I went to the music store today and purchased three
books with CD accompaniments. Here's my reviews in
case anyone is interested. Since the books are usually
plastic wrapped (or at least the CDs are) it's not
usually possible to try before you buy!
As someone suggested to me privately, I got a Music
Minus One book ("Everybody's Favorite Songs for high
voice") and the accompaniment is wonderful. The
pianist, John Wustman, is very sensitive not only to
the music but also to important things like allowing
the singer time to breath. I would highly recommend
this book/CD, and I presume the others in the series
would be equally good. One caveat - the performance
was recorded in the 60s, so at times you can hear a
bit of the fuzzy sound you get from old recordings,
but it's not too noticeable for the most part, and the
piano part itself is quite nice.
I got a Schirmer/Hal Leonard (didn't know they were
affiliated, learn something new each day) "The first
book of soprano solos Part II" and I will be trying to
return it to the store on Monday if they'll take it
back. It's absolutely horrible. The tempos are too
fast (as least on the four songs I tried before I
couldn't stand it anymore), and the pianist is totally
insensitive not only to the singer's requirements but
IMO, also to the musical requirements. Two thumbs down
for this one.
The final one I got was the good old Schirmer
Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias for medium high
voice. This is a mixed bag. Some of the songs the
tempo is fine, some of them it's too fast. I sang
along with most of them, and what bugged me the most
was the metronomic playing, with not even the
slightest allowance for breathing, and very little
attention to tempo changes or dynamic markings. Also,
some of the longer held notes (i.e. 3 beats or longer)
were cut short, which can be confusing to say the
least.
I think my opinion of the last two also suffered
because I listened to the Wustman CD first, and his
playing was so sensitive that it made the flaws in the
others quite glaring.
I'm still happy to hear any other suggestions people
have.
Jennifer
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