choral music

[J.F.]

I'm currently revisiting lots of 20th century classical music, and I found my attitude towards choral music really has changed within the last few years. Maybe it's because our landlord here modernises each and every appartment around ours and we have some noise almost everyday for more than two years, anyway I'm developing a taste for calm, peaceful, sweet compositions - as long as they are for chorus (preferably female). Karel Goeyvaerts Mon doux pilote s'endort aussi is a nice example - it's a calm flow of repetitive phrases, some having beautiful harmonic tensions, others in a clear major tonality. I never had some use for it, now I enjoy it.

Apart from certain classics by Nono, Ligeti and Penderecki, I dig stuff like Krenek's Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae, Stockhausen's Unsichtbare Chöre, Babbitt's An Elisabethan Sextette (chamber choir), Crawford-Seeger's Three Chants, Dallapiccola's Tempus Destruendi..., to pick out a few.
Apart from that, gregorian chant probably arouses more curiosity in me than "advanced" choral writing by Lachenmann or Schnebel ever did (so recommendations in that field are welcome).

One thing about Feldman that recently crossed my mind: Basically a favorite of mine, it turned out I find his choral writing to be among the most uneffective things he did as composer. I don't know what, but there's obviously something he did just wrong in that field (- well, at least to appeal to me).

Now I'm curious what choral music you people listen to, if any. Not necessarily only classical stuff.

[jamess]

Ooh there's a lot. Grisey's vocal work is very interesting. Maldon by Michael Finnissy, Heaven is Shy of Earth by Julian Anderson, Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies.

[Charon]

these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaZ00ggPGas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Cej8Kb5DE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFjSWCBHMSw

[jamess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K90TBfuN5X0 A nice bit of 14th century microtonality.

[J.F.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K90TBfuN5X0 A nice bit of 14th century microtonality.

That was indeed nice to listen to. Loved the woman's singing. I heard stuff I'd interpret as "leittöne" leading to notes that are not the basic key (I'd say with my amateur analysing skills after one listen) - those were some nice and slightly irritating moments. Where can I find microtonality in there?

Just heard Lachenmann's Consolation I, and I liked it much better than I remember liking it. Same goes for Consolation II... getting beyond what I still consider to be somewhat artificial & "pretentious avantgarde" vocal sounds, I enjoyed following how all those ideas blend beautifully into each other... the flow of events reminded me a little of more "narrative" electronic music from several years earlier.

[jamess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K90TBfuN5X0 A nice bit of 14th century microtonality.

That was indeed nice to listen to. Loved the woman's singing. I heard stuff I'd interpret as "leittöne" leading to notes that are not the basic key (I'd say with my amateur analysing skills after one listen) - those were some nice and slightly irritating moments. Where can I find microtonality in there?

I believe Marchetto Da Padova wrote a rather large text which was concerned with splitting the tone into five equal parts. I must confess that at such minute increments I would struggle to point them out. When I listened I certainly felt there were some unusual (non-equal tempered) intervals, but perhaps it's just because I believed they aught to be there.

[tadk]

"... calm, peaceful, sweet..."

it makes me think about Arvo Pärt's compositions, e.g.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhEfLhXNlrs
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1CNNf9i ... re=related

[J.F.]

Yes... when I wrote that opening post, I made the Pärt-connection myself (while not knowing anything by him very well).
First link is Lutoslawski, btw.

[tadk]

First link is Lutoslawski, btw.

Lately, I've being listening a lot to Monodia - a vocal ensemble, practicing old Polish religious and secular songs in the melodic variants collected in the Lomza District and Kurpie Zielone region of Poland. In the Polish language ‘monodia’ means singing in unison a capella or with an accompaniment of traditional instruments such as a hurdy-gurdy.

It's not 20th century classical music and not sung by women, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4F6nXq6LWg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAFj7fRXMhA

[flies]

Jon Mueller put together this compilation of Georgian (north of Turkey, not Florida) traditional men's choral music for a Type Records podcast: http://typerecords.com/typecasts/25

It is fantastic!

[vienna1896]

Jon Mueller put together this compilation of Georgian (north of Turkey, not Florida) traditional men's choral music for a Type Records podcast: http://typerecords.com/typecasts/25

It is fantastic!

so good! thank you

[J.F.]

I remember several people telling me about how lovely it is to sing in a choir. I imagine carrying ones own body into an ensemble and using it as an "instrument" together with others, and producing a big sound together that way feels quite different than playing an instrument in an ensemble.
Much stuff discussed on IHM couldn't be farther away from choral music in a way or two, but I'm curious nevertheless: Is (or has been) anybody here been in a choir? -not in your childhood, but roughly as the music-reflecting adult you are today.

[Ranahuac]

I remember several people telling me about how lovely it is to sing in a choir. I imagine carrying ones own body into an ensemble and using it as an "instrument" together with others, and producing a big sound together that way feels quite different than playing an instrument in an ensemble.
.

I agree. I think the most important reason is that your body is like a sound box for the other. I mean your produce and you "amplifie" the sound, it's a great feeling.
I sung in a choir last year. I have to give up now, with regrets.
I think you already know "Stimmung" by Stockhausen?

[J.F.]

Yes, I heard "Stimmung" a couple of times, but have problems really getting into it.

[aditi]

I remember several people telling me about how lovely it is to sing in a choir. I imagine carrying ones own body into an ensemble and using it as an "instrument" together with others, and producing a big sound together that way feels quite different than playing an instrument in an ensemble.

Being in a good choir feels like becoming a vibrating tuning fork during performances.

[Damon_Smith]

I know you said "apart from", but I have returned to Nono's choral music more than any other. He really knew how to write for voices!

[frozen reeds]

I love choral music from many different times and place - not 20th century so much though.

This box contains some of the best music I've heard in recent weeks/months/years:



Also the complete Tallis works on Brilliant Classics is a great release.

And this is never far from the stereo these days neither:

[frozen reeds]

And I'm enjoying the Mueller mix too - thanks for that!

[P. Wretch]

On the topic of earlier repertoire, there was an Early Music thread a few years back.

Like Frozen Reeds, I don't listen to much modern choral stuff, although would second some of the names mentioned (Ligeti, Finnissy, etc. - oh, and Cardew's The Great Learning).

I did sing in a choir for a while, but it was an unauditioned one, and the overall sound was rather flabby. The highlight was singing a Howard Skempton piece. The problem with most amateur choirs is the ratio of voices: since they tend to be most popular with middle-aged women, there is generally a surfeit of altos, a reasonable number of basses, and a shortage of tenors and (true) sopranos. Generally, I think choral music sounds best with only a few voices to a part.

I have sometimes fantasised about being in one of those elite Early Music choirs, but alas, my sight-reading/technique is nowhere near good enough, and they all seem to have formed as students in music schools. A couple of recent discs in that line (both on Spotify, for those with access):



Stile Antico sing without a conductor, creating a more 'organic' sound than e.g. the Tallis Scholars.




Machaut's motets ought to appeal to any fan of the 20th C. avant-garde (he got there six centuries early), and this recording by the Ensemble Musica Nova is extraordinary.

[D.D.]

Jon Mueller put together this compilation of Georgian (north of Turkey, not Florida) traditional men's choral music for a Type Records podcast: http://typerecords.com/typecasts/25

It is fantastic!

Decent enough compilation with a few of the "greatest hits" of Georgian folk singing, even if one song is repeated a few times in different versions . Also, the last track is a Corsican song, not a Georgian one.

If you want to dig deeper, here is a a portal with a lot of full-length files of various Georgian choirs, including some historic recordings: http://www.alazani.ge/folk-ensambles-fo ... rgian-folk Rustavi ( http://ensemblerustavi.com/eng/ ) is the most well-known (and it is fantastic, if a bit too polished for my taste), and it is well-represented on internationally-distributed CDs, e.g. this one on Nonesuch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000 ... -1-catcorr

There are very distinct sub-genres of Georgian signing. To simplify, there is Western - more polyphonic, and Eastern - more monophonic. On the wast there is Svaneti with very bizarre polyphonies, well represented on this OOP INEDIT CD: http://www.amazon.fr/G%C3%A9orgie-Polyp ... 389&sr=8-1 .

Here is a Svan song from youtube (with images of Svaneti): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBRYiJCC ... plpp_video

Most famous of the western styles is Gurian with the most complex, often improvised three-voice polyphony. Here is a good video with a great bass voice (often missing in modern choirs): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2ffYMHg ... plpp_video

And another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdggAx1h ... plpp_video

More to the east there is Mingrelia, its style is more monophonic. I don't know any CDs devoted to MIngrelian music exclusively, but there is a youtube rip from an old LP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkD6pJzD ... ure=relmfu

Here is a great old clip of Rustavi singing a mingrelian field work song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4uZKhM ... plpp_video

Abkhazian style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG_26dPP ... plpp_video .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f43dNUp3 ... plpp_video

There is a great CD with Abkhazian songs on PAN: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fleece-Son ... den+Fleece

The best all-around introduction to Georgian vocal music is probably this CD by Georgian Voices choir on Buda: http://www.amazon.fr/Les-voix-de-g%C3%A ... ef=mb_oe_o or whatever you can find by Rustavi Choir (they released a lot of stuff on Sony, all OOP now but easy to find second-hand).

There is a very interesting - and very raw-sounding - CD of early XX century recordings of various rural Georgian choirs: http://www.amazon.com/Drinking-Horns-Gr ... ramophones

I see Ocora just released a CD by the Basiani choir: http://sites.radiofrance.fr/radiofrance ... hp?id=2054 , I have not heard it yet but Basiani is very good.

And this is probably my favorite youtube clip of Georgian singing (Kakheti, eastern style) during a dinner - and I don't thing this is even a professional choir (someone is clearly out of tune at the very end ): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNk4lf_g ... plpp_video . In Georgia (in the countryside in particular) you are likely to hear people spontaneously breaking into singing in a restaurant during a dinner (that noirmally lasts for 3-4 hours). Great country.