Pat Metheny, always ready to challenge himself, is back and pulling a double backflip with a decidedly hybrid album, onto which he has invited five virtuoso colleagues who are every bit his equal. For Road to the Sun, the American guitarist brought in Jason Vieaux, a contemporary master of classical guitar, to play Four Paths of Light, his suite for guitar. The centrepiece of the record is Road to the Sun, a six-movement work performed by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Matthew Greif). Finally, Metheny, who designed and arranged the whole work, revisits Arvo Pärt's Für Alina alone, with his 42-string guitar. This work, originally written for piano, closes the album. It represents a new peak of purity for this performer who hits all the right notes... This "classic" outing is not his first: most notably, he has previously recorded Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint. This time, however, the tone is more scholarly and sometimes finds its source in the works of composers such as Francisco Tárrega. But the Metheny touch hasn't gone anywhere. Every second of this record is alive with colours that will enchant both lovers of, and newcomers to, the classical guitar. © Max Dembo/Qobuz