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How can you accelerate the speed, accuracy, and quality of learning songs for performance situations?

On this blog I share my 'learning adventures' as I continue to improve my performance as a singer.

I share web resources I find helpful, and reflect on my experience using various technologies and ideas.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Les eaux du printemps (Spring waters)




Весенние воды, Vesenniye vody, Spring waters, Les eaux du printemps.

This is my first attempt at performing this song in a small lieder concert held in a private residence.

My accompanist was not quite ready for the task, so I created a 'karaoke' backing track by transposing down a few semitones the fabulous Earl WILD piano arrangement of Sergei Rachmaninov's 'Spring waters', performed by Iain FARRINGTON.

The piano version, somewhat longer, is available from iTunes, along with many other fabulous performances by Iain Farrington:

http://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/spring-waters-op.-14-no.-11/id413771279?i=41...

I sang the song in French ... eventually I will attempt a Russian version, helped by the excellent diction coaching from here:
Russian diction - Rachmaninoff songs - Episode 25. (2010, December 3). The Diction Police. Retrieved September 4, 2011, from http://www.thedictionpolice.com/2010/12/03/episode-25/

The images are from a climb I made near Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England, in late Autumn, 2011. Probably not the deep snows of a Russian Spring, but the closest I have been to snowy conditions in recent years!

The poem is a French translation of the Russian by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803-1873).

Spring Water (Vesennije vody) (Tyutchev, set by M. Antsev, Begicheva, N. Cherepnin, A. Gretchaninov, S. Rachmaninov, V. Rebikov, N. Sokolov, V. Zolotarev) (The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music). (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2011, from http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=16011

For my favourite stunning performance of this song by Anastasia Prokofieva, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8242ZtByII&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I also turned the living room in which I performed into a small hall, thanks to Garageband.

Français : Portrait de Sergueï Vassilievitch R...Français : Portrait de Sergueï Vassilievitch Rachmaninov (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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