A contemporary of Beethoven, Antoine de Lhoyer was a French royalist and professional soldier who was considered ‘the best guitar player in Europe’, and whose complicated life story took him from anti-Revolutionary campaigns to a high position at the court in St Petersburg. This collection brings together his elegant and virtuosic chamber works for three and four guitars, characterised by free dialogue between the instruments in music both dashingly brilliant and dreamily lyrical. The Air varié et dialogue can claim to be the earliest guitar quartet in the repertory. Lhoyer’s Duos Concertants can be heard on Naxos 8570146.