Album: New Progmantics
Artist: Sarastro Blake
2013 Mentalchemy Records
CD: SRBK01


Paolo Pigni: acoustic & electric bass, acoustic guitar, nylon string guitar, piano (9), vocals
Luca Briccola: guitars, bass (1), keys, percussion, orchestration, flutes, backing vocals
Mirko Soncini: drums
Richard Allen: additional vocals
Serena Bossi: additional vocals, vocals (4)
Marco Carenzio: additional vocals

with
Nick Magnus: keys (1)
Filippo Pedretti: violin (1)
Dave Lawson: electric piano (3)
Rick Wakeman: piano (5)
David Paton: vocals (5)
Amanda Lehmann; vocals (7)
Richard Sinclair: bass (8), vocals (8)
Billy Sherwood: guitars (9), synths (9)


Produced, recorded & mixed by Briccola
Graphic design: Briccola
Front cover photo: Christopher Colquhoun; in homage to the painting "Flaming June" by Lord Frederick Leighton; model: Ivory Flame
Back cover: "The Lady of Shalott" by John William Waterhouse (1888)


Tracks:
1. "The Lady of Shalott" [mus: Pigni; lyr: Pigni, inc. quotations from the poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson] (8:34)
2. "Clare's Song" [mus: Pigni; lyr: John Clare] (3:31)
3. "Scotland, the Place" [Pigni] (5:39)
4. "Sonnet 116" [mus: Pigni; lyr: William Shakespeare] (2:26)
5. "Stanzas for Music" [mus: Pigni] (10:17)
    a. "They Say That Hope is Happiness" [lyr: Lord Byron]
    b. "On the Bust of Helen by Canova" [lyr: Lord Byron]
    c. "Reflect the Nature" [instrumental]
6. "Prelude to the Highlands" [Pigni] (2:07)
7. "My Heart's in the Highlands" [mus: Pigni; lyr: Robert Burns] (3:48)
8. "Remember" [mus: Pigni; lyr: Christina Georgina Rossetti] (3:14)
9. "Flaming June" [Pigni] (9:49)
10. "Beyond" [Pigni] (3:15)
11. "Solitary Bench (Remastered Version)" [Pigni] (3:11)


Notes: This project from Paolo Pigni sees music put to Romantic British poems (2, 4, 5, 7, 8) or Pigni's own poetry. (1) and (9) are inspired by the paintings of the same name by Waterhouse and Lord Frederic Leighton respectively (and (1) also by Tennyson's poem that inspired the painting). (HP, 15 Aug 13)

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