lima/Passos arrangement of Pixinguinha’s “Carinhoso”, as well as the arrangements by Vai, Jordan, Wilson, Wolff and Lubambo.

Sony Music is delighted to release Journey to the New World, the new album from guitar sensation Sharon Isbin. Grammy® Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin’s debut release on Sony Masterworks is, as she describes it, “A voyage in song from the British Isles to the New World.” She is joined by two stellar guest artists, Grammy® Award-winning folk singer Joan Baez and violin virtuoso Mark O’Connor. The album includes world premieres of the Joan Baez Suite by John Duarte, and the Strings & Threads Suite for violin and guitar by O’Connor.

“Sharon's exquisite playing allowed me to revisit and fall in love with these songs all over again.” Joan Baez

Clarity of expression has characterized the music of Joan Tower from the beginning. Whether written for orchestral forces, chamber ensembles, or solo instruments, her music speaks energetically and directly to the listener. Imagery of light and movement come easily to mind with Tower's compositions, imagery that she encourages not only through the music, but also through her titles and her own comments about the music. Her images grow from one into another, sometimes with subtle, seamless transitions, sometimes abruptly, with verve.

In this collection, Tower’s trademark qualities abound: rhythmic energy, colorful instrumentation, and fresh sonic textures, plus, in the newer works, an increasing lyricism and broadening emotional range. Night Fields (1994), for string quartet, is dedicated to and performed by the Muir String Quartet. Tower’s title suggests the moods created in the piece, which she describes as “a cold, windy night in wheat fields lit up by a bright, full moon, where waves of fast-moving colors ripple over the fields, occasionally settling on a patch of gold.” Snow Dreams (1983), for flute and guitar, is a study in balancing the two disparate qualities and technical possibilities of the flute and guitar. The composer has brought them together cohesively, while celebrating their unique voices. Black Topaz (1976), for piano and six instruments, is an exploration of changing sound colors wherein each ensemble instrument magnifies and extends the essence of the piano. Très lent (In memoriam Olivier Messiaen) (1994), for cello and piano, is an homage to Messiaen, in particular a tribute to his Quartet for the End of Time. The final piece on this disc, Stepping Stones: a ballet (1993), is a two-piano reduction of a score originally written for a full orchestra.

The many faces of the guitar are explored by Sharon Isbin, hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time” and twice a Grammy Award winner. Its origins in the lute are acknowledged in the four graceful suites composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, while highlighting its Spanish connections are a sequence of Latin romances and Joaquín Rodrigo’s unforgettable Concierto de Aranjuez.

Solo works by such celebrated figures as George Gershwin, William Walton and Benjamin Britten represent the viewpoint from the USA and British Isles.