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Selected Arias for Soprano, Volume 1

Soprano and Piano

Jacques Offenbach

 

• Critical and practical edition


• Part of the Offenbach Edition Keck series


• Suitable for fully trained and budding professionals


• Advanced level

 

Jacques Offenbach’s stage works, of which there are more than 100, are an endless treasure trove of vocal highlights with a variety of musical moods and lyrical themes. To mark the composer's 200th birthday in 2019 and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Offenbach Edition Keck OEK, the editor and Offenbach expert Jean-Christophe Keck has assembled a selection of arias. The four-part collection arranged according to voice type shows a rather unknown, romantic side of Offenbach.

Key figures like the Beautiful Helen, the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein or the Princess of Trébizonde feature in this first soprano volume, as well as characters from more serious operas such as Armgard from Les Fées du Rhin. The volume presents stage works, including excerpts from Barkouf, Les Bergers or Le Roi Carotte, which have only recently been made available for performances.

Romantic Offenbach is aimed at fully trained and budding professionals as well as at Offenbach fans, providing repertoire pieces for recitals, studies or private music-making.

Selected Arias for Mezzo-Soprano, Volume 1

Mezzo-Soprano and Piano

Jacques Offenbach

 

• Critical and practical edition


• Part of the Offenbach Edition Keck series


• Suitable for fully trained and budding professionals


• Advanced level

 

Jacques Offenbach’s stage works, of which there are more than 100, are an endless treasure trove of vocal highlights with a variety of musical moods and lyrical themes. To mark the composer's 200th birthday in 2019 and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Offenbach Edition Keck OEK, the editor and Offenbach expert Jean-Christophe Keck has assembled a selection of arias. The four-part collection arranged according to voice type shows a rather unknown, romantic side of Offenbach.

As well as rediscovered works and first editions such as Les Bavards, Maître Péronilla and Robinson Crusoé, this first volume for mezzo-soprano is not complete without some of his unrivalled hits which the composer wrote for his most famous star, Hortense Schneider.

Romantic Offenbach is aimed at fully trained and budding professionals as well as at Offenbach fans, providing repertoire pieces for recitals, studies or private music-making.

Piano

Henryk Mikolaj Górecki

 

• Includes all of Górecki’s extant manuscripts for solo piano


• Edited and includes preface by Anna Górecka


• Intermediate - Advanced level

 

Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (1933 – 2010) was described as a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde. Starting off as a serialist composer, his style evolved as he experimented with simple modal materials to create monumental structures. His works were also inspired by folk and religious influences.

Suitable for intermediate and advanced players, Piano Album is the first publication of all the extant manuscript solo piano works (miniatures and collections of short pieces). Edited and with a preface (E/G/F) by Anna Górecka, Professor at the Katowice Music Academy and daughter of the composer.

Alto Saxophone and Piano

Gerald Finzi

 

• Transcriptions of Finzi’s most popular pieces for alto saxophone


• Includes online audio resources


• Intermediate level

 

Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) is one of the most popular 20th century British composers, renowned for the lyricism of his work.

Suitable for intermediate players, Finzi for Saxophone transcribes works originally written for other instruments or accompanied voice, giving the alto saxophone the opportunity to explore this most expressive English repertoire. It features highlights from Finzi’s vocal writing, including Rollicum-rorum from Earth and air and rain. There are also selections from the composer’s instrumental writing, including themes from the Clarinet Concerto and the Cello Concerto, and Romance and Carol from Five Bagatelles.

Boosey & Hawkes now include links in their publications directing to easy-to-access online audio recordings. These recordings are available on all major digital platforms including Spotify and YouTube, can be accessed worldwide, are easily shareable and can be streamed or downloaded directly to your device.

Mixed choir (SATB divisi) a cappella

Anna Lapwood

 

• Choral score


• With piano accompaniment for rehearsal only


• Part of the Contemporary Choral Series


• An approachable and rewarding motet


• Easy level

 

O nata lux started life as a piece written for a men’s voices Compline service at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where Lapwood (as Director of Music) was consciously trying to include music by women in every service. Upon finding there was very little music for lower voices, she decided to write something herself. When writing the start and end of this piece, the composer had in mind the light of a candle, starting from nothing and steadily growing to a constant flame. The sound in these sections should be well-blended and smooth, and the notes should be held for their full values so that there is never any break in the sound. At ‘Jesu redemptor’, a crescendo is powered by the lower parts, specifically through their crotchets. There are moments when the writing is intentionally high for the basses, such as at ‘Qui carne quondam’ – this should begin off the voice and return to a full sound for ‘nos membra confer effici’. Towards the end of the work, there is a little nod to Tallis’s setting of O nata lux, the very first choral piece Lapwood conducted! An approachable and rewarding motet from a rising star in the choral world.

Mixed choir (SATB) and piano

Wendy Jean MacLean / Mark Sirett

 

• Words by Wendy MacLean


• Music by Mark Sirett


• Choral score


• Part of the Boosey & Hawkes Christmas Music (Sacred) series


• Intemediate - Advanced level

 

This marvellous poetry is by award-winning Canadian poet, Wendy Jean MacLean, who also provided the fascinating text for Sirett’s The Stars Point the Way (SSA and Piano, 979-0-051-48094-4) which was awarded ‘Outstanding Composition’ from Choral Canada in 2010.

Based on traditional and contemporary thought on the nativity, linking together both sacred and secular images of the Christmas celebrations. The eternal themes of Christmas are proclaimed: peace, justice, wonder, hope, love...and home.

Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella

Rhiannon Randle

 

• Choral score


• Part of the Contemporary Choral Series


• With piano accompaniment for rehearsal only


• Advanced level

 

Rejoice! is a carol filled with pure, unbridled joy and celebration, with peals of bells ringing out with sharply accented resonant chords, richly crafted contrapuntal sections reminiscent of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and modal twists inspired by Howells: in many ways, the carol can be seen as a longstanding chorister’s homage to the joys of singing praises at Christmastide through a wealth of seasonal classics. The main melodic material is derived from the Christmas Day plainchant Viderunt Omnes, transforming it into an unabashed declamation of rejoicing with a contrasting central section that reflects more intimately and soulfully upon the idea Christmas mystery: the righteousness and salvation of God being revealed to mankind through Christ.

Randle studied with Julian Anderson at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Richard Causton at Cambridge University, where she also sang with Trinity College Choir. Her music has been performed throughout the UK, Europe and the US by artists and ensembles including Britten Sinfonia, Heath Quartet, Sarah Connolly, the choirs of King’s and Trinity colleges, Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford; recorded by the BBC Singers; released on Resonus Classics and Regent Records, and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

for SATB (with divisi) a cappella

Kerensa Briggs

 

• Choral score


• Part of the Contemporary Choral Series


• With piano accompaniment for rehearsal only


• Intermediate level

 

A tender shoot is a new setting of the 15th-century German poem, versified by Otto Goldschmidt and translated into English by William Bartholomew in the 19th century. Commissioned by Cathedral Commissions of Wells Cathedral in 2020, the carol utilises expressive harmony to support a memorable tune depicting Christ as the ‘tender shoot’ that sprang from the root of Jesse.

Kerensa Briggs is an award-winning composer based in London. Her music has been performed internationally at venues including St Paul’s Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and BBC Radio Scotland by ensembles such as The Tallis Scholars and the BBC Singers. It also features on a number of CDs including ‘Advent Carols from King’s College London’ and ‘All things are quite silent’ by the Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Kerensa’s love of sacred music emanates from her choral background, singing in the Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir and later for choirs including Trinity College Cambridge and King’s College London, where she held a Choral Scholarship and undertook an MMus in Composition.

for SATB (with divisi) a cappella

Kerensa Briggs

 

• Choral score


• Part of the Contemporary Choral Series


• With piano accompaniment for rehearsal only


• Intermediate level

 

A reflective setting of the one of the Marian antiphons (‘Hail, Queen of Heaven’) by emerging composer Kerensa Briggs. A continuous, largely homophonic choral texture underpins the work, with rich harmonies and gentle dissonance, and clever seamless joining of phrases. A solo plainchant melody is incorporated over sustain chords, providing contrast in this beautiful setting of the well-known Latin text.

A highly effective short motet, suitable for intermediate choirs looking to expand the horizons of their repertoire.

Mixed choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella

Kerensa Briggs

 

• Choral score


• With piano accompaniment for rehearsal only


• Part of the Contemporary Choral Series


• Advanced level

 

Media vita was commissioned in 2015 by the English vocal ensemble, Siglo de Oro, and their director Patrick Allies to celebrate 500 years since the birth of the English Renaissance composer, John Sheppard. The piece draws inspiration from both the expansiveness and intensity found within Sheppard’s setting and the meaning found within the text itself (‘In the midst of life we are in death… Holy and merciful Saviour deliver us not to the bitter pains of death’). These ideas are incorporated into a richer harmonic language and reflective sonority.