Turandot: Vocal Score Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)There seems to be a complicated mix-up with this product at Amazon. The first time I ordered it I was sent something completely different, and the two reviews below (March 2007 and September 2000) clearly aren't about this item. So to avoid confusion: what is on offer here is a FULL (ORCHESTRAL AND VOCAL) SCORE of Puccini's final opera.

Ricordi has started a series of affordable full scores, Dover-style, but just a tad more classy. While Dover offers reprints of early editions, what you get here is a fully up-to-date version of the score reflecting the latest revisions and edits. The music is printed on firm, white paper and easy to read. It is prefaced by a portrait of the composer, a list of instruments, and a synopsis of the action in English, French and Italian. The Alfano completion of the final duet and finale is included. It is a pity that a little editorial lapse resulted in the omission of a page (238) - in my copy, this is added as an erratum on a separate sheet, but I trust this will be corrected in later reprints. What will be more of a problem for many users is that apart from the synopsis, everything is Italian only, language-wise. If, like me, you don't know what `ottone' are, I'll help you out in advance: they are the onstage brass ensemble. You may encounter some more of such conundrums while perusing the score, but on the plus side, you'll improve your Italian. In the end this is a most worthwhile purchase for any admirer of this magnificent opera; only by seeing the notes you'll become fully aware of its dazzling intricacies.

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Product Description:
Cloth binding. Italian and German text.

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Gateway to Italian Diction: The Singer's Guide to Pronunciation (Book & Cd) (Gateway Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)A great book - mostly because of the supplements (the CD - one of the few for Italian diction - and teacher's kit) and much practical advice!

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Product Description:
As part of a series of coordinated diction manuals and anthologies, this book helps students to move beyond diction to clear understanding and authentic style. Thomas Hampson says the series, "not only achieves an excellent study of the tools for proper translation and diction, it goes much deeper and more importantly to the teaching of musical and poetic expression from the inner side of the language." Every Italian example word or phrase is translated into English and is also spoken perfectly on the included CD by linguist and native Italian Dr. Anna Siragusa.

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24 Italian Songs and Arias - Medium High Voice (Book only) (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although the music in this book has been used "ad infinitum" since the late 1880's, even the most rudimentary scholarship has shown that the editing (and in at least one case, the composition) of these pieces is not to be trusted.

The editor of "The 24" and its sister two volume set "Anthology of Italian song" is Alessandro Parisotti.Mr. Parisotti was a publisher who was suspiciously eager to have his own edited works published.This "24" has its share of dubious songs. Three quick examples:

1.) "Se Tu M'ami" is attributed to Pergolesi, but the style is laughably un-Pergolesi-like.No original of the score exists before Mr. Parisotti "discovered" it in time to publish the original 24. It is quite likely that Parisotti is the composer.
2.) "Il mio bel foco" is fine until the last 11 measures, where once again there is no original of what's in "the 24". It appears that Parisotti sliced, diced and re-composed the last 11 measures including French sixth chords, and a piano accompaniment which is distinctly not from the Baroque era.
3.) "Danza Danza fanciulla..." does have an original; it's all figured bass (no treble accompaniment written at all.)It's OK to place your own accompaniment there, but Parisotti's offbeat (and unnecessarily difficult) accompaniment does not follow the typical contrapuntal style of the Baroque period at all.

There are several other problems with the realizations of these 24 pieces - too many to go into here, but worth exploring in research.

That being said, Parisotti does get credit for at least noticing these pieces and arranging them for student voices (which may or may not have been his intent).The current edition is ridiculously cheap - which actually reflects the rather large (and much improved) collections of Baroque Italian songs that are out there.

It still (for some reason) remains a staple of too many voice teachers out there (possibly because they are "comfortable" in some way), so accompanists should continue to purchase it due to the large number of voice students and performers who (unfortunately) rely on it.

It probably deserves two stars, but because it's receiving way too many five star reviews, I'm giving it just one.

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Product Description:
For well over a century, the G. Schirmer edition of 24 Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries has introduced millions of beginning singers to serious Italian vocal literature. Offered in two accessible keys suitable for all singers, it is likely to be the first publication a voice teacher will ask a first-time student to purchase. The classic Parisotti realizations result in rich, satisfying accompaniments which allow singers pure musical enjoyment. For ease of practice, carefully prepared accompaniments are also available that were recorded by John Keene, a New York-based concert accompanist and vocal coach who has performed throughout the United States for radio and television. Educated at the University of Southern California, Keene has taught accompanying at the university level and collaborated with Gian Carlo Menotti and Thea Musgrave on productions of their operas.

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