Shakespeare in Music & Words (Decca 4825281)
2016 marked 400 years since the death of Shakespeare and to commemorate, Decca offered this compilation of music and spoken word. The first disc includes musical works inspired by the bard. The Maazel/Cleveland Orchestra Dance of the Knights leads off the musical program. Other highlights include a lovely arrangement for saxophone and orchestra of Fear No More the Heat of the Sun from Gerald Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring. Jennifer Vyvyan sings O let me weep, forever weep from Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and the Balcony Scene music from Craig Armstrong’s score for the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet is here as well. The second disc is devoted to a selection of the most famous speeches from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets in recordings by such acclaimed actors as Vanessa Redgrave, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Sir John Gielgud, Christopher Plummer and many more.
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