Hi Jennifer (and list):
You're right about the 24 Italian hits CD. I think part of the problem is
that there are generally two ways of performing this music - the
quasi-romantic style (Cecilia Bartoli delves into this) and the early music
style. I have a good recording of some of these done by an early music
singer... except I cannot recall who the singer is - it might be Arleen
Auger. I hesitate to make a judgement on which I like better. However, it
is also useful to note that from the recordings I have heard of some of
these songs, a wide variety of tempos seems to be out there.
I have generally been unsatisfied w/ accompaniment cds that I have listened
to and so hardly buy them. Most of my friends prefer to hire a pianist for
$20-30/hr to record half a dozen or so things they are working on, at THEIR
tempo and with THEIR particular way of singing the piece in mind. If said
pianist works with you a lot, he/she probably has a fair idea what you are
going to do - at least, my pianists all have a good idea now what kind of
tempo I want, etc. Sometimes this works out cheaper, partly because - how
many of those 24 italian hits ARE you going to learn in the next 2 months
anyways? Especially with minidisc, the sound quality is even better, and if
you are technologically up to it, you can transfer from MD to CD, etc, etc.
I just think nothing beats a real, live, sensitive pianist who knows YOU
because you are not the same as every other singer....
Fiona
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