About this item

"Shakespeare has been a part of my life as a performer from the very start" says Ian Bostridge, "Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream and Ades's The Tempest have been milestones for me as a singer. It has been a great joy to rediscover the music in Shakespeare's incomparable texts and the music that has been written over the past four centuries toclothe them, from the simplest songs of his own contemporaries, through the melodic delights of the likes of Haydn, Britten and Finzi to the matchless complexity of the late Stravinsky. Working again with Tony Pappano has been a joy; and making my first recording with a long term musical partner, lutenist Liz Kenny, a particular pleasure." This album is a collection of some of the greatest settings of the words of Shakespeare, ranging from composers of the time such as Robert Johnson and William Byrd, 18th and 19th century songs by Haydn, Arne and Schubert, through to the 20th century settings by Warlock, Poulenc, Finzi, Korngold and Stravinsky.