The Eden Stell Guitar Duo’s latest album is a thoughtful collage of music for the centenary of Ida Presti (1924-67), the legendary guitarist and composer whose work elevated the guitar duo as an art form. The first part of the album combines Presti’s own composition with the work of her colleagues, performed and often commissioned by Presti’s celebrated guitar duo with Alexandre Lagoya. The final two piecesare a different kind of tribute, with Chris Stell’s arrangement of a Bach concerto, paired with a breathtakingly ambitious new work by Johannes Möller, commissioned by the Eden Stell Guitar Duo. These represent new contributions to the guitar duo repertoire, carrying on the creative lineage of Ida Presti.

Internationally renowned for their dynamism, innovation and breathtaking virtuosity the Eden Stell Guitar Duohave ‘breathed new life into the world of the classical guitar’ (Rotterdam Dagblad). The duo were the first guitarists since Julian Bream to be Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine with their ‘landmark recording’ of works by Stephen Dodgson. They have recorded 7 CDs to date on BSG, Hannsler Classics, and Docker labels, and are dedicatees of new works by Internationally acclaimed composers Stephen Dodgson, Adam Gorb, Dusan Bogdanovic, Gary Ryan, and Johannes Moller. They are also artistic directors of the Winchester Guitar Festival and the hugely popular World Youth Guitar Festival, the only classical guitar festival in the world dedicated to young players with over 200 students attending from over 15 countries as far afield as the USA and Australia.

Ida (DXL 1203) Digital Booklet

Catalogue No: DXL1203

Title: IDA

Artists: Eden Stell Guitar Duo

Barcode: 0666283120325

Playing Time: 54:02

UK Release: 20th September 2024

UK Distribution: RSK, Tel: 01488 608900

Packaging: 1CD, Digipak; Box 35

Track List:

Ida Presti (1924-1967)

1. Étude fantasque(7:06)

Andre Jolivet (1905-1974)

Serenade

2. Preludio e canzon (2:59)

3. Allegro trepidante (3:09)

4. Andante melinconico (3:10)

5. Con allegria (2:35)

Daniel Lesur (1908-2002)

6. Élégie.(4:57)

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)

Prelude and Fuga elegiaca

7. Prelude(1:45)

8. Fuga(2:58)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Concerto in D minorafter Marcello(BWV 974)

9. Andante e spiccato(3:08)

10. Adagio(4:30)

11. Presto(3:15)

Johannes Möller (1981-)

12. …when buds are breaking(14:27)

“Like a miraculous singleguitarist blessed with an impossibly wonderful technique and an exceptionally delicate touch.”
– The Observer

“The Duo Presti-Lagoya, comprising Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, was one of the most influential and celebrated guitar duos of the 20th century. Active from 1952 until Presti’s premature death in 1967, Presti-Lagoya were passionate advocates for their chosen vehicle of expression, their artistry and technical prowess revolutionising the genre. Their legacy includes many fine recordings, the new music they commissioned and the numerous transcriptions they made.

This latest release from another superb guitar duo, Mark Eden and Chris Stell, is a fitting homage to Ida Presti. It includes works written or arranged by or for Presti-Lagoya; there is also one written in her memory, as well as another arranged by Eden Stell and a new work written for the latter duo by Johannes Möller – thus continuing Presti-Lagoya’s desire to enrich the repertoire.

Inspired by Karin Boye’s poem about the pain of growth and change, Möller’s ‘… when buds are breaking’ blends Eastern and Western musical elements. Like the poem’s metaphors of breaking buds and falling drops, the guitars initially clash but gradually find unity, contrasting sections and a range of techniques and tunings reflecting the poem’s themes of transformation and trust in the process of creation. Eden and Stell relish Möller’s accessible yet complex writing, their singing tones and ability to colour a note, phrase or paragraph with equal nuance and intensity matched by a near-telepathic sense of independence and ensemble.

This is preceded by Presti’s tuneful Étude fantasque, Jolivet’s weightier Sérénade pour deux guitares, Daniel-Lesur’s lyrical Élégie and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s moving Fuga elegiaca – To the Memory of Ida Presti. These Eden and Stell dispatch with immense feeling and even a certain reverence. But in both the conception and the execution, it’s Chris Stell’s fine arrangement of Bach’s Concerto in D minor, BWV974 (after Alessandro Marcello), that perhaps brings us closer to the true spirit of the Presti-Lagoya project – the earlier duo’s sheer taste, ambition and style.”
– Gramophone