Can you recommend any songs for solo voice and piano by Ralph Vaughn Williams?
One of my absolute favorite pieces to sing is "Silent Noon". I've also sung in various choral works by Vaughn-Williams, but I am having difficulty deciding what I should select for solo recitals since there are so many beautiful choices. I'm a soprano with a good bottom range. For recitals I generally do opera arias as well as "art songs"--German lieder, French chansons, etc.
2010-06-16T19:16:28Z
LOL Yahoo answers wanted to put this question with in the movie section! Singing maybe, but movies?
del_icious_manager2010-06-17T02:30:19Z
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Right, firstly you need to get the composer's name right or you will have great difficulty searching for his music. The name is Vaughan Williams ('a' at the end of 'Vaughan' and NO hyphen between 'Vaughan' and 'Williams'). I am often puzzled why so many people seem to have difficulty with this.
You are correct that Vaughan Williams wrote some beautiful songs. Ultimately, the choice of what you include in your recital has to be down to you. In addition to 'Silent Noon' from 'The House of Life', those I like the most include:
10 Blake Songs (although these need a good oboist instead of a piano) 'Love's Last Gift' (the last of the 6 songs in 'The House of Life') 'It was a lover and his lass' (folksong arrangement) 'Hands, Eyes and Heart' and 'Tired' from '4 Last Songs' 'Linden Lea' 'Merciless Beauty' 'On Board a Ninety-eight' (folksong arrangement) 'On Wenlock Edge' 'The Water Mill' from '4 Poems by Ferdegond Shove' 'The Twilight People' from '2 Poems by Séamus O'Sullivan' 'Nocturne' from '3 Poems by Walt Whitman' 'The Sky Above the Roof' 7 songs from 'The Pilgrim's Progress' 3 Vocalises for soprano and clarinet (beautiful!)
Many of the above are traditionally sung by tenors, although sopranos often delve into them too (why should the ladies be deprived of such beautiful music?). I hope you might find something new here that appeals to you.