Following their acclaimed world-premiere Naxos recordings of J.S. Bach’s complete English Suites for two guitars, Goran Krivokapić and Danijel Cerović (the Montenegrin Guitar Duo) open a new chapter in a Bach journey spanning more than a decade, with the world-premiere recordings of their own two-guitar arrangements of the French Suites Nos. 1–3.

“What happens when the architecture of Johann Sebastian Bach is transferred from a single keyboard to two guitars?”

For the Montenegrin Guitar Duo, this question was the catalyst for one of the defining artistic explorations of their career. This new release continues an extraordinary Bach story – a pioneering project that began more than ten years ago. In two landmark albums for Naxos, the Montenegrin Guitar Duo recorded the complete English Suites in their own arrangements for two guitars. The project revealed a remarkable affinity between Bach’s keyboard writing and the medium of two guitars — an affinity rooted in the very nature of the instruments.

Bach’s suites were conceived for the keyboard instruments of his time, most naturally the harpsichord, one of the quintessential instruments of the Baroque era. Like the guitar, the harpsichord produces its sound through plucked strings, creating a natural connection in clarity, articulation and contrapuntal definition. Yet the modern classical guitar adds possibilities unavailable on the harpsichord: individual notes and voices can be dynamically shaped, their attack and resonance varied, and their colour moved from bright and transparent to warm, dark and intimate.

Krivokapić and Cerović have made these possibilities central to their approach while deliberately resisting the temptation to turn the Bach Suites into idiomatic “guitar music.” Their interpretations remain grounded in Baroque performance practice — in articulation, ornamentation, agogic flexibility, rhythmic character and the independence of contrapuntal voices. The resources of the guitar are employed not as effects, but as subtle means of revealing the structure and expressive character already present in the music.

With two instruments, another dimension becomes possible. Voices originally entrusted to a single keyboard player can be distributed between two musicians, allowing independent lines to breathe, respond to one another and acquire individual timbral identities. Yet there is a paradox at the heart of the duo’s Bach: two guitars allow the individual voices to become more distinct, while the exceptional unity of the ensemble can make the two instruments seem to speak as one. Phrases can pass almost imperceptibly from one player to the other, inner voices can emerge and recede, and differences of attack, resonance and colour can give Bach’s architecture an additional sense of space without disturbing its essential unity.

“Not an imitation of the harpsichord, and not Bach transformed into guitar music, but Bach’s musical language reimagined through the colour, resonance and expressive possibilities of two modern guitars.”

The international critical response to the duo’s English Suites confirmed the strength of that approach. Gramophone praised their “precision of ensemble, the clarity of articulation, the rhythmic vitality and the exuberant ornamentation,” while American Record Guide called the arrangements “fine transcriptions, brilliantly played,” highlighting their “infectious rhythmic energy and joy.” Soundboard described the project as “a great idea, carried off to perfection.” Critics repeatedly singled out the qualities that have become central to the duo’s Bach: clarity, stylistic awareness, rhythmic vitality and an extraordinary degree of ensemble integration.

Over the years, the duo’s Bach arrangements have consequently become far more than a recording project: his music has become a hallmark of the Montenegrin Guitar Duo’s international career. Alongside a repertoire extending from early music and their own transcriptions to major works for two guitars and contemporary music, Krivokapić and Cerović have brought Bach to audiences across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, appearing at venues and festivals including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Manuel de Falla Hall in Madrid, St Petersburg Philharmonia, Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, the Guitar Foundation of America Convention, Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, Koblenz International Guitar Festival and Guitarras del Mundo in Argentina, as well as at major festivals and concert series throughout the United States, Canada, China and South Korea.

Their Bach interpretations have also reached major international broadcast audiences. France Musique included the duo within its broader exploration of notable Bach interpretations in Le Bach du dimanche, placing their work alongside performances by leading international Bach interpreters. In 2024, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a live concert performance of the duo’s arrangement of the complete French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812 — an early public glimpse of the project that would eventually lead to its pinnacle, and to this new recording.

The decision to progress from the English Suites to the French Suites was therefore a natural continuation rather than an attempt to repeat an earlier success. Where the English Suites often unfold on a grander scale, the French Suites inhabit a more intimate and concentrated world, inviting a new exploration of colour, dialogue and polyphonic space. The first three suites continue the question Krivokapić and Cerović began exploring with the English Suites: how far can the expressive resources of two modern guitars illuminate Bach’s music while remaining faithful to its language, architecture and spirit?

Founded in 2005, the Montenegrin Guitar Duo brings together two of Montenegro’s most internationally established classical musicians. Goran Krivokapić, winner of nineteen international competitions, including the prestigious 2004 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, has performed throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa and is Professor of Guitar at the Cologne University of Music. Danijel Cerović, an internationally active recording artist, performer and pedagogue, is Professor of Guitar at the Music Academy of the University of Montenegro, Guest Professor at Sarajevo Music Academy, and co-founder and Artistic Director of the Nikšić Guitar Festival.

With the French Suites Nos. 1–3, Krivokapić and Cerović continue a musical journey that has become one of the pivotal threads of their career, asking once again the question at the heart of their work:

“What can two guitars reveal in Bach that we have not heard before?”

Released by Red Poppy Records, the album was recorded in 2026 at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Kotor, Montenegro, and recorded and produced by Émilie Fend – Musik.Im.Blick.