24 Heine-Vertonungen. Par STEFFEN WOLFGANG. To familiarize oneself with the basics of lied singing and at the same time work on technical and artistic issues using short and varied lieder, there is no way around the German 'Vaccai”. With lieder based on Heine's poems and following the Italian example Nicola Vaccai, Steffen Wolf succeeded in creating a real highlight in voice teaching. Each volume comprises the lieder with the international phonetic transcription below the music, short pedagogical comments on technical and artistic issues as well as a CD with recordings of the songs and piano playbacks in the respective voice range. Singers: Miriam Alexandra (soprano), Yvi Jänicke (alto), Dávid Csizmár (baritone) and the composer (tenor) himself. They are accompanied by the pianist Henning Lucius, who also recorded the piano playbacks for every CD./ Méthode / Voix Haute

Ces arrangements art merveilleusement complexe, sophistiqué et élégant de la musique par le compositeur Richard Walters de chansons classiques par Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter et George Gershwin sont conçus pour flatter un pianiste et chanteur classique et ont été largement réalisées en Amérique du Nord et en Europe par des professionnels et des étudiants avancés. Comme un interprète, ' les arrangements sont tellement riches qu'ils deviennent des chansons de l'art sur leur propre. ' Initialement publié en 1992 comme des ensembles de livre/cassette (maintenant out of print), cette édition réimprimée rend ces arrangements distinctives à nouveau disponible. / Voix Et Piano

The original choral setting of O Magnum Mysterium premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich in December 1994 has since been performed thousands of times throughout the world and was alsodesignated as an American Choral Masterpiece by the National Endowment for the Arts. The genesis of this motet is discussed in my Wall Street Journal article. “Zurbaran's 'Still-life with Lemons Oranges and aRose.'”--Morten Lauridsen

from Les Chansons des Roses-In addition to his vast output of German poetry Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) composed nearly 400 poems in French. His poems on roses struck me as especially charming filled with gorgeous lyricism deftly crafted and elegant in their imagery. These exquisite poems are primarily light joyous and playful and the musical settings are designed to enhance these characteristics and capture the delicate beauty and sensuousness of the poetry. Distinct melodic and harmonic materials recur throughout the cycle especially between Rilke''s poignant 'Contre qui rose' (set as a wistful nocturne) and his moving 'La rose complète.' The final piece 'Dirait-on ' is composed as a tuneful chanson populaire or folksong that weaves together two melodic ideas first heard in fragmentary form in preceding movements. 'Les Chansons des Roses' was premiered and recorded in 1993 by Portland Oregon ''s celebrated chamber choir Choral Cross-Ties conducted by Bruce Browne. The complete cycle has been widely performed since then and also recorded by the Los Angeles Master Chorale Los Angeles Chamber Singers Nordic Chamber Choir and tonight's performers the Donald Brinegar Singers. (Morten Lauridsen)