It’s somewhat surprising to me that the duo combo of guitar and piano is not more common than it is, because, as this video clearly shows, it can be a wonderful pairing. The players this time out are Russians Dmitry Voronin on guitar and Alexandra (or Aleksandra) Veronina on piano, about whom I was unable to dig up much info. The duo have at least one album out (maybe more?)—a Russian release that translates to South Rhapsody, though this piece is not on it.
The duo plays a work by the extremely prolific late-18th century Italian composer Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), adapted from a guitar quintet in D major known as the Fandango (G448). As far as I can tell (and please correct me if I’m wrong!) Julian Bream is the guitarist who originally arranged the piece for guitar-and-keyboard duet: he first recorded his transcription with harpsichordist Malcolm Brown for the 1970 Bream album Art of the Spanish Guitar. And if you’d like an added treat, check out this YouTube version of two Julian Breams playing the Fandango, sans “Introduction.” In more recent times, the piece has turned up in the repertoire of various guitar quartets (and string quartets and quintets, for that matter). —Blair Jackson
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