In a Room by Rodney Sharman

ByBradford Werner
2021

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.

Sheet Music
In a Room by Sharman (Les Editions Doberman-Yppa)

Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.