Choral Music

[OperaTenor]

Hi Selma,<P>Welcome to the board, and especially to the San Diego area contingent. Now there's you, me and Donna (dkm32). We'll have to try to do lunch & show those D.C. area folks that we can do it too on the left coast! (Sorry, Ethan, you're too far north!)

[dai bread]

Try Schubert's "German Mass". I'ts not a compilation, but it is a silk-smooth piece of male-voice singing. Another avenue is compilations of Welsh singing. The Morriston Orpheus Choir is getting a bit too precious for my taste these days, but their earlier recordings are a treat, and there are others.

[OperaTenor]

I know I've stated it elsewhere, but a great choral work to listen to is the Cherubini Requiem In Do Minore(in D minor).<p>[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: operatenor ]

[aaronsiler]

I too love choral music. <P>Sometimes when looking for ecletic choral music we overlook the complexity of to choral music written during the Renaissance. Don't pass up an oportunity to listen to a piece by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina just because it was written in 1575.<P>I too love the smaller ensembles over the larger choirs. Don't get me wrong, it is hard to beat the Mormon Tabernacle performing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, but I prefer the intimate sound of a 6 - 35 voice choir.<P>Instead of actual pieces, I will give you ensembles that I enjoy listening too:<BR>Chanticleer - <A HREF="http://www.chanticleer.org/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.chanticleer.org/</A> <P>Tallis Scholars - <A HREF="http://www.thetallisscholars.co.uk/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.thetallisscholars.co.uk/</A> <P>Kansas City Choral - <A HREF="http://www.kcchorale.org/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.kcchorale.org/</A> <P>Evening Song - <A HREF="http://www.eveningsong.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.eveningsong.com/</A> <P>The King's Singers - <A HREF="http://www.kingssingers.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.kingssingers.com/</A> <P>--------------------<BR>If you are new to choral music and don't want to invest in all of these records, then the best "starter CD" is "Choral Masterpieces" by the Altanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus directed by Robert Shaw.<BR>-------------------<BR>Aaron

[SymphonyMan]

Hey everyone, haven't been posting in awhile. Anyway, how about Mendelssohn's Elijah. We had a soloist at church sing "It is Enough" from it, and it was really really great. When he started singing the "and they seek my life, to take it away!" part, all of a sudden it got really dark in the church as clouds passed over (our church is covered with windows). Really an amazing experience..gives me goosebumps thinking about it. Anyone else like the piece?

[jlawrence]

One of my favorites is the Agnus Dei 2 CD.<BR>It is performed by the New College Choir, Oxford, directed by Edward Higginbottom. It has a variety of works by Albinoni, Bach, Brahms, Lotti, Faure, et al.

[owlice]

Eric, I like <B>Mendelssohn</B>'s <I>Elijah</I>. My first exposure to anything from this oratorio was the SSA choral setting of "How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings," which I learned in elementary school (and which has stuck with me to this day, practically centuries later).<P>I've performed the work a number of times. About three rehearsals into it for one performance, I leaned over to someone and asked, "This sounds familiar. Have we done this before?" She looked back at me with a look of disbelief on her face; we obviously had...<P>I don't know which is the more embarrassing: that we'd performed it twice before or that it took me three rehearsals to ask the question!