Given the acknowledgement of your voice students' stylistic prejudices,
you have two options: Cater (at least temporarily) to their preferences,
or Force them to take the (to them) lousy-tasting medicine because it's
good for them.
Also given this is a conservatory environment, I don't know just how much
anti-musical theatre snobbery there might be there. Would it be acceptable
for your ensemble and singers to start with a programme of music by
well-respected musical theatre composers like Kurt Weill, Leonard
Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin, Jerome
Kern, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin - and perhaps also some operetta
composers like Lehar, Kalman, Herbert, Romberg, and Sullivan?
And you might also consider some non-musical theatre works by composers
who are more likely to appeal to your singers - for example, Gershwin
(e.g., PORGY AND BESS selections), Ellington, Weill, etc. From Weill, for
example, you might look at one of the vocal/instrumental suites like the
"Happy End Songspiel" or the the "War Play" suite (from JOHNNY JOHNSON),
or the "Mahagonny Songspiel".
Early 20th c. German cabaret songs might be an option - those by
Weill, Schoenberg (Brettl-Lieder - accompanied by piano, piccolo,
trumpet, and snare drum), etc. are likely to appeal to your
singers. Also some of the songs by Darius Milhaud - such as his "Adieu"
for voice, flute, viola, and harp.
Or you might agree on a "split programme" - one half "pure" classical, and
the other half accommodating the singers' tastes with musical theatre.
If you're looking only for music that was strictly composed for chamber
orchestra and voice, vs. arrangements or reductions for chamber orchestra
of works originally conceived for larger orchestra, then the above
strategy will probably be impossible to prosecute, except perhaps for the
Weill Songspiels.
So forgetting all about your singers' preferences, some works for voice
and chamber orchestra:
Witold Lutoslawski: Two Children's Songs for voice and chamber orchestra;
Five Songs for female voice and 30 solo instruments after poems by
Kazimiera Illakowicz
John Adams, arr.: Six Songs by Charles Ives arranged for voice and chamber
orchestra
Igor Stravinsky: Deux poemes, transcription for high voice and chamber
orchestra (1954); Souvenir de mon enfance, transcription for voice and
chamber orchestra (1930); Abraham and Isaac (bar., C.O.)
Anton Webern: Six Songs on Poems of George Trakl, Op. 14; Five Sacred
Songs, Op. 15; Five Canons on Latin Texts, Op. 16; Three Traditional
Rhymes, Op. 17; Three Songs, Op. 18
Othmar Schoeck: Nachall, Op. 70
Arthur Bliss: Elegiac Sonnet (1954) for tenor, piano, string quartet; A
Knot of Riddles (1963) (baritone and chamber ensemble); Madam Noy (1918)
(soprano and chamber ensemble); Rhapsody (1919) (soprano and ensemble);
Rout (Original Version, 1920) (sorpano and ensemble); The Women of Yueh
(1923)
Pierre Boulez: Le Marteau sans maitre (1954)
Virgil Thomson: Four Songs to Poems of Thomas Campion; Stabat Mater (mezzo
and string quartet)
Thomas Pasatieri: Rites of Passage (med. voice and chamber orchestra or
string quartet)
Benjamin Britten: Nocturne; Les Illuminations; Now Sleeps the Crimson
Petal; Serenade (all for tenor/high voice)
Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912); Gurrelieder #1: "Song of the
Wood Dove" (Schoenberg's arrangement for mezzo and chamber orchestra)
Manuel de Falla: Psyche (1924)
Milton Babbitt: The Head of the Bed (1981)
Gavin Bryars: Three Songs for Voice and Chamber Ensemble ("I have heard it
said that a spirit enters", "Planet Earth", "The Apple")
William Bolcolm: Open House (tenor and chamb. orch.)
Elliott Carter: A mirror on which to dwell (sop. and chamb. orch.)
Aaron Copland: Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson (arr. by Copland from his
original voice/piano cycle)
Luigi Dallapiccola: Tre Poemi (1949)
Peter Maxwell Davies: Into the Labyrinth (cantata for tenor and chamb.
orch.)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14, for soprano, bass, chamb. orch.
Ernst Toch: The Chinese Flute, Op. 29 (sop, chamb orch)
Edgard Varese: Offrandes (sop, C.O.)
Charles Ives: Charlie Rutlage (chamb. orch., optional voice); Evening
(C.O., opt. med. voice)
And no doubt literally hundreds of Baroque pieces would work for you.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
One must be something if one
wishes to put on appearances.
- Ludwig von Beethoven
|
