Valentina Coladonato (soprano), Mirko Guadagnini (tenor), Filippo Bettoschi (bass), Claudio Proietti (piano)

Sibi Consoni Accademia Vocale di Genova, Genova Vocal Ensemble

Roberta Paraninfo

• Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Shakespeare Duets (3), Op. 97
• Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Shakespeare Sonnets, Op. 125

This new issue offers the first complete recording of the Shakespeare Sonnets by Castelnuovo‐Tedesco.

Castelnuovo‐Tedesco wrote most of these songs in the USA, after his forced exile from Fascist Italy in 1938. He has been all his life fascinated by William Shakespeare and his sonnets: "it is a perfectly musical language: I dare say that it unites the spiritual subtlety of English with the sonorous splendor of the Italian..Shakespeare acts like a mirror of humanity, expressing sentiments that are both his and universal, they are absolute and eternal, expressed by means of an extraordinary perfect wealth of images…each sonnet is a miniature drama, a theatrical play.."

The Shakespeare songs are written for soprano, tenor and baritone, some are for choir, the accompaniment is for piano. They are sung by three excellent Italian soloists, with Claudio Proietti on the piano.

The booklet contains excellent liner notes written in English and Italian.