By the time Lagoya - born in Alexandria, Egypt of Italian and Greek parentage - was 19, he had already given about 500 concerts throughout the Middle East. He decided to move to Paris and continue his studies with Jean Saudry, also studying harmony and counterpoint with Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

He met the French-born Presti - already a celebrity, having made her first recording at 10 - soon after his arrival in Paris when he was invited to perform at a guitar society concert. Presti had been a student of [Andrés] Segovia and he fondly called her "Ida Prestissimo."

At the concert Presti declared Lagoya the best guitarist she had ever heard. They soon married, and from 1950 until her death in 1967 performed exclusively as a duo. In a musical world that still regarded the guitar as a folk instrument, duos were comparatively rare. Most other guitarists were finding it hard to establish solo careers.

To meet their need for material they began transcribing keyboard works by Bach, Scarlatti, Debussy, Falla, Granados and Haydn—among them a concerto by the last-named originally written for two hurdy-gurdies - and commissioning works from other composers.

Segovia was so taken with their performance at their New York debut that he wrote to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco asking him to consider writing for two guitars. The resultant 24 Preludes and Fugues became a staple piece. Castelnuovo-Tedesco also composed for them a Concerto for Two Guitars.

André Jolivet, Pierre Petit, Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquin Rodrigo, amongst others, also wrote for them. Between 1952 and 1967 they played some two thousand concerts.

Tragically, in 1967, Ida Presti died in Rochester, NY at Strong Memorial Hospital of an internal hemorrhage resulting from cancer of the lung. Alexandre survived her by 32 years. He became professor of guitar at the International Academy of Music in Nice from 1960 and at the Paris National Conservatory in 1969. He retired from these positions in 1994. He began to perform solo again in 1972.

If you listen to any of Lagoya-Presti's playing - not just hearing, but actively engaging with the music - you will hear conversations of such intimacy that one at first feels embarrassed at being privy to them. It is hard at times to believe that two people could communicate so intricately. Given that both are playing classical guitars makes it all the more extraordinary.

Excerpts of an article by Tony Cornwell.