Praise for Broken Branches – Sean Shibe + Karim Sulayman (Pentatone)
BBC Music Magazine, Broken Branches (Sulayman/Shibe)
! “Shibe brings a lively charisma and a vibrant array of musical colour to the album, conjuring everything from 17thcentury lute to Arabic oud across this wide-reaching programme”
Gramophone, Broken Branches (Karim Sulayman, Sean Shibe)
! “a thoughtful and idiosyncratic project”
! “Shibe is articulate both as collaborator and soloist, his guitar nimble and glittering in the filigree ornamentation of Caccini" s Dalla porta d "oriente – Moorish metalwork in sound – haunting in the evocative harmonics and ghostechoes and doublings of the Harvey and crooning in the Arab -Andalusian song-without-words Lamma bada yatathanna”
Opera News, Karim Sulayman: Broken Branches
! “The tenor " s full range is elegantly showcased in Monteverdi " s torch song Si dolce è’l tormento which Sulayman previously recorded for his Grammy-winning album Songs of Orpheus… He applies ample rubato to the crestfallen chorus, enhancing the tone of bittersweet lovesickness that Shibe matches in his nuanced interlude. [In] Caccini " s Dalla porta d "oriente which personifies the East and catalogues her treasures…Sulayman evokes alluring scents, colors, jewels and flowers, while also conveying an innocent boy-next-door infatuation with this allegorical woman.”
The Guardian, Classical home listening: The Planets from Daniel Harding and the BRSO; Sean Shibe and Karim Sulayman
! “an eclectic album, built on friendship, which explores the performers "own sense of identity, memory, diaspora”
San Francisco Classical Voice, In Broken Branches, Home Is What You Carry With You
! “These are beautiful performances.”
All About The Arts, BROKEN BRANCHES
! “lovingly curated selection of the material”
! “Sean Shibe shines as both accompanist and soloist, proving the perfect partner in all of the vocal selections, and leaving us wanting more from him”
Presto Music, Recording of the Week, Broken Branches from Karim Sulayman and Sean Shibe
! “another successful demonstration of [Shibe’s] ability to weave a web of musical connections around a central subject”
