Kevin Kastning :: To capture the light

To capture the light: Reviews and Quotes

Kevin Kastning & Sandor Szabo: To capture the light
(2025, cd, USA, greydisc)

Kevin Kastning (USA) & Sándor Szabó (Hungary) are contemporary guitar explorers, and trailblazers in modern composition. "To Capture The Light" is their 17th Greydisc album release, and features 10 new Kastning-Szabó compositions. "Unbending Sky", the duo’s 2024 release, was up for a Grammy Award in 2025. The Book of Crossings, Kevin and Sándor’s 2012 Greydisc album, was named one of the Top 10 Albums of 2012 by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Perspectives, their 2016 release, landed on several "best of 2016" lists.

Next to multi-string contraguitar player Kevin Kastning, "To Capture The Light" also features guitar virtuoso Sándor Szabó who's playing a 16-string classical guitar.
Ten pieces, the titles of which are lines of a poem that Kevin wrote, entitled "To Capture The Light.

Soundscapes, sound waves and meandering impressions in which the duo investigates and portrays different ways of how we can see and enjoy light.

- United Mutations (HOLLAND)
October 2025

Kevin Kastning / Sándor Szabó — To Capture the Light
(Greydisc GDR3596, 2025, CD / DL)

Kevin Kastning / Carl Clements — Though Seldom Revealed
(Greydisc GDR3598, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-12-04

"The two titles under review capture guitarist Kevin Kastning in collaboration with two members of his inner circle, Hungarian guitarist Sándor Szabó, and American saxophonist / flutist Carl Clements. On some of the previous recordings — particularly the three part Convergence series from 2020 to 2023, Kastning, Szabó and Clements composed and played together; this time Kastning works with each of them individually in duo settings, and the results are nothing short of exceptional. To Capture the Light is all guitars, Szabó on his six- and sixteen-string classical guitars, Kastning with his seventeen-string sub-contra guitar, eighteen-string contraguitar, thirty-string contra-baritone guitar, thirty-string double contraguitar, and twenty-four string double sub-contraguitar. That’s a lot of guitars and a lot of strings — go to Kastning’s website and click on ‘instruments’ and prepare to be amazed. I don’t believe there are any overdubs here — on first listen one might believe that this is some kind of gentle inspired improvisation between the two guitarists, but then again, Kastning recorded his parts in York County, Maine, and Szabó recorded his parts in Vac, Hungary (as well as mixing and mastering the results splendidly), so one or the other guitarist had to start each of the album’s ten pieces. Many gems here, including “And Carries Outward,” “A Universal Forever,” and the closer “Within Light Capturing,” but honestly it’s easy to get immersed in any of these pieces, each is a world unto their own.

On Though Seldom Revealed, Kastning plays most of the aforementioned guitars, while Clements plays soprano and tenor saxes, as well as alto flute. Unlike the finely tangled chemistry of two intertwining guitarists, here Kastning and Clements have very different roles, the former providing a rhythm, foundation, and overall environment, and the latter providing melodic solos throughout the album’s seven tracks, which tend to be somewhat longer that those on To Capture the Light. The overall feeling here is more dreamy and spacious, each player often pausing to give the other a chance to make a brief solo statement. All of the tracks herein were recorded on the same day at the same studio, so there is a good chance this represents a live improvisation, composed and performed in real time. With the instrumentation at hand, this one seems more in line with much of the ECM jazz records of the early to mid-70s, like John Abercrombie or early Pat Metheny (whom Kastning studied under). More than anything, Though Seldom Revealed conjures up a feeling of peace, tracks like “Neither Night Nor Water,” opener “Now a Path, Now a Journey,” and “Its Own Season” all go far to underscore that feeling."

- Exposé Magazine (US)
December 2025

"To capture the light: Kevin Kastning, Sandor Szabo

The album To capture the light serves as an acoustic tapestry woven from the sounds of unique instruments, many of which are one-of-a-kind. For this recording, Kevin Kastning utilized an arsenal of various contraguitars, including a 36-string Double Contraguitar and a 30-string Contra-Baritone guitar, while Sándor Szabó employed a 16-string guitar and a classical 6-string guitar. The music is described as modern classical and impressionistic, where complex harmonic structures combine with a deep, reverberating atmosphere, creating a sense of "capturing light" through sound. The compositions were recorded live in the studio, preserving the naturalness and immediacy of the performance."

- IsraBox (US)
December 2025

Kevin Kastning & Sandor Szabo - 2025 - To Capture the Light
December 26, 2025
by Kev Rowland

(52:03; Greydisc)

"Somewhat incredibly, here we have the 17th album from Kevin Kastning and Sandor Szabo. Longtime readers of my reviews will know how much I enjoy Kevin’s collaborations, as the emphasis is always on live composition between participants, and when two people have worked together in that fashion for so long then the results will always be fascinating. Here Kevin provides 17-string Sub-contraguitar, 18-string Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Baritone guitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar, 24-string Double Sub-contraguitar while Sandor is on 16-string Classical guitar and 6-string Classical guitar and one thing I immediately noticed when looking at the press release was the length of time the recordings took. Normally Kevin will book just a day, or two, to record yet here we have an album which commenced in December 2024 and was not completed until the following June.

The instruments played by Kevin are of his own design, so he can play the music he has long been hearing in his head, and consequently his works never sound like anyone else. When he is with Sandor they blend and swap roles, so the listener can never be sure what is going to happen next as generally neither do the musicians. I love the clarity of tone and use of space within this release as when played on headphones one is transported to a totally different world which some may describe as ambient, New Age, modern Classical, progressive, or more or less than any of these labels. All I know is that when I play Kevin’s albums I feel removed from reality, and here his connection with Sandor makes that even more so. They can read each other’s thoughts, knowing instinctively where the journey is going to take them, although the path is always changing as it is being created by their very actions.

I have long ago lost count of how many albums I have reviewed of Mr. Kastning, nor how many of those have been recorded with Sandor, but yet again here we have an absolute delight which is a mastery not only of musicianship but musicality."

- Progressor Magazine (UZBEKISTAN)
December 2025