Shakespeare's Lovers - Performed by Estelle Kohler & Bill Homewood - 2 CDs

'If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss'

Many of the greatest lovers, and the greatest love scenes in Western literature are to be found in Shakespeare

The fresh but impassioned Romeo and Juliet, the resilient wit of Petruchio and Kate, the ardent exchanges of Lorenzo and Jessica and the anguished tragedies of Othello and Desdemona and Anthony and Cleopatra - they all show love and courtship in its many forms.

The darker side of love is here too - the spine-chilling wooing of Lady Anne by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the control maintained by Lady Macbeth over her husband. But it is balanced by the buffoonery of Falstaff and Mistress Ford and Pyramus and Thisbe.

In their lively and imaginative selection, Bill Homewood and Estelle Kohler perform the finest love scenes from nearly 20 plays

Music by Francesco Canova da Milano, Purcell, Jenkins, Music of the Spanish Renaissance

Running Time: 2:33:39

Selected & Edited by Bill Homewood & Estelle Kohler

Produced by Nicolas Soames