White/Rushton - 23 Vocalises-Etudes

To sing a melodic line on a single vowel presents many technical difficulties. For the past 250 years, vocalises have therefore been an important tool for singing instructors. In the nineteenth century specific studies were developed, but these tended to become monotonous scalar exercises, and in 1906 Am�d�e-Land�ly Hettich, a voice professor at the Paris Conservatoire, made it his goal to raise the vocalise from a dull practice tool to a work of art in its own right. Over a period of thirty years, he persuaded an impressive list of composers to write vocalises, and 150 of these were published by �ditions Alphonse Leduc in the series R�pertoire Moderne de Vocalises-�tudes. Finding his own instrument, with its flexible, voice-like timbre, ideal for the varied musical characters represented in Hettich's collection, the saxophonist Harry White here presents a selection of 23 vocalises by composers as diverse as Faur�, Nielsen, Messiaen and Villa-Lobos. A former member of the acclaimed Rasch�r Saxophone Quartet, Harry White is an eager recitalist and regularly includes a set of vocalises in the programmes he performs with his regular partner at the piano, Edward Rushton.