Duodecima – Music For Two Guitars

Duodecima comprise Lars Karlsson and Michael Ljung, who met each other at the State College of Music in Stockholm.

Four substantial pieces here, but the jewel is Jack Duarte's “Variations on a French Nursery Song”, written for Ida Presti & Alexandre Lagoya (as was Petit's “Toccata”), and played by them at a concert at London's Wigmore Hall that I was lucky enough to catch; but never recorded because of the lady's tragic death a few months later, at the age of forty-two.

For years after that I was hoping for an alternative recording of some sort, but Jack told me that it was so difficult he thought the piece would never be played again. Fortunately, he was wrong. Duodecima make a magnificent job of what both the composer and I think is his best work, which lasts well over 18 minutes.

The other pieces are superbly played as well (although the “Sonata” by the Uruguayan composer Guido Santórsola may be too modern for some tastes).

The total time of the album is 44'59".