Life partners and musical duo Boyd Meets Girl – Australian guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf – have spent most of 2020 holed up in New York with their baby, playing music together and, like many between us in these times of pandemic, reassessing their lives.

The result is their second album, Songs of love and despair, a worthy continuation of their eponymous debut on the Sono Luminus label. As in the past, their repertoire is wide and varied, touching on Debussy (their arrangement of Arabesque No. 1inspired by Hélène Grimaud’s playing), Schubert (Gretchen am Spinnrade) and Corelli’s Sonata in A alongside Beyoncé Pray you catch me and Radiohead Reverie.

Boyd draws inspiration from his pop heroes for two Beatles numbers – Blackbird with its classical guitar outline and arrangement of George Martin’s chamber masterpiece for Eleanor Rigby.

Australian guitarist-songwriter Marian Budos penned the couple a rather frenetic tribute to their hometown, A New York minuteand New York composer Robin Beaser’s stirring arrangements of four folksongs – Barbara Allen, The carpenter of the house, He left and Hush goodbye – bring the listener back to the American folk revival of the 1960s and the likes of Joan Baez and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

There is also a tribute to Florence Price, the first black American woman to see a work performed by a major American symphony orchestra, and her blues influences. The deserted garden. The couple show off their adventurous spirit with an excerpt from Olivier Messiaen Quartet for the end of time to put the seal on this entertaining album.

Available on Apple Music

Composers: Debussy, Schubert, Beyoncé et al.
Works: Selected songs
Performers: Boyd meets a girl (Rupert BoydLaura Metcalf)
Label: PA Luminus DSL92255