This fascinating new recording presents three Italian works for the unusual combination of guitar and choir. The earliest, and in fact the first ever, composition for guitar and choir is the suite Romancero Gitano, by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, on poems by García Lorca. To quote the composer: “that sense of the Spanish lands: the parched Castile, the pale olive groves, the scent of the orange orchards in Andalusia and, along the coast, the sea which breaks at the shore with vibrations, almost, of a guitar.” “Materna” by Nicola Campogrande is an ode to maternity. It is a musical polyptych about maternity based on original Latin texts written by Marco Vacchetti and organized in four panels, which themselves were inspired by masterpieces of Italian art between the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. For Nulla Sors Longa Est, Nicola Jappelli turns to the world of the classics, using three fragments from Seneca. Played by renowned Italian guitarist Nicolò Spera and the excellent St. Martin’s Chamber Choir (Colorado’s only professional choir), conducted by Timothy J. Krueger.