20th Century Choral Music

[listener]

No mention in this thread of Schoenberg - Friede auf erde (a cappella) and Guerrelieder ?
I'll excuse the omission of Joby Talbot's  The Path of Miracles as it's a 2005 composition.

[Lethevich]

Despite its rather uninspiring title this is a wonderful disc of choral singing- in particular the Crucifixus pro nobis op 38 - contains some spine chilling singing mixed up with beautiful harmonies - highly recommended 

Hehe, another thing for me to buy I have the Naxos disc of his choral music and wasn't expecting much (I had assumed it would be merely functional in scope), but it was a pleasant surprise. While we're on the Helios label, I must pimp this amazing disc once more:



One frame of reference is Holst's very finely crafted choral music, both in the epic Hymn of Jesus and also his smaller pieces, there are parallels to both in Dyson.

[The new erato]

Anybody mentioned this?



A recent arrival, but after one playthrough it seems very fine.

[knight66]

I remember learning Les Noces, found it very difficult. Although the title is in French, the wedding songs are in Russian. We slogged away at it. Then Gary Bertini, who seemed to have every known blood line and language ingrained him, brought it amazingly to life. He broke the formalised way we were singing it and injected a real harsh peasant tone and liveliness into it.

He opened up the meaning of it wonderfully well. The chiming close of the piece with the four pianos is beautiful and moving.

Mike

[vandermolen]

Anybody mentioned this?



A recent arrival, but after one playthrough it seems very fine.

I think that I mentioned it on the Rubbra thread - yes, a lovely CD. It is an old recording with Rubbra present in the studio. I liked the note from Richard Hickox which referred to Rubbra being moved to tears (in a positive sense!) by the recording.

[vandermolen]

Perhaps my favourite 20th Century choral work - certainly the most moving:

[vandermolen]

Novak is underrated - this is one of the greatest works I know. Powerful, dramatic, haunting, lyrical and reaching a wonderfully moving catharsis at the end:

[Dax]

And it has one of the great openings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv1EUNdibVs

[vandermolen]

And it has one of the great openings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv1EUNdibVs

Thank you! Didn't know it was on youtube. Yes, it has one of the great openings. Like in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', Novak plunges headlong into the sorm at the start. I find it has a wonderfully redemptive ending. For me it is one of the great 'spiritual' works, although not in any conventionally religious sense. Nice painting of ghostly ship in turbulent sea accompanying youtube clip.

[San Antone]

Hugo Distler : chose suicide rather than serve Hitler



Because so much emphasis is currently placed upon the fate of Jewish composers under the Nazis, it is easy to forget that there were some German musicians who also suffered as a result of the repressive policies of the regime. Among those that can be singled out in this respect is Hugo Distler, a highly talented church organist and choral conductor who committed suicide at the age of 34 in 1942, on learning that he had been called up for military service. The two large-scale works presented here offer typical examples of the so-called Orgelbewegung style drawing their inspiration from Bach in the trenchant use of chorale and Schutz in the density of polyphonic argument. It's a tribute to Distler's mastery and the outstanding singing of the Netherlands Chamber Choir that despite this obvious musical provenance, both works strike an individual voice and sustain one's interest without the textural variety of an instrumental accompaniment.

Songlist: Totentanz, Spruchmotetten zum Totensonntag, Choral-Passion, Op. 7, Erster Teil: Der Einzug, Zweiter Teil: Judas und der Pharisaer Rat, Dritter Teil: Das Abendmahl, Vierter Teil: Gethsemane, Funfter Teil: Kaiphas, Sechster Teil: Pilatus, Letzter Teil: Golgotha