One tree, two guitars, one sound. This was the creative mission for Hugo Cuvilliez, guitar-maker and wood-whisperer from the Drôme region of south-eastern France: to honour the essence of a partnership with the sonic unity of one and the same instrument.

This was the vision of Thibault Garcia and Antoine Morinière; guitarists at the Paris Conservatory.  The goal, to create a version of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in which each guitarist becomes one hand of the keyboard.  Each on a sonically identical instrument.  It’s fascinating because it’s close to, but not exactly like, the piece played on a harpsichord.  And it is beautifully played.

It’s also fantastically well recorded.  The recording was made in January 2025 at the Théâtre populaire romand (TPR) of the Centre neuchâtelois des arts vivants in La Chaux-de-Fonds.  Warner were kind enough to make a copy of the high resolution; 192kHz/24bit, version of the release available and it’s way more detailed than the CD resolution version.  You can hear every nuance of the playing and even fingernails on wood.

The release date is 31st October 2025 and it will be available as a physical CD, MP3 and lossless digital at 44.1kHz/16bit, 96kHz/24 bit and 192kHz/24bit resolutions.  There’s also a really good booklet with both physical and digital releases.  It has lots of interesting information and some really cool photographs.

One of the most interesting recordings I have listened to lately.

Catalogue information: Erato 2173279256