Top 10: Vocal Collections

 


1. Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries


Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias

This classic anthology from Schirmer is an outstanding collection intended to introduce the student of singing to the bel canto style. The material in this collection comes from the early operatic repertoire and is suitable for singers both young and experienced. To better reflect the needs of modern singers, Schirmer recently published an updated edition of this collection titled Twenty-eight Italian Songs and Arias. All the original songs are included plus four new selections. The new publication also includes newly written historical information about the music and translations of the text. Each piece has been re-engraved and five different transpositions are available, with or without accompaniment CDs.


2. Arias for Soprano



Arias for Soprano is part of Schirmer’s new operatic anthology that includes volumes for each voice type. This first volume for soprano includes many famous excerpts from the literature and is suitable for advanced students or professionals preparing for concert recitals. The book is organized chronologically and includes selections from the early 18th century to the late 20th. The focus of this book is on the repertoire for lyric soprano; singers interested in the demanding repertoire by Verdi, Wagner and the like should consider other publications while collaratura sopranos should get this companion volume. Anthologies for other voice types can be found here.


3. Teen’s Musical Theatre Collection – Young Women’s Edition



This collection from Hal Leonard is especially intended to match the vocal abilities of young singers. The repertoire includes selections from early stage musicals of Broadway, classic films from Hollywood, and newer selections from recent stage and film productions up to the 1990s. The book is available with or without an accompaniment CD which is useful for young singers who do not have ready access to an accompanist. Guitar chords are also provided. A similar collection for men’s voices is also available.


4. 26 Italian Songs and Arias



This outstanding collection from Alfred is a great introduction for the singer to the early operatic repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. The aim of the editors in preparing this volume was to present some of the famous arias of this period in editions that better reflect the style of the composer’s time rather than the styles of the editor’s time. Facsimiles of original sources are shown, historical notes about the music give contextual information, and translations of the text with pronunciation suggestions are included. Two transposition (medium-high and medium-low) are available, each with or without an accompanying CD.


5. Oratorio Anthology for Soprano



Hal Leonard’s Oratorio Anthology for Soprano brings together classic arias from the repertoire of sacred oratorios. With selections ranging from the late 17th century (Purcell) to the late 19th century (Fauré), the book offers a wide range of styles within its 30 selections. Given his vast output of oratorio, J.S. Bach is given a full quarter of the collection. Anthologies for other voice types can be found here.


6. Best Songs Ever: 76 Great Songs (7th Edition)



Hal Leonard’s extensive collection contains the 72 greatest songs ever written since music was invented in 1925. Represented are famous shows from Broadway, songs from Hollywood films, jazz standards, and hits from the biggest names in rock and pop. Each song is cleanly and spatiously engraved with straight-forward piano accompaniments and guitar chords. If you are looking for a hit from the 20th century, it likely will be in this collection.


7. Sing Out!: All Time and Old Time Favourites



Sing Out! is a book produced in Markham, Ontario, for use in Ontario’s seniors’ residences. The collection includes songs that seniors would likely know pitch at low keys that should be comfortable to sing. Most represented are songs from the early 20th century with which seniors (in the 1970s when the book was produced) would have grown up. The music is arranged for simply piano accompaniment with the vocal line in the stop staff of the keyboard rather than on its own line. This feature makes Sing Out! an accessible collection for amateur players. A handbook with words only is also available for distribution to seniors residences.


8. The Best of Cole Porter



This exciting collection brings together Cole Porter’s greatest Broadway hits and popular songs. All the standards are here including: “I Love You”, “It’s De-Lovely”, “What Is This Thing Called Love?”, and “Brush Up Your Shakespeare”. The piano doubles the vocal melody at all times making the book very useful for amateur singers and chords symbols are included for guitarists or combo playing.


9. Highlights Edition: Irish Country Songs



This book compiles many classic arrangements of Irish folksong from the pen of Herbert Hughes, one of the prominent musicologists who studied this repertoire in the early 20th century. The book includes many favourites including: “Down by the Salley Gardens”, “Innisfree”, “The Star of the County Down”, and “The Black Ribbon-Band”. The songs are arranged for voice and piano making this collection suitable mainly for recital performance by concert singers; this is not an “urtext” edition which should instead show the songs as melodies only with variations documented. Hughes’ four volumes of Irish Country Songs , from which the present volume’s contents are collected, are analogous to folksong settings by contemporaries like Zóltan Kodály, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten rather than musicological source books.


10. English Songs: Renaissance to Baroque



Edited by Steven Stolen and Richard Walters, this volume in Hal Leonard’s Vocal Library collects favourite songs by English composers of the 16th to 18th centuries, including: Thomas Arne, Thomas Campiano, John Dowland, George Frideric Handel, and Henry Purcell. The editors have included optional ornamentation in small notes and suggested dynamics. Notes about the composers are included in the preface. This is a straight-forward songbook for the student of singing who is seeking a good introduction to this repertoire. The collection is available for high or low voice, either with or without an accompanying CD.

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Top 10: Clarinet Collections

 

For the clarinetists in the audience, here is a list of the best-selling clarinet books at The Leading Note.

 

1. Galper Clarinet Method, Book 1

At the top of the list is the famous method by Avrahm Galper.  No other clarinet method is as widely used as this one.  The method is presented as a series of lessons, each one introducing a new technical challenge which is mastered through a series of short tunes.  As the student progresses through the lessons, the exercises become longer and more intricate.  Chord symbols (like those used in fakebooks) are included so the student can be accompanied.

2. Galper Clarinet Method, Book 2

The second volume of Galper’s Clarinet Method is a collection of studies that work more advanced technical issues.  The excercises in this volume are longer and more intricate than those in the first volume.  Like its predecessor, Book 2 includes chord symbols so the student can be accompanied.

3. Galper Scales & Arpeggios

While numerous scale books are available for clarinet, Galper’s collection is extensively annotated with fingering suggestions and other technical details to speed the student’s progress and understanding of the clarinet’s fingering system.  This is an invaluable resource for the clarinetist.

4. Melodious and Progressive Studies, Book 1 (ed. David Hite)

This volume brings together studies from several 19th-century composers: Demnitz, Nocentini, Baermann, and Klosé.  The key and tessitura of each study is indicated to help the teacher select an appropriate study to compliment the student’s current work.  At the end of the volume are several pieces arranged by Baermann and some scales.

5. Solos for the Clarinet Player (ed. Christmann)

If the clarinetist can resist being offended by the enormous tenor saxophone on the cover of this G. Schirmer collection, the player will find the contents quite rewarding.  Schirmer has published a similar book for almost every instrument of the orchestra and the standardized covers can be a bit deceiving.  Inside, the player will find numerous pieces unique to the clarinet repertoire as well as some favourites arranged specifically for the instrument.   Since the clarinet is a relative newcomer in the musical world (it’s only about 300 years old or so), material from the Baroque era must necessarily be borrowed from the repertoire of other instruments.  This collection is a very useful and varied collection for the intermediate player.

6. Rose, 40 Studies for Clarinet

Cyrille Rose composed numerous studies for the clarinet that have become part of the standard pedagogical repertoire.   The 20 studies in this book are challenging exercises that work the different registers of the clarinet extensively.

7. Finzi, Five Bagatelles, Op. 23

The five pieces in this collection quickly entered the standard repertoire of the clarinet after their publication in 1945.  The difficulty of these pieces varies greatly: the RCM lists selections of these in three different grades (2, 6, and 9).  Finzi’s writing skillfully captures the diversity of timbres possible on the clarinet, often contrasting the woody low register with the bright upper end and juxtaposing extreme dynamics.

8. Rubank Book of Clarinet Solos: Intermediate Level

This is the second collection of solos to make it to the Top 10.  Most of the selections in this set are arranged for clarinet from other sources, including three pieces by Mozart.  Two selections included in the book are listed in the RCM Syllabus which partly explains its popularity.  The price is also very attractive.  The contents are quite varied making it a useful collection for students.

9. Rose, 32 Etudes & 40 Studies for Clarinet, Book 2

We already featured the first book of Rose Studies at #6.  These two volumes fill up the chart at numbers 9 and 10.  I have included them together in one listing since the two sets are now published together.

10. Baermann, Complete Method for Clarinet – 3rd division

Baermann squeezes onto the list tying Rose’s 40 Studies Book 2 at number 10.  This is the third part of his method which is apparently more popular than the first or second. The third volume in Baermann’s Complete Method for Clarinet is a set of daily exercises in all the keys to facilitate technical development.

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