This diverse programme of works for guitar trio is bound by the common thread of music inspired by stories from literature, stage or screen. With its rhythmic exuberance and tragic beauty, Bernstein’s West Side Story has never lost its freshness and relevance. Ensemble member Luca Isolani’s Note fuori campo is a homage to the versatile Italian composer Nino Rota, who, like Manos Hadjidakis, first shot to international fame with an Oscar-winning film score. Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye evokes the poetry of childhood with a refined expressiveness that makes it as popular and unforgettable as Grieg’s music for Peer Gynt.

This is a Naxos debut for The Volterra Project Trio, which is a classical guitar trio that reimagines its repertoire by drawing inspiration from European impressionism, Mediterranean folk melodies and cinematic scores.

A previous album Medio Siglo by the trio was praised by Soundboard Magazine for its ‘deep use of colours and the dazzling arrangements’, and this new recording Parole in Musica presents famous and popular music in superb arrangements that allow us to fall in love with such renowned works all over again. A world premiere in the form of trio member Luca Isolani’s Note fuori campo is the icing on a cake already rich in striking timbres and textures.

With Parole in Musica these three musicians bring their full range of colour and expression to a programme of music inspired by stories from stage, screen and literature, beginning with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet retold as a tragedy on the streets of New York’s West Side through Leonard Bernstein’s brilliant score, and ending with Grieg’s incidental music to scenes from the exotic travels of Ibsen’s anti-hero, Peer Gynt.