His only formal musical education consisted of jazz guitar lessons with Terence "Terry" Usher[1] (1934–6); the rest he learned by self-instruction.
[3] Williams acknowledged the early influence of Duarte by including his transcriptions of Bach cello suites in his first recordings, along with Variations on a Catalan Folk Song, Op.
[4] He sustained several lasting friendships with great musicians, including a 39-year-long relationship with Andrés Segovia and another with Ida Presti, who died prematurely at the age of 42.
[5] For Presti and her husband Alexandre Lagoya, Duarte wrote Variations on a French Nursery Song, Op.
[1] Duarte was the composer of over 150 works for the guitar and lute (many commissioned with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain and other sources).
91, written for the Amsterdam Guitar Trio alternates in style between aleatory, atonal and graphic, contained within a conventionally notated framework and allowing spontaneous reaction between the performers.
But this was, in fact, the true Duarte, never easy to categorise, always unpredictable, his agile and fertile mind able and willing to leap without apparent effort from one area of music to another.