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http://www.ruccojamesguitar.com/english.htm  Home Web Site

http://www.ruccojamesguitar.com/quotes.htm   Press Quotes

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ruccojames1 Sample Audio

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The duo of Pasquale Rucco and Douglas James specializes in the guitar literature of the early 19th century performed on authentic instruments of the period.  The two first met and became friends at guitar festivals in northern Italy during the early 1990's. They have now been performing together for over fifteen years, charming audiences with their interpretations of music from the first true "golden age" of the guitar. 

The duo’s repertoire features some of the most famous of the early 19th century guitar duo masterpeices as well as newly discovered gems.  Their concert programs frequently  include works by the more familiar composers such as Carulli, Giuliani and Sor combined with their lesser known contemporaries including Filipo Gragnani, François de Fossa, Antoine Baron de Barcó, Frederic Spina, and Antoine de Lloyer. Their debut CD featured works by Gragnani, Fossa and Barcó as well as Giuliani’s arrangements of Rossini’s popular overtures to Il Barbiere di Siviglia and La Gazza Ladra.  This critically acclaimed disc was recently followed by A Night at the Opera, an all-Rossini recording featuring 19th century arrangements of popular opera overtures and the famous La Danza tarantella.

Rucco and James are internationally recognized authorities in the early Romantic style. Combining an historically informed approach with world-class musicianship, they play exclusively on authentic 19th century guitars. Recent seasons have included concerts throughout the United States, Italy, and Austria.  Rucco and James have performed for such prestigious venues as the Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Early Music Houston, the Stetson International Guitar Summer Workshop, and the Guitar Foundation of America 2007 convention in Los Angeles.  In the U.S. they have also presented concerts and masterclasses for universities and guitar societies in California, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, and North and South Carolina.

Press quotes:

 “Thinking to Presti-Lagoya duo, Abreu duo and Assad duo, we think that the inseparable Italian/American pair will be successful on the same line as this important progeny, becoming their philological equivalent.”  Musica magazine

"The Duo is adept at delivering these large-scale works with apparent ease - though it can't be easy - and creating contrasts, multiple voicing, shimmering scales, and the grand landscape of symphonic music in a most convincing way. . . . I have said before, there is an apparent dichotomy between the presentation of these seemingly light and soft instruments when matched with large-scale orchestral writing. Odd that it seems to work perfectly - on purpose - and as though you couldn't imagine it any other way! On second thought, maybe these guys are just good." Roger Cope, Classical Voice of North Carolina

". . . precise, well-ballanced ensemble . . . charming and discriminating . . . " Charleston Post and Courier

“Every phrase was well balanced and each nuance was precise and lovely.” Oberlin Review

The Italian guitarist Pasquale Rucco is the winner of several European guitar competitions, including the 1989 Arturo Toscannini Solo Guitar Competition for the performance of 19thc. music.  Since then he has performed regularly in Europe and the United States, both as a soloist and chamber musician specializing in the 19thc. literature played on period instruments.  Pasquale Rucco is also the founding director of “A.C.I.F.”, a consortium of music academies operating in the greater Naples region.