Kurt Weill Songs -- A Centennial Anthology Review

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(More customer reviews)This Anthology is a due tribute to the great songwriter, German-born Kurt Weill. His compositions include hits like Mack the Knife, September Song and Alabama Song - all of them obviously included in the anthology (but you have to buy both volumes!). The two parts of the anthology have each and every song by Weill ever published separately (ie. not as a part of a full musical score). What's more, the sheet music is an exact reprint of the original, which ensures that no alterations have been done - they are faithful to the smallest degree. Most are piano+voice scores, but some also include guitar chords. Some songs are in German, some in French and some in English. "Mack the Knife" both in the original Dreigroschen Opera German version and in the English one.
The books are quite thick (might fall down from a sheet music stand), but well-bound and not very likely to break or fall apart. Some biographical/background info is also included in both volumes, as well as a few black-and-white photographs.
All in all, the anthology is a small treasure and you'd be hard-pressed to find all the individual songs in any bookshop or any other edition. So if you love Kurt Weill's music (and can read scores), you'll certainly love this collection.

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Product Description:
This shrink-wrapped set contains volumes 1 and 2.

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The Dresden Dolls Companion (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a songbook collector. I have them all. But nothing, I repeat NOTHING compares to the content of this book. But more about that in a little bit.

I have been hearing good things about this duo for some time and have just recently started to listen. What Amanda does with songwriting is like what Shakespeare did for plays. It's real. It's amazing. It's...

Now, for this book. Amanda starts with a 35 page introduction that includes photos, drawings, and other pictures of various worth. The intro also includes topics such as: what's under Amanda's piano, her writing rituals, her playing background, the first songs, high school and college life, her first real show, how she met Brian, recording, creating the artwork, etc. Towards the end of this intro, there is a very detailed section about the sheet music itself. There are notes to the player (and vocalist) that says: "This music is meant to be more of a set of helpful hints than a doctrine. I felt the need to make my own handwritten notes, because typing them in would have been cumbersome and unnatural. The essential thing the player must keep in mind is that the music is changeable. These songs are chord-based, with melodies and discernable hooks and parts, but it is not necessary to play or voice things as they are shown. In fact, you would be playing the music most faithfully if you did not. When I play these songs live, the only thing that generally stays consistent is the bass, and even that can hop from one octave to another. For the more classically-trained, this may seem like an impossible nightmare, but I urge you to experiment. For the sight-reading impaired (like myself) this should be liberating. When I buy books of sheet music, I follow the guitar tabs instead of the piano music, and improvise the rest. This is totally acceptable." It continues...but that should be enough to give you an idea of the detail.

She then goes into each song on the album and gives the history of when it was written and also specific notes for the player. THEN...finally the sheet music for each song. Each song contains handwritten notes from Amanda. These notes include performing ideas, different lyrics, when to improv, etc. From a pure songbook collector, this is what sets this book apart from any other out there. It's one thing to have the artist approve what some publisher has put together, but to actually have the artist be the one to create the book is absolutely incredible.

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Product Description:
This Boston-based alternative pop/German-like cabaret duo hand-designed this book which includes art, photos, commentary and 11 songs from their 2004 release. Songs included are: Bad Habit * Coin Operated Boy * Girl Anachronism * Good Day * Gravity * Half Jack * The Jeep Song * Missed Me *Perfect Fit * Slide * Truce.

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