Cheryl Frances-Hoad's One Life Stand for Mezzo-Soprano with Piano accompaninment sets a text by Sophie Hannah. 'The idea for One Life Stand originated from a discussion over lunch in Cambridge with my friend Jennifer Johnston. She was bemoaning the fact that although she loved to sing Schumann’s Frauen-Liebe und Leben (Women’s Lives and Loves) and was always being asked to do so she did find Chamisso’s words rather outdated and suggested I write an updated version. I jumped at the chance and by pudding we were already thinking about whose poetry I might set. A few weekslater during a meeting with Chris Gribble (Chief Executive of Writers’ Centre Norwich) he told us that the crime writer and poet Sophie Hannah had recently moved to Cambridge and had many suitable poems. It wasn’t long before we all met up for lunch and began discussing the contenders for a series of poems that might portray a modern woman’s life and loves. To begin with I had a list of about twenty five poems that I would have liked to set taken from four of Sophie’s poetry collections (The Hero and the Girl Next Door (1995) Hotels like Houses (1996) First of the Last Chances (2003) and Pessimism for Beginners (2007: all published by Carcanet Press) but the final eight in my view come together to form a narrative that is clear yet open to interpretation and contains the whole gamut of complex emotions (both serious and humorous) that made the poems such a dream to set to music. Although the idea for the work originated as a reaction to Chamisso’s poetry in the course of composing the cycle I found much inspiration from Schumann’s song cycle and many of the songs in my work are based very closely on either the harmony and/or the motivic material of what in my view is the “corresponding” song in Frauen-Liebe und Leben.' - Cheryl Frances-Hoad

Description The First Book Of Mezzo-Soprano/Alto Solos Part II Compiled by Joan Frey Boytim. Each volume contains several very easy songs, progressing to moderate difficulty. Songlist A Legend [Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich] Ah! Mio Cor (Ah! My Heart) [Handel, George Frideric] As I Went A-roaming [Brahe, May] Auf Dem Meere (On The Ocean) [Franz, Robert] Ave Verum (Jesu, Word Of God Incarnate) [Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus] Beneath A Weeping Willow's Shade [Hopkinson, Francis] Bist Du Bei Mir (You Are With Me) [Bach, Johann Sebastian] Carmena [Wilson, H Lane] C'est Mon Ami (My Friend) [French Air/Arr. Bainbridge Christ] Clouds [Charles, Ernest] Come Ye Blessed [Gaul, Alfred] Crepuscule (Twilight) [Massenet, Jules] Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) Das Erste Veilchen (The First Violet) [Mendelssohn, Felix] Die Stille (Silence) [Schumann, Robert] Die Stille Wasserrose (The Silent Waterlily) [Fielitz, Alexander Von] Dream Valley [Quilter, Roger] Elegie [Massenet, Jules] Es Muss Ein Wunderbares Sein (It Must Be Wonderful) [Liszt, Franz] Gott Im Fruhling (Got In Springtime) [Schubert, Franz] Keine Sorg'um Den Weg (Love Finds Out The Way) [Raff, J] Maria Wiegenlied (The Virgin's Slumber Song) [Reger, Max] Mystery's Song [Purcell, Henry] Nymphs And Shepherds [Purcell, Henry] Rend'il Sereno Al Ciglio (Bring To Your Eyes) [Handel, George Frideric] Separazione (Parting) [Sgambati, Giovanni] Serenade (Sing, Smile, Slumber) [Gounod, Charles] Spring Is At The Door [Quilter, Roger] Te Deum (Vouchsafe,O Lord) [Handel, George Frideric] The Blue-bell [Macdowell, Edward] The Carol Of The Birds [Niles, John Jacob] The Lovely Song My Heart Is Singing [Goulding, Edmund] The Sleep That Flits On Baby's Eyes [Carpenter, John Alden] The Willow Song [Sullivan, Arthur] Weep No More [Handel, George Frideric] When I Have Often Heard Young Maidens Complaining [Purcell, Henry] Wind Of The Wheat [Phillips, Montague]