Here’s a thoroughly delightful guitar performance from Canada’s amazing Henderson-Kolk Duo—Drew Henderson (at right in the video)and Michael Kolk, who met at the University of Toronto, where both studied with Jeffrey McFadden, and have been playing together since 2004. Henderson is also in my view the preeminent video recordist in the classical-guitar world—expertly handling both video and audio, more often than not for guitarists other than himself—so it’s no surprise that he handled that job on this video, too.
It’s a wonderful piece, too. This Concerto in D Minor has a somewhat complex history. It was written by Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello (ca. 1670–1747), and believed to have been published in the middle of the second decade of the 18th century as the Concerto a Cinque (five players) for oboe (soloist), two violins, viola, and continuo. J.S. Bach’s name is often attached to the work because very early on—even before the surviving “first” published version of the concerto came out in 1717—he wrote an arrangement of Marcello’s oboe concerto for keyboard (BWV 974), and that is the major source for the two-guitar arrangement written by Drew Henderson. (You can read the circuitous tale of this piece’s journey from the 18th century to the present here.) It’s a near-perfect performance, as far as I can tell—and a fantastic addition to the duo repertoire! Henderson’s arrangement is available from Les Productions d’Oz. —Blair Jackson
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