The foreword states that this is the first time that this piece has been arranged for guitars, although elsewhere in the world of music, the sixth movement (of seven in all) was used as Night Of My Nights (Kismet).

Set in full score, all but one movement has a page turn that part - score setting would have solved but no movement exceeds the width of a music stand. Set in a rich variety of keys from two flats to five sharps, and positions from the first to the twelfth, this is a suite that would not only appeal to an advanced duo but also to their audience, weaving as it does a rich tapestry of melodies and harmonies , skilfully placed under the fingers by Chris Dumigan's arranging talents. Performance markings are liberally scattered over the music, together with occasional fingerings that either illuminate a tricky passage or in the case of the Serenade impart a particular articulation that I'd have liked stressed with a sentence of explanation. The typesetting is clear and it's also clear that this is a nice suite of duets that not only sits nicely on guitars but will hold together tightly in performance. Recommended.

John Hasted, Classical Guitar Magazine June 2005

Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes a popular song, however there can be few who can argue with this selection.

The titles include Vincent, And I Love her, Scarborough Fair, Killing Me Softly With His Song, Sealed With A Kiss as well as traditional songs such as The Londonderry Air and The Skye Boat Song.

As Paul Gregory, whose excellent CD of these songs is included with the music, says in the foreword ‘At last! For all those classical guitarists who long to play the famous pop songs of the past - a worthy collection...’ Nothing needs to be added to this, it says it all.

The arrangements are straightforward, not over difficult, don't pander to the arranger's ego but just work to produce a lovely guitar version of these songs.

Put this on your birthday list, Christmas list, even your wedding list but make sure you get it!

Congratulations to Dumigan and Gregory, when's the next one coming out?

John Arran, Classical Guitar Magazine July 2002

After the success of the first volume of popular songs arranged by Chris Dumigan, there just had to be a second. It is widely known among his peers that Chris has arrangements that could fill several more volumes. After interviewing him for an article in Classical Guitar Magazine (published January 2011: See elsewhere in this website) I discovered that there's not much that he misses and besides being very quick to assimilate a good tune he is rather adept at making an arrangement, which falls nicely under the fingers and upon the ears.

There's another Don McLean classic in this volume And I Love Her So, and the Beatles give way to the Beach Boys with God Only Knows from their absolute classic Pet Sounds album. There's another Irish tune Women of Ireland used to haunting effect in one of Stanley Kubrick's acclaimed masterpieces Barry Lyndon. The opener Time After Time, a Cyndi Lauper favourite grooves along with panache and is followed by A Groovy Kind of Love by Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager. Researching a little I found that the original, written in 1965 by the precocious talent (age 17) of Wine, took about 20 minutes to write, as these inspired things tend to do. I wonder how long it took Chris to arrange.

The five other songs are Memory, We Have All the Time In The World, Brother Can You Spare A Dime, Feed The Birds, and Love Is Blue, written by Andre Popp: it has the accolade of being one of the few non- winning Eurovision Song Contest entries to become an evergreen, worldwide hit.

Chris Dumigan performs on the CD, which is useful as this gives an idea of how he thinks the tempos should go. Fingering is kept to a minimum, which complements the composite skill applied to these pieces, allowing the performer to find their own voice too. If you have got the first volume, you will want to buy this, and if not, buy both!

Tim Panting, Classical Guitar October 2011

Grieg piano pieces work well on two guitars.

These six pieces are from the fifth book of a total of 66 short pieces by Grieg for piano. The set comprises Shepherd’s Boy, Norwegian Peasant’s March, March of the Dwarfs, Notturno, Scherzo, and Bell Ringing. All but one of the pieces have been moved to a new and more guitar-friendly key, the Scherzo sitting nicely in the original keys of Em and E. While the purist might argue that the original keys are an integral part of a faithful transcription, there is no doubt that the guitar has a character that comes to the fore when music is tailored to the instruments strengths, not its weaknesses. So we find that long, sustained notes are refreshed before they fade away; octave jumps are abandoned, or harmonics are used; keys are chosen thoughtfully; and the texture is thinned out a little. That is not to say that anything is lost, and indeed some of the passages are still quite challenging, and there is just the right amount of fingering to help players through the score.

The technical complexity of the arrangements varies a little through the set and requires a good duet partnership to manage both the mechanical issues and the synchronization, especially when there are two contrasting rhythms in the two parts. The end result, though, is a suite of pieces with a texture that is fresh and light compared to the piano original, and the typesetting ensures no awkward page turns.

Derek Hasted, Classical Guitar October 2011