Barcarolle Duet (Offenbach)
As for the Pearl Fishers duet below, this was transcribed in order to perform it during lockdown. The final YouTube video shows the time of year: in the winter snows of February 2021 during lockdown 3!
Links: pdf (score) - mp3 (with voices) - mp3 (with click track, without voices) - mp3 (without voices) - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6
YouTube performance: https://youtu.be/CcyARSaCKLM
YouTube text:
Offenbach’s Barcarolle duet is a
much-loved classic from Offenbach’s opera “Tales of Hoffmann”. Yet it is part
of a rather complex plot and has an unexpected dark side, as this short video presentation
explains. The performance is on two bassoons, recorded during “lockdown three”
in Kent, UK, during the snow of February 2021 (as you will see through the
window.) The choir and orchestra parts were created using Sibelius and
NotePerformer software, while the performance itself, recording (OBS Studio), audio
editing (Reaper), video editing (Shotcut), and production on YouTube were entirely
the work of Philip Le Bas, who takes full responsibility for any deficiencies
in quality… He hopes you enjoy it!
Pearl Fishers Duet (Bizet)
I transcribed this in order to be able to perform it during the coronavirus lockdown, August 2020, on the bassoon (tenor and baritone solos) using Sibelius and Noteperformer for the orchestral parts! Judge for yourself how successful it was or was not: it is on YouTube, linked below.
Links: pdf (score) - mp3 (with voices) - mp3 (with click track, without voices) - mp3 (without voices) - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6
YouTube performance: https://youtu.be/cv3zfHZlIko
YouTube text:
Meet Nadir and Zurga from Bizet’s opera “The Pearl Fishers” (“Les pêcheurs de perles”) composed in 1863. Here the two friends remember the moment they first set eyes upon the beautiful “goddess” (actually a priestess of Brahma) in the temple, and when they both immediately fell in love with her. Together, in their mind’s eye, they gaze on her, stupefied, recalling every gracious movement of hers as she comes down to the people as if from heaven. Now, however, they vow to let no male rivalry, indeed nothing (non, rien!) to come between them to threaten their friendship. But is this going to end well?
Here is their duet performed under lockdown conditions, as you have never seen or heard it before:
Nadir (tenor): Philip Le Bas (bassoon)
Zurga (baritone): Philip Le Bas (bassoon)
(…you can tell them apart by their glasses)
Orchestra: Philip Le Bas, with a little help from Sibelius/NotePerformer
Technical matters: Philip Le Bas, on a steep learning curve…
I hope you enjoy this rendition of Bizet’s wonderful music!
20th August 2020
Marche, from Jeux d'Enfants (Bizet)
This transcription was an experiment, really, to see how easily a few players from the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra could perform it without sophisticated equipment and with little practice or expertise in editing audio tracks at the start of the coronavirus lockdown, March/April 2020. The end result was passable, I think! Missing parts were inserted using Sibelius and NotePerformer. See the YouTube link below.
Links: pdf (score) - pdf (score with click track) - mp3 - mp3 (with click track) - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6
YouTube performance: https://youtu.be/vivPaZkJGr4
YouTube text:
The Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra set itself the project of performing the first movement of Bizet's "Jeux d'Enfants" (Marche) during the covid-19 lockdown in April 2020. This was a new venture for almost all concerned, and it presented many challenges, not least in using modern technology. Well done and thanks to all who took part and recorded themselves.
Special thanks to Simon Phillips for playing the French horn parts and to Yvonne Smith's daughter Natasha for several recordings of the first violin part. Inevitably some instruments were missing, and so the trumpet, bass and percussion parts are kindly provided by the software programmes Sibelius and NotePerformer. The synchronizing, editing, balancing and mixing were done using the open-source programme Audacity.
This is an unlisted publication on YouTube, only available to those with the link. I hope you enjoy listening to it!
Philip Le Bas
25/4/2020
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