I'm afraid this is yet another one of those posts asking for programme and ATCL/DipABRSM advice. At the moment I think I am going to do the ATCL - that is a decision I made based on the fact that I have so far passed graded sight reading sections by only a couple of marks and the ATCL has some lovely choices in the opera section. I would however be interested to know what people think because, after I finish my undergrad (which is unrelated to music - French and Spanish), I plan to apply to a conservatoire and I don't know if they would regard the ATCL as inferior to the DipABRSM? I would ideally hope to have done LTCL or LRSM before applying as well.

So far I have been laboriously going through the syllabus list listening to all the songs on youtube and trying to select something varied. For ATCL it is still too short though (33 mins or so) so I have not yet sent it for approval and there are some own choice items so it is obviously dependent on that but I would like to know whether you think it is well balanced or not? If there are some period/style gaps that need filling, I'd be grateful if you can offer me some suggestions and it will need to be longer anyway so there's room to add in any thoughts. Thanks for your help!

Here is what I thought of:

Handel As when the Dove Laments her Love 6.00
Mozart Dove Sono 5.10
Berlioz Absence 5.3
Brahms Meine Liebe ist Grun 1.28
Gounod The Jewel Song 4.10
Rossini Crucifixus 3.15
Falla Seguidilla Murciana 1.20
Caballero Esta es su carta 4.30
Barber The Monk and his Cat 2.50

The last 3 are own choice. I did wonder whether it would be best to present a selection from the 7 canciones espanolas as opposed to one alone as they are all so short? Has anyone else done something similar and sung part of a song cycle?

Thanks for your help guys!

You say its 33 mins, the ATCL instructions say 32-38 mins of music.

One issue (especially for singers) is being able to say something vaguely intelligent about each piece within the total word limit, so in this regard fewer songs means you can say more about each one.

With that in mind (and after a cursory glance at the soprano list (I presume that applies based on your name), have you considered On Mighty Pens from the Creation? I reckon it weighs in at a shade over 7 mins.

Having just said that the Warlock Robin Goodfellow is only about 1 1/2 mins (IIRC) but I reckon it makes a good end piece to the recital (needs a _good_ accompanist).

Have you considered putting some English song in there? There's Finzi, Head, Quilter, VW on the syllabus, although I'm not sure what of those pieces is particularly for soprano.

Sticking to the syllabus list has the advantage of not needing to get approval of the programme.