‘Richard Hickox rightly presents Rossini’s Stabat Mater warmly and with gutsy strength. All four soloists here are first rate, not Italianate of tone but full and warm, and the London Symphony Chorus sings with fine attack as well as producing the most refined pianissimos in the unaccompanied quartet, here as usual given to the full chorus rather than to the soloists. Full-bodies and atmospheric sound.’

Rosette *** Penguin Guide to Compact Discs

Craig Ogden and Alison Stephens perform music from the novels of Louis de Bernières including ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’.

This fascinating, evocative collection of works from various composers is based on the music found in the first four novels by Louis de Bernières (the Latin Trilogy and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).

Louis de Bernières has been one of the most successful and popular novelists in the world. Sales of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin went into the millions and a Hollywood film was made.

Exclusive artist Craig Ogden has recorded four previous discs with Chandos, all of which have been well received by all areas of the musical world.

Louis de Bernières has worked closely with Craig Ogden and Alison Stephens compiling the music, and has written the sleeve notes to accompany the disc.



There was a fashion throughout Europe and the USA for the mandolin between about 1890 and 1914, and this enthusiasm encouraged many Italian players (mostly from the poor south) to travel abroad to, hopefully, find their fame and fortune. They may have been quite successful for a time, but the fashion soon disappeared and many of the players simply returned to Italy to resume their daily lives where they left off. The mandolin’s cultural status was never high, and the mandolin fraternity was never well organised. Consequently, many of these players faded into obscurity.

We know little of Benedetto Persichini. He was born around 1880/90, and was a gifted mandolin player with a beautiful Roman instrument. It had a very narrow fingerboard that enabled him to finger rapid passages more easily and execute the most difficult chord work. He used altered tuning a great deal to give a more full harmonic effect with six- and seven-note fhords.

In 1954, John Anson wrote in the BMG magazine:
Perichini was a very likeable person but temperamental and excitable. He must have been the despair of some of his landladies. He actually slept with his beloved mandolin at his bedside and thought nothing of trying out some tune that had entered his head at a time when most people were fast asleep.

Another mandolinist about whom we know little is Angy Palumbo. He may have been one of the many hopefuls who left Italy and found only modest success. His name appears on some published works, and it has been speculated that, as was common practice, that this is only a pseudonym for a better known player who was unable to publish works under his own name for contractual reasons.

(Thanks to Dr Paul Spark, author of The Classical Mandolin and They Early Mandolin)