Ooh La La! Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Bonjour! Aujourd'hui est le jour de Bastille (please feel free to correct our French…it's been a long time since we studied it in high school). En Anglais, Happy Bastille Day, blog readers! Today is a perfect day to celebrate everything French - berets, baguettes, poodles, French toast…and if you're us here at Stanton's, French music!
Vocalists will want to check out The French Song Anthology, Favorite French Art Songs (also available in Volume 2), and the Big Book of French Songs. Opera enthusiasts should pull out their favorite recording of Carmen by Georges Bizet.
Our instrumental department recommends Scaramouche (for saxophone) or Suite Francaise (for concert band) by Darius Milhaud, and French Renaissance Dances for string quartet. They were also quick to point out that the “French†horn is actually English…so no horn music today!
The wealth of piano music from French composers is extensive. Try Claude Debussy's Children's Corner or the Three Gymnopedies by Erik Satie. For fans of Franz Liszt, the new book Unlocking the Masters: Liszt Piano Works is a great resource for examining and studying his work.
For choirs, try the 16th century madrigal Je le vous dirai! by Pierre Certon, selections from Morten Lauridsen's Les Chansons des Roses (the most popular being Dirait-on), or Lueur d'ete from the film Les Choristes. Jazz groups will shine with April in Paris (no, it's not BY a French composer, but it's ABOUT France!).
Click here to research the real history of Bastille Day, and contact us for more repertoire suggestions. Au revoir!