Galbraith’s lucid guitar hits home

Guitarist Paul Galbraith hasn’t been a stranger to these parts lately. He gave a recital at USC’s Newman Recital Hall in September, and the repertory in his program on the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series Sunday mirrored that earlier performance.

But what a different context makes. To appreciate Galbraith’s particular charms and depths at close range, in the living room in a historic house in Los Feliz, was a heaven-made match of musician and the senses-opening Sites concept.

This Mediterranean-style house was designed in 1915 by Withey & Davis for department store mogul Arthur Letts, founder of the Broadway and Bullock’s.

It has been lavishly outfitted with an eclectic array of antiques and exotica by longtime owner, actress and author Ronnie Claire Edwards.

Performing music of British composer Lennox Berkeley, Enrique Granados, Bach and Debussy, Galbraith brought a unique clarity and controlled passion, all the more evident in this intimate setting. His custom eight-string guitar -- held cello-like and with an ornate sound box to broaden its sound -- makes him a rebel with a good cause, expanding the guitar’s range and resonance.

Bach has been a Galbraith specialty, and the French Suite had a soaring dignity. But the guitarist is also expanding his repertory, and his current work-in-progress focuses on newly transcribed Impressionist music.

As he commented Sunday, “Composers who stress suggestion fit most comfortably on the instrument.” He proved his point with his fascinating new take on Debussy’s “Children’s Corner,” making the piano piece sing on guitar, as if it belonged there, all dreamily rippling textures and lucid, tender spirit.