Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is best known for two things – his evocative guitar music, and his work during his long association with the movie industry in Hollywood, where he produced some amazing scores though never quite receiving the fame of his compatriot Nino Rota. His extensive body of piano music has been largely neglected despite the fact that it is exceptional, impressionistic, and in the best post-Romantic tradition of ‘lighter’ music – though only relatively ‘light’ in that it is written in traditional harmony. Never shallow, but highly suggestive of moods, emotions, places and colors. Many of the works in this album are receiving their first recording. Alfonso Soldano is a brilliant Italian pianist, the last and highly-regarded pupil of Aldo Ciccolini whose debut recording (piano music of Sergei Bortkiewicz) attracted worldwide acclaim. He is naturally attuned to the Romantic which makes him an ideal interpreter of this music. He has just been appointed Artistic Director of the Aldo Ciccolini Academ