In this fifth episode, Sean reveals the ‘interval of sadness’ that permeates the lute music of John Dowland and discovers various other ways the guitar and its relatives can express melancholy. And then at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum Sean plays music by Steve Reich and Luigi Boccherini that has him laughing out loud because of the pure joy that it conveys.

Sean Shibe is a young, award-winning musician who’s changing the way people listen to the guitar. In this six-part series he presents a personal choice of vibrant and varied pieces by composers from Spanish Renaissance masters to Steve Reich and Georges Lentz, with performers including Julian Bream, Elizabeth Kenny, Andrés Segovia, John Williams, Vincent Dumestre and Pepe Romero. Sean discovers the characters of the extended guitar family, from the oud, lute and vihuela to the Brahms guitar, decachord and electric guitar, and expresses straight-talking views on players of the past and present who have helped shape his own unique approach to the art of guitar playing. With his guitar on his knee he'll also be showing us what to listen for and what’s physically possible on the instrument.

Throughout the series we’ll hear Sean’s philosophical, intellectual and above all emotional take on the music he knows so well. He opens a door into a world that’s full of subtlety and contrast in its expression of culture and style. It’s a world that invites us in with all sorts of mesmeric and surprising sounds.

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