The Stephen Sondheim Collection: 52 Songs from 17 Shows and Films

Having played the piano to many Broadway songbooks, I thought the STEPHEN SONDHEIM COLLECTION would knock my socks off. I was very disappointment in the arrangements! In the vast majority of these songs, the piano part seems to be pure piano accompaniment for the vocalist on stage singing the song. Without the vocalist singing, these songs are likened to a "piano solo" and, therefore, should be enjoyably played with the melody. I agree with a few others who have posted with these same sentiments.

While this collection doesn't have every song that I would want to own it does include music from every show (That has lyrics) and as far as I can tell this is the best sheet music collection for Sondheim so far. They are organized by Title of show. I'd prefer that they were ordered by Chronological Order of Shows written The Songs in the collectionAnyone Can Whistle1) Anyone Can Whistle2) Everybody Says Don't3) With So Little to Be Sure ofAssassins4) The Ballad of Booth5) The Ballad of CzolgoszCompany6) The Little Things You Do Together7) Sorry-Grateful8) Another Hundred People9) The Ladies Who Lunch10)Being AliveDick Tracy11) Sooner or Later12) What Can you Lose?Evening Primrose13) I Remember14) Take Me to the WorldFollies15) Broadway Baby16) Buddy's Eyes17) I'm Still Here18) Too Many Mornings19) Buddy's Blues20) Losing My MindThe Frogs21) Fear No MoreForum...22) Comedy Tonight23) Lovely24) Everybody Ought to Have a MaidInto the Woods25) Agony26) No More27) No One is Alone28) Children Will ListenA Little Night Music29) You Must Meet My Wife30) Every Day a Little Death31) Send in the Clowns32) The Miller's SonMerrily We Roll Along33) Like It Was34) Old Friends35) Not a Day Goes By36) Good Thing GoingPacific Overtures37) Someone in a Tree38) Pretty LadyPassion39) Happiness40) I Wish I Could Forget You41) Loving YouRoad Show42) Talent43) The Best Thing That Ever Has HappenedSaturday Night44) So Many People45) What More Do I Need?Sunday in the Park with George46) Sunday in the Park with George47) Finishing the Hat48) Sunday49) Move OnSweeney Todd50) Johanna51) Pretty Women52) Not While I'm Around

This sort of project is always vulnerable to subjective quibbles. Why was this song included? Why was that one left out? For reasons unstated, compiler Richard Walters has made the collection pure Sondheim. This means no lyrics-only songs from "West Side Story," "Gypsy" or "Do I Hear A Waltz?" He also skipped the original song "God" from "Sondheim on Sondheim," which would have brought things current. (Also unrepresented is the piano-friendly "Goodbye For Now" from the film "Reds.")Quibble made, it's a marvelous sampler that provides a year's worth of one-a-week study of America's leading theatre composer. There are perfunctory overviews of the represented shows (plus the film "Dick Tracy" and the television program "Evening Primrose"). The data bits are nice, but there's no depth to the narrative. (For that turn to Sondheim's two-volume set "Hat Box: The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim" or "Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions" by Mark Eden Horowitz.) There's also no discussion from Mr. Walters about the selection process.The biggest calling cards here are convenience and price. This is about as much Sondheim in one book as any middling Broadway enthusiast might hope for and, even at full-freight, it's little more than 50¢ per song. The completist Sondheim fan, for whom no new ground is broken here, might succumb to the same call.

Great collection - notable omissions from BOTH volumes -- A Little Priest and Its Hot Up HereAlso, lack of chord markings makes for a less-fun quick grab-n-play with friends. Surprised. A vast majority of the sheet music I own has chord markings.

I assumed this book would have the chords listed in addition to the sheet music...it does not. That being sad, it's a great collection of songs and the arrangements I've played are lovely.

Beautiful collection of some of Sondheim's best work. I do love Sondheim! I like how it has a smattering of both new and older works, and the printing is nicely done on high quality paper. My only minor gripe is that the binding makes it tough to keep open on a music stand, but that's a gripe I have with almost all the music books I own. Definitely glad I purchased this one!

I love Sondheim but I really only bought this book for a few songs in particular that I hadn't been able to find anywhere else. Some of the arrangements are well done but there are a few that I've found much better versions of in other books. Overall it's still a good book to add to your repertoire if you're a musical theatre fan, especially if you're a singer.

White a blank page . His favorite

Wasn't quite sure what I was buying - present for a friend - but this is a lovely, varied collection of some of Sondheim's best.

classic

More songs than I knew

Not a comprehensive collection of sondheims work, but an excellent selection.Music from all his projects including the hit: Send In The Clowns.

Not quite was I looking for, I thought it would be more words rather that music - my fault maybe for not reading description correctly. It's in good condition and will do as a stocking filler for Christmas.