Grace Castagnetta Christmas on the Siena Pianoforte

An instrument with an intriguing history, the Siena Pianoforte was built in 1800 as a wedding present for a Siena farmer and his wife. After being sent to the Paris Exhibition of 1867, it was presented to Crown Prince Umberto the following year again as a wedding present. It surfaced in the North African desert during the Second World War and was taken to Palestine, where it again vanished and resurfaced. Several LPs were issued in the mid-1950s, including the one used here made by Grace Castagnetta in 1957, in which she plays a selection of Christmas carols and tunes on the highly ornate instrument. The recording has become something of a collector's item among collectors of unusual Christmas music, and is now finally available in the digital domain. All selections newly remastered.