Castelnuovo-Tedesco's flirtations with 'modernity' were probably prompted by his waning success in Hollywood, where the stylistic tide had flowed past him, and his obvious discomfort with it led him to reject 'isms' and 'ologies' and revert to his earlier musical persona, that of the writer of graceful melodies—received most gratefully by singers and guitarists. His collaboration with Segovia was a godsend, reviving his fortunes when they were at a low ebb, and keeping his name greener than it would almost certainly otherwise have been by now. Moses-ibn-Ezra was a Hebrew poet (eleventh to twelfth century) and the word 'Divan' signified a book (of poetry) of many leaves. The Divan expresses the mostly sombre thoughts of an old man in the face of death and, written less than two years before Castelnuovo-Tedesco's own demise, the cycle may be seen as a personal document, written in the composer's most natural musical language.
The nuances of the poems are finely reflected in the music and in Roberta Alexander's singing of them, though her way of sliding past consonants makes the printed texts most welcome. Dick Hoogeveen, who could have benefitted from being placed a little more forwardly, accompanies her sympathetically. In his solos Hoogeveen plays cleanly and with excellent tone; the Variazioni are well recorded and the Preludi Mediterranei here enjoy their first recording. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's inner thoughts may have been sombre but his exterior remained cheerful to the end; one of his last works was a happy little theme written for the use of the present writer, a few weeks before the end came. A pleasant and well-recorded programme.'