Raymond Briggs' charming Christmas story of the boy who builds a snowman who comes to life has become a children's classic. Its popularity has been further enhanced by frequent television broadcasts of the award winning cartoon film The Snowman. The full score version includes the music and words for the story so singing and narrating is possible. The score includes the well known songs: Dance of the Snowman, Walking in the Air and Music Box Dance. / [Howard Blake: The Snowman (Full Score)] / Classique / Partition /

Benjamin Britten's performances and realisations of the songs and other music by Henry Purcell extended over at least thirty years from the early nineteen forties onwards. In Purcell he found a kindred spirit: a composer of opera and dramatic music who knew how to write for the voice and who handled the English language with sensitivity and daring.

Mozart's lieder reveal him to be a dramatist in miniature. Even if he failed to cultivate this genre systematically he nevertheless directed his creative powers toward the lied at all stages of his career. His first effort (now lost) was written at the age of six or seven and he took up the genre again and again at irregular intervals down to the final year of his life. None the less Mozart usually chose to write a lied only when there was a special occasion for doing so. Even the preface to the firt complete edition of his lieder published in 1799 by Breitkopf

It was to her teacher Henri Busser professor of counterpoint at the Conservatoire de Paris that young composer and organist Henriette Roget (1910-1992) dedicated in 1934 the Four French Ballads composed to the poetry of Paul Fort (1872-1960). Nicknamed “the northern cicada” by Mistral this friend of Verlaine Mallarmé and Apollinaire began his career as a symbolist playwright at the Théâtre des Arts before deciding to focus exclusively on poetry. His French Ballads mingled popular feeling creative fantasy and rhythmic elasticity – an alliance that would inspire musicians as diverse asHonegger Caplet and Brassens. Roget detested works of bravura and bombastic grandiloquence; Paul Fort’s verse provided fertile material for her inclination toward sincerity spontaneity and unembellished lyricism. In “Le Bonheur” “Il nous faut aimer sur terre” “Si le bon dieu l’avait voulu” and “Le Diable dans la nuit” the music translates the beating of hearts and the vibrations of light with a delicacy and a naturalness that brush the very depths of the soul. Through each of these pure crystals a precious gift shines: the art of suggestion. I. Le Bonheur II. Il nous faut aimer sur terre III. Si le bon dieu l’avait voulu IV. Le Diable dans la nuit  

Par NAOUMOFF EMILE. These songs by Emile Naoumoff are squarely in the tradition of French lied composition such as by Gabriel Fauré. Here, Naoumoff chose texts by late 19th-century French lyricists: Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Emile Verhaeren, Charles Baudelaire and René-François Sully-Prudhomme. In their elegance and suppleness, the four songs sound typically French. As they are all easy to sing and have not been composed 'against' the voice, they are perfectly suited for both music lessons and concert programmes. Naoumoff was born in Sofia in 1962. At the age of eight, he began his career as a pianist and composer; he was a student of Nadia Boulanger for ten years until her death. At the age of ten, Naoumoff composed and performed his own piano concerto under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin. He then received numerous awards and prizes and gave performances as highly acclaimed pianist. Today, Naoumoff lives and works as an associate professor at the School of Music of the Indiana University at Bloomington. He gives master classes in the USA, Europe and Japan and is director of a music academy./ Répertoire / Chant et Piano

The Broadway show that was also a hit movie is the tale of two mismatched con-men and was nominated for 11 Tony awards in 2005. A selection of David Yazbek's showstopping songs is available here arranged for voice and piano alongside a host of full colour photographs from the stage production and a biography of the composer.

Musical numbers that one after another hit the jackpot-Half A Sixpence opened for the first time in 1963 on London's West End. This comedic musical adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel 'Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul' is a rags-to-riches tale that follows orphan Arthur 'Artie' Kipps and his childhood sweetheart Ann as their lives and fortunes change.In July 2016 a brand new stage version of Half A Sixpence opened to rave reviews at Chichester Festival Theatre and the show has since moved to the Noël Coward Theatre London.This completely fresh adaptation is the creation of Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) along with George Stiles and Anthony Drewe the musicalteam that co-creator Cameron Mackintosh first put together to create the hit stage adaptation of Mary Poppins.Inspired by the original musical’s composer David Heneker the score features several exhilarating songs from the 1963 production including Flash Bang Wallop Money to Burn and Half A Sixpence as well as many new compositions.In this official songbook 19 songs from the show are arranged for Voice and Piano.

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. On his return to civilian life after five years Army service in the First World War, Vaughan Williams revised some pre-war works, such as The Lark Ascending and his opera Hugh the Drover , and embarked on new compositions - the Pastoral Symphony , the one-act Bunyan episode The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains and the Mass in G minor - all of which have outwardly in common a serene tranquillity. But beneath the surface, especially of the symphony, is a requiem-like mood, a legacy of the war. This ambiguity can also be sensed in the three songs -or rondels - for voice and string trio which he called Merciless Beauty. The texts are attributed to Chaucer./ Répertoire / Chant et Piano

Songs of Christmas is part of an award winning series containing 47 songs arranged for voice and piano from around the world and do not necessarily conform to the traditional view of a Christmas Carol. Influences include folk poetry 15th century music African North American German and South American music.

Voix grave-Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) studied at the Paris Conservatoire before embarking upon a successful composing career. The film Don Quichotte increased his popularity when he composed the musical score in 1933. Controversially the producers of Don Quichotte asked five composers separately to compose songs for the film. Each composer thought only he had been approached and when Ibert's music was eventually chosen for the film it caused him some embarrassment as Maurice Ravel who had also been approached was a close friend of his. Song of Departure comes toward the beginning of the film sung by thethe main character Don Quichotte. Addressing a variety of musical aspects and techniques Ibert's Song of Departure is a challenging yet evocative addition to the Bass repertoire.

In his libretto for “Riccardo Primo” Paolo Rolli drew on Antonio Lotti’s opera “Isacio tiranno” which had been performed in Venice in 1710. Handel needed a text with two great women’s roles for the two best female singers of the day were members of his troupe – Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. He had already written the operas “Alessandro” and “Admeto” for them. He began composing “Riccardo Primo” in spring 1727 completing the first version on 16 May. However following the death of King George I on 11 June 1727 the theatres remained closed.For Handel who had become a British citizen in February 1727 the accession of George II to the throne offered new possibilities and he embarked on a revision of the opera. With this he was able to offer a new opera for the coronation festivities the hero of which was one of King George’s charismatic forebears. From May onwards Handel thoroughly revised the present score wrote some parts anew and expanded it with particularly splendid music. Handel and Rolli also improved the plot and introduced patriotic elements to honour the British monarchy. The historic background is the third crusade against Saladin the Sultan of Egypt and Syria who had recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. Although King Richard I captured Cyprus and together with French crusaders stormed the fortress of Akko in the Holy Land the crusade ended with a ceasefire and Jerusalem remained in Saladin’s hands. Richard was given the title ‘Coeur-de-lion’ by the English for his great military ability and bravery although the Sicilians had first given him this name because of his relentless cruelty in clashes around Messina . The vocal score is based on the Halle Handel Edition volume published in 2005 edited by Terence Best and contains the second version of the opera which was premiered in November 1727. Performance material available for hire. Based on the Urtext of the Halle Handel Edition. Original Italian text with German singing translation. Straightforward and easy-to-play Piano reduction.