SKU: ST.C389
ISBN 9790570813896.
An Album of Twenty French Songs arranged for Bassoon and Piano by Martin GattFauré??s poignant love song Après un rêve exists in many different transcriptions for various instruments (the most famous version perhaps being the one for cello and piano that Pablo Casals made in 1910), and provides the initial inspiration for this album of French songs transcribed for bassoon and piano. The bassoon is capable of a broad range of timbres and expression, and it is the lyrical, vocal quality of the instrument that Martin Gatt has always been attracted to. In both his performance and teaching, his emphasis is on the importance of what he calls ??vocalising?? through the bassoon, and for him, music for the voice ?? especially art songs of the 19th and 20th centuries ?? has been a rich source of material for exploring the expressive tonal colours of the bassoon.The treasure trove of French art song from composers ranging from Claude Arrieu to Louis Vierne, not to mention the greats like Berlioz or Debussy or Ravel, has made the task of choosing which songs to include in this album a difficult one. In the end, Martin has settled on eight composers who have produced some of the most appealing music in the genre ?? Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), Jules Massenet (1842-1912), Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), Henri Duparc (1848-1933), Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), and Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). Rather than grouping by composer, the songs are set out in a way that contrasts different emotional worlds and sentiments, from the vibrant exuberance of Chabrier??s L??île heureuse to the gentle melancholy of Poulenc??s Mais mourir. These ??songs without words? for the bassoon, clearly demonstrate the instrument??s cantabile qualities, varied nuances, and wide-ranging emotional possibilities.
SKU: CA.914700
ISBN 9790007144913.
In the 1880s Fauré discovered the poetry of Paul Verlaine, which found its expression in the song cycle La Bonne Chanson (1892/93), upon which the present transcription of La Lune blanche is based. In this cycle Fauré pursued the plan to condense the songs into a cycle through thematic development. The cycle entitled Mirages was composed in 1919. In the last song, Danseuse, Fauré reduces the music to a bare rhythmic ostinato, which is maintained with slight alterations throughout the entire song. The frequent clashes of seconds in the harmony have not been softened in the transcription, for they lend the music a certain painful expression.
SKU: HL.49017577
ISBN 9790001152204. 9.0x12.0x0.1 inches. French.
These songs by Emile Naoumoff are squarely in the tradition of French lied composition such as by Gabriel Faure. Here, Naoumoff chose texts by late 19th-century French lyricists: Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Emile Verhaeren, Charles Baudelaire and Rene-Francois Sully-Prudhomme.In their elegance and suppleness, the four songs sound typically French. As they are all easy to sing and have not been composed 'against' the voice, they are perfectly suited for both music lessons and concert programmes.Naoumoff was born in Sofia in 1962. At the age of eight, he began his career as a pianist and composer; he was a student of Nadia Boulanger for ten years until her death. At the age of ten, Naoumoff composed and performed his own piano concerto under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin. He then received numerous awards and prizes and gave performances as highly acclaimed pianist. Today, Naoumoff lives and works as an associate professor at the School of Music of the Indiana University at Bloomington. He gives master classes in the USA, Europe and Japan and is director of a music academy.
SKU: HL.50566027
ISBN 9790044095377. UPC: 196288159414. 9.0x12.0x0.581 inches.
This edition belongs to “Musique vocale française”, a series devoted to French vocal repertoire – both in original and transposed key – designed for students and teachers as well as professionals; it includes 35 songs for medium-low voice, with original poems and English translations, that Camille Saint-Saëns composed throughout his entire career. The texts he chose for his music are proofof his excellent literary taste. It is not always easy to see a clear logic when looking at the entire corpus of the composer's melodies, coming to a total of around one-hundred and twenty works. Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the composers responsible for bringing nobility to French melody, thus paving the way for the generation, that of Gabriel Fauré and Henri Duparc, which would elevate it to its highest level.
SKU: HL.50566026
ISBN 9790044095360. UPC: 196288159407. 9.0x12.0x0.664 inches.
This edition belongs to “Musique vocale française”, a series devoted to French vocal repertoire – both in original and transposed key – designed for students and teachers as well as professionals; it includes 35 songs for high voice, with original poems and English translations, that Camille Saint-Saëns composed throughout his entire career. The texts he chose for his music are proof of his excellent literary taste. It is not always easy to see a clear logic when looking at the entire corpus of the composer's melodies, coming to a total of around one-hundred and twenty works. Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the composers responsible for bringing nobility to French melody, thus paving the way for the generation, that of Gabriel Fauré and Henri Duparc, which would elevate it to its highest level.
