In a Room by Rodney Sharman

In a Room by Canadian composer Rodney Sharman (b.1958) – This is a wonderful work that I came to know about through Adrian Verdejo‘s performances. The video above is from Sharman’s YouTube channel where he makes the score available to view and with Verdejo’s pristine performance. Rodney Sharman is one of Canada’s most prominent composers so we are extremely lucky he has heard something special in the guitar. In a Room is one of the most intimate and beautiful works written for guitar and delicately blends softer colouration with extensive harmonics and continuous motivic exploration. Here’s some programme notes by Sharman via his site:

(2002) for solo guitar, was co-commissioned by guitarists Jürgen Ruck, Munich, Germany, and Michael Strutt, Vancouver, Canada, with the assistance of the British Columbia Arts Council.
Although I am always conscious of music as a temporal art, writing music seems to begin with a sonic image. My concern is to work closer to the essence of the image and to allow the music to radiate from the sound source outward, blurring artificial distinctions between harmony and timbre, material and instrument. – Rodney Sharman

Below is a little excerpt from Sharman on guitar and Morton Feldman.