Music for Wordless Choir

[mahler10th]

Vocalise is singing without words.  But it ain't scat, hey bop a ree-bop.

Thank you Karl.  You are always endearingly right and crazy at the same time.   

[karlhenning]

Hiddley bwa doop ha-cha breep!

[pjme]

It started out worse than that.  I called it "Voiceless Choir" and was coerced to changing it by the horrid possibility of a John Cage joke being dumped on me.

Thanks Peter for your contribution, pity that CD isn't more available, but I will chase it up anyway.
Jeffrey, a whole symphony of wordless choir!  I am actively chasing that up!  Dramatic.  Human.  I want to hear it NOW.  Thanks for the post.  I see the CD is hard to get, but it IS out there.  So, I'm away to rummage the net...

I'm sure the ladies at the De Vocht Foundation will send the Cd's anywhere in the world.
If my memory is correct the doublle Cd box costs 25€.
If you really have trouble finding it, I' will make a copy for you.
Peter


ps An interesting little work for voice & orchestra is Arrthur Bliss" ROUT" ( on Lyrita). Not a vocalise but some kind of "skat"-like series of words in a fictitious language...

pps : I have also a recording of Kabelac 5th. ( same perf.) ...

[vandermolen]

It started out worse than that.  I called it "Voiceless Choir" and was coerced to changing it by the horrid possibility of a John Cage joke being dumped on me.

Thanks Peter for your contribution, pity that CD isn't more available, but I will chase it up anyway.
Jeffrey, a whole symphony of wordless choir!  I am actively chasing that up!  Dramatic.  Human.  I want to hear it NOW.  Thanks for the post.  I see the CD is hard to get, but it IS out there.  So, I'm away to rummage the net...

John, it has a wordless soprano rather than choir (as in Vaughan Williams' A Pastoral Symphony' or 'Sinfonia Antartica') - but this time all the way through. It is a very powerful and compelling work.

[Lethevich]

Mind if I bend your rules to suggest something neat? It's not wordless, but it is one word, repeated and extended in various ways so to work ambiently rather than as anything approaching a text setting - Philip Glass - Another Look at Harmony Part IV.

It's a remarkable piece of music for choir and electric organ - one hour in length but with several contrasting sections. The most impressive thing I find with it is that unlike many of Glass' instrumental exercises in repetition, this piece feels a lot more dynamic and... downright compellingly listenable. Choral minimalism is quite unusual, and his musical language applied to it is quite fascinating. The opening harks back to plainchant, then becomes polyphonic, then becomes... interesting. It's very beautiful in both available recordings. The Somm one has some useful track index points and better sound quality along with a rather more churchy sound (including I believe a real organ, not - as Amazon claims - an electric one), the Orange Mountain (Early Voice) one is atmospheric and monolithic.

Samples of  the Somm recording here. If the vocal lines sound odd or choppy, then you may prefer the Orange Mountain recording.

[Maciek]

John, any particular discoveries you've made in your exploration of the subject and the music?

[CRCulver]

Cue obligatory John Cage joke?

There's not a lot of it, but the chorus enters in the second movement of Nørgård's Symphony 3, soaring wordlessly in a kind of primordial way. I only heard this piece a couple of days ago - it's great!

The choir in Nørgård's enters on the phonemes of the hymn "Ave maris stella", so it's not entirely wordless in the same way as Debussy. It's similar to how Grisey used the phrase "I love you" for his piece Les chants de l'amour: initially treating the phonemes in isolation, and ultimately assembling them into the coherent phrase.

[Maciek]

Jehan Alain - Fantaisie à bouche fermée Ja.47 (1935)

Haven't heard it yet, but intend to listen here. The title would indicate that it's something for this thread.

[Oh, and Chanson en bouche fermée Ja.39 (1933)!]