Billy Bennett (1887-1942) was a British comedian who specialised in comic monologues. He was born into the music hall industry and, after a decorated spell in the Army during the First World War, he began his own successful stage career in 1919. Often billed as Almost a Gentleman, he shot to fame at the 1926 Royal Command Performance (now the Royal Variety Shows), and remained a popular public figure for over a decade.
The First Budget Of Burlesque Monologues is the first volume of the collected monologues that were written, performed, and broadcast by Billy Bennett during the 1920s and 1930s
SKU: HL.48024664
ISBN 9783793142188. UPC: 888680951528.
Jacqu es Offenbach's more than 100 stage works are an endless treasure trove of vocal highlights with highly different musical moods and lyrical themes. To mark the 200th birthday of the great composer in 2019, which is at the same time the year of the 20th anniversary of the Offenbach Edition Keck OEK, the editor and Offenbach expert Jean-Christophe Keck has assembled a selection of arias. The four-part collection arranged according to voice category shows a rather unknown, romantic side of Offenbach. Apart from rediscovered works and first editions, however, the collection is not complete without some of his unrivalled hits. Apart from trouvailles from Les Bavards, Maitre Peronilla and Robinson Crusoe, the volume for mezzo-soprano also contains some of those crowd-pullers the composer wrote for his most famous star, the singer Hortense Schneider. But Perichole, the Beautiful Helen or the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein show definitely not only their burlesque side, but also their thoughtful one here. And in Fantasio's bitter-sweet Ballad to the Moon, Offenbach paints his own portrait as a melancholic in a jester's costume. Romantic Offenbach is aimed at fully trained and budding professionals as well as at Offenbach fans of every shade and colour, providing repertoire pieces for recitals, studies or private music-making.
SKU: ST.H489
ISBN 9790220224867.
Writ ten for Rodney Slatford, Bryan Kelly's Diversions reflect both the composer's admiration for the dedicatee, and his insights into the lively character of the instrument - perhaps even more than the viola the 'Cinderella' of the orchestra, and yet capable of great charm and richness of expression. The winning Raggle Taggle Variants at the heart of the collection brilliantly display several sides of the instrument's character, while an Elegy, an Invention, a Polonaise and a Burlesque showcase its solemnity, its seriousness, its lyric eloquence and its humour. Warmly recommended to young players of around Grade 5 standard.
SKU: PR.114424090
ISBN 9781491137383. UPC: 680160690107.
Strav insky’s 1918 Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet has long been savored by clarinetists as a rare gem in the instrument’s repertory, full of rhythmic drive and Stravinsky’s jazzy neo-classicism. Composer and clarinetist Gregory M. Barrett’s remarkable adaptation for 3 clarinets is a tour de force, assimilating Stravinsky’s harmonic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal style to create a striking addition to the clarinet literature.Igor Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet (1918) is a core work in clarinetists’ repertoire, and I havereimagined it for the convivial grouping of three players. The arrangement contains all of Stravinsky’soriginal, but now his solo line is shared among three in a new matrix of harmony, imitation, andcounterpoint.The molto tranquillo first piece develops from the emphasized C# in Stravinsky’s first measure andmoves to a somewhat somber mood when C# is revealed to be the dominant of F# minor. Withincreasing expansion of tessitura in the sustained harmonies, the sun comes out in the last phrase with ajoyous Eb major chord.The circus-like second piece finds the three clarinets whirling in the air in synchronized trapeze artiststyle. The emphasis is on imitation and fluid hand-offs. Chords with major 7ths and 2nds contrast withtriadic harmony. Following the cat and mouse middle section, where dancing patterns of twos andthrees alternate, the summit of the big top is reached again just before the players settle down to earthwith a welcome C major chord of respite.The ragtime burlesque of Stravinsky’s third piece is heightened by homophonic rhythm among the threeplayers. Each clarinet part has its own specialty. Clarinet 1 loves 32nd notes, Clarinet 2 shows off with fasttriplets, and Clarinet 3 likes the low notes and in general supporting its friends. Quartal harmony withstacked 4ths is emphasized, but where Stravinsky’s melody suggests triads, I have taken his hint. Thepropulsive rhythms are truly exciting, and with the wink of an eye, the music ends all too soon.
