Simone FONTANELLI (b. 1961)
Once Upon A Time There Was A Piece Of Wood - A Musical Tale After Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio
Sarah Watts (clarinet)
Jon Iles (narrator)
Rec. Momentum Studios in Plymouth, Devon
CUILLIN SOUND CUILL1005 [66:04]
The Adventures of Pinocchio first appeared in 1881 as a monthly feature in an Italian children’s magazine. The full novel was published later in 1883 and has become a classic in literature. Written by Carlo Collodi (real name Carlo Lorenzini), Pinocchio is the intriguing tale of a wooden marionette who wants to be a real boy. After an assortment of mishaps and adventures, he eventually succeeds and realizes his dream of becoming a boy. The story has been adapted numerous times and in many different languages for the theater, films and television. Simone Fontanelli (b.1961) is a well-known Italian composer and conductor who has adapted the tale and modified the story by condensing it to 14 scenes, and composing music for each scene to create a children’s opera. This opera was first produced by the Cologne Gurzenich-Orchester and the Cologne Kinderoper in 2011.
For this disc, voiceover artist Jon Iles provides the narration for each scene, accompanied by music performed by solo clarinetist Sarah Watts. Jon is an accomplished television and stage actor with a rich, expressive baritone voice. He provides the voices for over a dozen different characters in the story by incorporating a range of accents and by masterfully varying his voice pitch, resonance, intensity and timing. Dr. Sarah Watts is the Director of Performance at Sheffield University and Bass Clarinet Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Sarah is a highly skilled and popular recording artist and performs here on a B-flat Selmer Privilege model clarinet using an incredible variety of techniques and rich tonal colors to accompany the narration. Her performance provides a graceful balance to Jon’s narration and musically enhances the moods and emotions of the storyline. Two of my favorite parts are Scenes 11 and 12, when Pinocchio and a friend are transformed into donkeys. Sarah vividly captures the scenes with sprightly musical sound effects, including sounds of trotting, galloping, and hilarious hee-haws. The child in me loved it.
Bruce McCollum
