One of our most distinguished composers, Pultizer-Prize recipient John Harbison currently is Institute Professor at MIT and has composed chamber works, concertos, four Symphonies (with a Fifth scheduled for a first performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and the Metropolitan Opera commission The Great Gatsby (1999). This release features song cycles based on the works of one of the most prominent Italian 20th century poets, Eugenio Montale (1896-1981). His best known works, Cuttle-Fish Bones (1925-28), The Occasions (1939) and The Storm and Other Things (1956) mark some of the finest achievements in the trend known as Hermeticism. The role of poetry is the absolute realm of the word as prophetic tool, which allows the poet (and by extension humankind) to interpret the world of visible things. Harbison admired the work of Montale for more than a decade before embarking on Motetti di Montale, which was dedicated to the poet on his 85th birthday.