Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Platero y yo (Stephen Figoni; Laura Aguzzoni; Olimpia Pizzol)

Information

Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

• Platero y yo, Op. 190 (Narrated in Italian)

Stephen Figoni, guitar

Laura Aguzzoni, narrator

Olimpia Pizzol, singer

Date: 2025

Label: Tactus

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Description

Juan Ramón Jiménez is the author of the famous poetic prose in 138 short episodes, Platero y yo, which he wrote in 1914. Spokesman of the simplicity of life and poet with a strong sensitivity, he tells a story, imbued with a classic sense of form and at the same time “moral,” of his return to the land of his childhood and of his encounter with the donkey, Platero. The images that the poet shows us through the eyes of the young donkey are those of a typical Spanish landscape made of scenes of uncontaminated and pure life. From the fairy-tale adventure of these pages full of pure poetry, love and nostalgia one doesn’t leave untouched. The reader that follows the narrative ends up finding himself with a child’s gaze full of wonder and overcome by the affection of this magical journey. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, therefore, recognized the value of this work and chose to set some of the scenes to music, not for guitar and sung voice (principally) but for guitar and narrator. It is evident after reading the literary pieces that the criteria for his selection was the aesthetic contents and the evident “translatability” of the contents into a purely musical language. Guitarist Stephen Figoni and the voices of Laura Aguzzoni and Olimpia Pizzol guide us into the simple, enchanted world evoked by the two great artists’ contributions.

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Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 — 15 March 1968) was an Italian composer. A student of Ildebrando Pizzetti, he gained recognition in the 1920s but was forced to emigrate to the U.S. in 1939 due to Mussolini's anti-Semitic laws. Settling in Hollywood, he composed concertos for piano, violin, cello and guitar, and wrote overtures for 12 Shakespeare plays. He also set Shakespeare's poems and sonnets to music and composed two Shakespearean operas. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's chamber and piano works are noted for their symphonic scope, while his vocal music reflects the melodic tradition of the Italian school.

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Stephen Figoni, born in California in 1981, is a classical guitarist. He studied in the U.S. with Jim McCutcheon and Douglas Niedt, graduating with honors, and later earned top marks at the "G. B. Martini" Conservatorio in Bologna under Piero Bonaguri. Figoni has refined his artistry through advanced courses with renowned guitarists like Oscar Ghiglia and Elena Papandreou. He has collaborated across artistic disciplines in both Italy and the U.S., contributed to film soundtracks, and translated Giulio Giurato's book on piano playing. He currently teaches in Forlì and lives in Bologna with his family.

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