Best Late Romantic
A firm favourite with choirs for many years, this is a classic collection of traditional carols. His searching and visionary imagination, combined with a flexibility in writing for all levels of music-making, has meant that his music is as popular today as it ever has been.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Composers, these texts have inspired countless Christmas pageants and have yet to exhaust their full potential."
"The book was a smaller sized edition than I expected, but serves well."
"Delighted to find this after being told by a friend it was a bit rare."
"A classic that makes the perfect gift!"
"quick delivery, good value, book in expected or better condition."
"Better than the shorter NOBC, more old stuff, much more affordable than the comprehensive OBC."
"This book was in existence when R V W was still alive!"
Between 1867 and 1901, Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) wrote ten sets of little mood pictures for piano that display his great musical gifts at their lyrical best.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As noted on the back cover, Grieg's harmonies here are interesting and late-Romantic, sometimes anticipating the music of Debussy and Ravel, et al. Note: coming back to my review, I kind of feel bad about using the term "salon music" in the original title! I feel that Grieg put a lot of genuine emotion into these utterly delightful mood pieces, and the more I play them the more I get out of them."
"Great value, and the fonts are very clear."
"LOVE this and so inexpensive!"
"I had it cut & fixed with rings to make it easier to use."
"I ordered it again because I missed playing them; the great variety of style and flavor is wonderful, as well as the variety of difficulties."
"Nice to find all the Lyric Pieces in one volumn, at a nice affordable price!"
This book, therefore, which differs from most other texts on the subject because of its tremendous wealth of musical examples and its systematic arrangement of material according to each constituent of the orchestra, will undoubtedly be of value to any music student. Chapter IV, Composition of the Orchestra, covers different ways of orchestrating the same music; effects that can be achieved with full tutti; tutti in winds, tutti pizzicato, soli in the strings, etc. Immediately following this text are some 330 pages of musical examples drawn from "Sheherazade," the "Antar Symphony," "Capriccio Espagnol," "Sadko," "Ivan the Terrible," "Le Coq d'Or," "Mlada," "The Tsar's Bride," and others of Rimsky-Korsakov's works.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Just started reading it, but was just what I was looking for."
"Explanations of how to orchestrate various groups of musical instruments to create beautiful sounding symphonic arrangements."
"This book is a great and to the point orchestration course book."
"The three stars is only for the "free" Kindle version."
"I don't have any background in music and never studied it but what the author writes here is clear an understandable."
Best Leoncavallo
One of the most enduringly popular of all operas, Pagliacci is a classic of the verismo, or realistic operatic tradition.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"By some book-binderish sleight-of-hand, Schirmer scores can be placed above the keyboard of a piano and (after a minimal period of break-in) be expected to remain open at the correct page I can report from both my own personal experiences and those of other singers, that Schirmer vocal scores are fairly formidable pieces of book-making which will typically last from initial study, during all the rehearsals and through several years of performance without falling apart--although, of course, a volume so often consulted, so casually set aside and so hastily snatched up sooner or later acquires a raffish and slightly battered, if pleasingly indomitable appearance. I notice that fellow singers and I can generally recognize our personal copies at a glance over considerable distances, even though, as may be seen from the illustrations of editions for other operas, Schirmer scores when new are as alike as so many peas in a pod. In the rough and tumble of preparing for actual performances, virtually every Schirmer opera score that I have encountered has disclosed some peculiar oddity--a misprint, a mis-attribution of a couple of of words or bars to an incorrect singer, that sort of thing. Rehearsals have not yet begun for the production for which I purchased tthis score, but I haven't the slightest doubt that substantial time will be diverted to page 205, upon which appear the words, "La commedia e finita!" Schirmer scores tend to include so-called "singing translations" printed beneath the words of the libretto in the original language."
"I needed this score quickly and what I got."
"There was a typo with the Italian in the chorus lyrics in Act 1."
"The score is virtually new and had only 1 very faint mark in the entire score."
"Everything was good in this transaction except delivery time."
"The print quality is light and not very crisp, and since the size is small, one really would like a clear and crisp print. This will sit on the music bookshelf and will probably never be opened again."
"I congratulate Burton Fisher for a job very well done and Amazon for making these handy, information-laden booklets available. My tip: acquire the entire collection because you will be in easy reach of superbly presented opera guides consisting of story analysis, principal characters in the opera, story narrative with music highlights, background, analysis, and commentary."
Best Mascagni
Mascagni's first produced opera (1890), and ultimately his most successful, Cavalleria Rusticana is a tempestuous drama of adultery and revenge set in a remote Italian village.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This Dover score, like all Dover scores, is very nice."
"I am really impressed with amazon.com as I got this product £5 cheaper than buying it on .co.uk I wonder why?"
"Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, and binds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse short of a nuclear blast."
"Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, and binds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse short of a nuclear blast."
"Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, and binds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse short of a nuclear blast."
Best Verdi
(Vocal Score). Daniel S. Brink is the Artistic Advisor and Principal Coach/Accompanist for the Colorado Opera Festival, Artistic Director for the Company Singers, a development program for young operatic hopefuls and Artistic Director/Conductor of the Colorado Springs Choral Society small ensemble, MOSIAC.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The quality printing not is the best, if you ask me the perfect size for this score is the letter, yet with this little things is the best edition for the singers."
"No translation -- just the original Italian."
"Exactly what I expected, brand new, no markings or scratches."
"These Ricordi cloth-bound editions are the most well-bound vocal scores I own."
"And the score will not stay open on the music stand."
Best Massenet
(Vocal Score). — Daily Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"had to replace well-worn Schirmer hard cloth-bound."
"Well bound on sleek paper - easy on the eyes - wonderful score."
"In the score there is a little not clearly written which part some role sings, but i like it."
"He is so taken with these "Mini Guides" that each and every one of his twenty-eight five-star reviews begins, "The Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series is just wonderful; it's like a "Cliff Note" [sic] of the opera, and extremely informative and educational." Then, go out to see the opera. Older performances of operas that in many cases can only be described as superb can be found on CD right here at Amazon for about the price of this pamphlet."
"I congratulate Burton Fisher for a job very well done and Amazon for making these handy, information-laden booklets available. My tip: acquire the entire collection because you will be in easy reach of superbly presented opera guides consisting of story analysis, principal characters in the opera, story narrative with music highlights, background, analysis, and commentary."
"will buy next time ."
"The price is quite normal, as scores go, and you shall find accurate markings and index."
Best Rimsky
This book, therefore, which differs from most other texts on the subject because of its tremendous wealth of musical examples and its systematic arrangement of material according to each constituent of the orchestra, will undoubtedly be of value to any music student. Chapter IV, Composition of the Orchestra, covers different ways of orchestrating the same music; effects that can be achieved with full tutti; tutti in winds, tutti pizzicato, soli in the strings, etc. Immediately following this text are some 330 pages of musical examples drawn from "Sheherazade," the "Antar Symphony," "Capriccio Espagnol," "Sadko," "Ivan the Terrible," "Le Coq d'Or," "Mlada," "The Tsar's Bride," and others of Rimsky-Korsakov's works.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Just started reading it, but was just what I was looking for."
"Explanations of how to orchestrate various groups of musical instruments to create beautiful sounding symphonic arrangements."
"This book is a great and to the point orchestration course book."
"The three stars is only for the "free" Kindle version."
"I don't have any background in music and never studied it but what the author writes here is clear an understandable."
Best Strauss, Richard
Richard Strauss' fifteen operas, which span the years 1893 to 1941, make up the largest German operatic legacy since Wagner's operas of the nineteenth century. Richard Strauss' fifteen operas make up the largest German operatic legacy since Wagner's operas of the nineteenth century.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"To that elite group must now be added Bryan Gilliam’s ROUNDING WAGNER’S MOUNTAIN, RICHARD STRAUSS AND THE MODERN GERMAN OPERA. No other German composer of the time embraced all three, least of all in one work.”. A surprising amount of the source material on Strauss has never been translated into English: Strauss’s youthful letters, his letters to Clemens Kraus and Josef Gregor, for example, so Gillam’s quoting of them, sometimes at length, sheds new light on the subject. Equally valuable (and new) are the results of his own exploration of the Strauss archives and quoting (sometimes for the first time in English, so far as I know), from Strauss’s diaries, his wife Pauline’s diaries, as well as the odd find that any writer prays to uncover, like a memo from Joseph Goebbels admonishing Strauss, “The world is not as you see it from your Garmisch study.”. The discussions of Strauss’s tonal structure of each opera will, obviously, be more meaningful for musicians, but Gilliam’s writing is so clear that anyone can understand the basic points he’s making."
"Calling Strauss a musical atheist, Gilliam points out that Strauss rejected the Wagnerian concept of redemption by love with Salome which ends with the deaths of the "redeemer" and the "redeemee"."
"I have always loved the music of Richard Strauss and have therefore always relied on the scholarship of Bryan Gilliam to interpret and guide me through the works of this complex composer."
"Gilliam's new book is the state of the art account on the operas of Strauss and also perhaps the best book and most concise account of the composers life. I would say that it is the best available book for a reader who really wants to understand Strauss the man as well as Strauss the composer."
Best Vaughan-williams
A firm favourite with choirs for many years, this is a classic collection of traditional carols. His searching and visionary imagination, combined with a flexibility in writing for all levels of music-making, has meant that his music is as popular today as it ever has been.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Composers, these texts have inspired countless Christmas pageants and have yet to exhaust their full potential."
"The book was a smaller sized edition than I expected, but serves well."
"Delighted to find this after being told by a friend it was a bit rare."
"A classic that makes the perfect gift!"
"quick delivery, good value, book in expected or better condition."
"Better than the shorter NOBC, more old stuff, much more affordable than the comprehensive OBC."
"This book was in existence when R V W was still alive!"
Best Rachmaninoff
Just as Serge Rachmaninoff's piano virtuosity ranked him among the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, his compositions for piano and orchestra won him an important position among modern composers. 1 in the years 1890–91, while he was still a young student at the Moscow Conservatory, and revised it nearly three decades later in 1917, when he began to devote his life mainly to his international career as a piano virtuoso.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Regarding those who say that the type is too small to allow pianists to learn their parts from this version of the score: fine, get a 2-piano version for your technical mastery of the music, BUT get this too if you want to be a real musician when learning this music."
"Love Dover Publications."
"Rachmaninoff is one of the truly great romantic composers, and I have purchased all of the scores for enjoyment."
"A must have for fans of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos... cheap in price while well printed and bound - it's a great addition to any music library collection!"
"His writing this while still a student in the Moscow conservatory is just a preview of what a notable pianist and composer he would become."
"The score of the First Concerto is basically the revised version, except there are occasional passages where the piano writing is something other than what you will find in any two-piano score."
"Structurally, it seems to be identical to the revised version, but much of the piano figuration (I'm unsure about the orchestral part) is based on the original version."
Best Smetana
Music of great beauty, charm and simplicity, reproduced from authoritative European editions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Several of these pieces have become real favorites, including almost all of the Smetana Czech Dances, Dussek's theme and variations "Leaving for Syria", and the awkwardly titled but wonderfully spirited Smetana "Memories of Bohemia in the form of a polka," Op.13 no.2."
Best Saint-saens
"; Best's Prelude on a Chorale by Thomas Tallis; Buxtehude's Fugue in C; the charming Four Pieces for Flute Clocks, written by Haydn for his era's popular musical clocks; Mozart's "Fantasie de Salon," based on four themes from T he Magic Flute; and Pachelbel's beloved C anon in D. Other featured composers include Elgar, Dupré, Beethoven, Frescobaldi, Handel, Liszt, Couperin, and Franck.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Nice variety and selection of tunes, suitable for church services and perfect for someone switching from pot to org and t ready for "prime time pedals" yet!"
"This collection of organ music is a lovely addition to my church repertoire."
"After my injury I could no longer play the organ pedals and this book gave me a bunch of new preludes and postludes for manuals only."
"Looks pretty good, but a bit above my level."
"This is an excellent variety of compositions by a good variety of composers."
"I am a pianist/"fake organist" and love this book of wonderful manual only pieces."
"There is incredible variety in this inexpensive edition, and most are excellent for church use."
"I am the organist for a couple of Catholic churches and this collection of organ music provides many pieces that are perfect preludes and postludes, as well as a few pieces for special occasions."
Best Puccini
(Vocal Score).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Good clean copy - English and Italian."
"Who but the professors would bother about those...I cannot say anything else about Carignani's piano reduction than that by the looks of it, I really should have taken piano lessons at an early age -- I would love to lead my cast through this all (well, most of it -- there's the interminable "duet" between Scarpia & Tosca which rather few are happy about. The appreciation grows with each reading, and that pertains also to the historical introduction as well as the critical commentary, the latter of the "no stone unturned" type, but readable by a savant."