The Italian composer Angelo Michele Bartolotti, who died sometime after 1668 and who was closely associated with the court of Queen Christina of Stockholm, seems to have been admired chiefly for his theorbo-playing, especially in France. But it is the second of his two books of Baroque guitar music which interests us here.

Published in Rome in 1665, Bartolotti’s Secondo libro di chitarra contains sets of fastidiously notated passacaglias, preludes and shorter French dances from which the performer may assemble his or her own suites. This is precisely what Fredrik Bock has done for this, his debut solo recording. Opening with a beautiful G major Passacaglie, he then proceeds to serve up three dance suites, each of which is prefaced by a prelude and concluded with a passacaglia or chaccone; a standalone G minor Folia is a bonus.

Like the Scottish guitarist and lutenist Gordon Ferries in the same repertoire, Bock favours the middle way. He is not afraid to allow a more romantic sensibility to colour the sarabandes or the slower variations in the passacaglias. Nor does he hesitate to employ a cleaner sound more associated with a modern classical guitar to offset the distinctive resonance of the instrument, the idiomatic over-ringing of scale tones and arpeggiation of chords and contrasting brushed and percussive strumming. The result is playing of real depth and distinction.