David’s Review Corner, David Denton
Following on [from] the first highly acclaimed disc of Bach’s English Suites in arrangements for guitar duo from the performers of the Balkan state of Montenegro.
“As I commented when reviewing the first three Suites, they have remained true to the spirit of the original scores, with much of the writing untouched, and in essence these come closer to the sound of a harpsichord than modern piano versions.”
On the other hand the works are not unduly challenging to a keyboard performer, but for the guitar duo the fast movements require playing of virtuoso quality, and, with two performers involved—Goran Krivokapić and Danijel Cerovic—the interweaving of the parts to create Bach’s one keyboard part is fiendishly difficult, and I guess the four days of recording speaks volumes of the Montenegrin’s desire for total perfection. In addition, they play the works at tempos that we imagine Bach had in mind, so that in the Gigue finales they have the music whizzing along.
“For guitar buffs these are two absolutely totally essential discs beautifully recorded in Canada.”