Choral Canon

[Geo Dude]

I've been listening to Brahms's Requiem lately, along with some of his other choral works, and realized that my choral collection is woefully undersized.  To remedy that, I'd like to get some suggestions for a canon of choral works that every classical lover should have a recording of in their collection.  Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, etc.

I'll likely attempt to formulate a list to assist other choral newbies once some responses come in.

[JerryS]

Just a few that I particularly love:

Verdi: Requiem
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor
Haydn: The Creation, Mass in Time of War
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Rossini: Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solennelle
Puccini: Messa di Gloria
Elgar: The Apostles, The Kingdom
Bach: Mass in B Minor
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms

[kishnevi]

Other possibilities:
Bach: Magnificat
Handel: Messiah, Israel in Egypt
Beethoven: Choral Fantasy
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
Elgar: Dream of Gerontius
Mozart: Requiem
Mussourgsky: Boris Godunov--the chorus is one of the core facets of this opera.

[mc ukrneal]

If we are taking some of the most famous works, here are a few that come to mind:

4 'Great' Requiems
Faure
Brahms
Mozart
Verdi (sometimes coupled with Cherubini)

Bach:
Mass in B minor
St. Matthew's Passion

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Berlioz: Damnation of Faust (perhaps the Requiem instead)
Britten: War Requiem (not my favorite, but some love it)
Elgar: Dream of Gerontius
Handel: Messiah

Haydn:
The Seasons
The Creation

Janacek: Glagolitic Mass (a favorite of Luke and some others here)
Monteverdi: Vespers
Mozart: Mass in C minor (a favorite of mine)
Orff: Carmina Burana
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
Victoria: Requiem
Vivaldi: Gloria
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast

There is certainly plenty more: Symphonies (Mahler 8, Mendelssohn 2, etc) as well as a number of other composers who wrote some great choral music, including Mendelssohn, Schubert, Rossini, Dvorak, etc. And of course the above composers wrote more as well. I don't personally think that the above are necessarily the best pieces from those composers either - and some wrote many, many more pieces (like Haydn and Elgar). But I think they give you the more well known pieces for the most part (and they are certainly all very good).

One could add dozens more, but I think this is where I would start if someone wanted to start a collection.

[Karl Henning]

All of this is great music, but cor, what a huge blindspot! You're all talking exclusively about chorus-plus-orchestra lit, from only a fraction of music history. Cultural illiterates! ; )

As yet only a short corrective list:

Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame
Byrd, Mass for five voices
Tallis, Spem in alium
Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli
de Victoria, Misa O magnum misterium
Rakhmaninov, All-Night Vigil, Op.37
Vaughan Williams, Mass in g minor

[mc ukrneal]

All of this is great music, but cor, what a huge blindspot! You're all talking exclusively about chorus-plus-orchestra lit, from only a fraction of music history. Cultural illiterates! ; )

Granted, not many (and a good point), but none? Sure you don't want to revise that...   

[Karl Henning]

Call it a rhetorical exaggeration, mon vieux : )

[Geo Dude]

Thanks for the tips thus far.  Any suggestions for Schubert's choral works?

[mc ukrneal]

Thanks for the tips thus far.  Any suggestions for Schubert's choral works?

The best bet is probably his masses (no 5 is a decent place to start). There are all sorts of discs in various combinations (as well as complete collections). He also did Rosamunde, a new version of which was recently released that I have been eyeing. He also did a number of secular choral pieces (7 disc set on Warner for example). EMI recently released a new set of complete (?) choral works. It is something like 10-12 cds, but I have not looked at it to know if it is worthwhile.

[JerryS]

Thanks for the tips thus far.  Any suggestions for Schubert's choral works?

The Schubert Masses are well worth exploring. For a more intimate side of Schubert I find this recording very appealing:

[asin] B000003CZF[/asin]

[Mandryka]

Thanks for the tips thus far.  Any suggestions for Schubert's choral works?

Yes. The major secular  choral masterpiece is Nachthelle. The one with Schreier is the best I've heard

http://www.youtube.com/v/_vGXHtilblw

and Nachtgesang im Walde

http://www.youtube.com/v/IDkc1HYmhNo

There's also an very excellent late mass.

[Mandryka]

If you like the abouve Schubert for choir and horns then be sure to catch the excellent Brahms Schicksalslied  and Vier Gesange op.17, for two horns, harp, and female chorus,  :

http://www.youtube.com/v/E0AhEAWmoZ0 http://www.youtube.com/v/EbedkSBhkec

And if you like that then you really need an Alto Rhapsody. If you can find Ferrier/Tuxen  then grab it.

[Mandryka]

Some favourite 20th century  choral works of mine. I suspect that the last century as a golden age for choral music:

The Requiem of Reconciliation (a joint composed by Luciano Berio,  Friedrich Cerha,  Paul-Heinz Dittrich,  Marek Kopelent,  John Harbison, Arne Nordheim,  Bernard Rands,  Marc André Dalbavie,  Judith Weir,  Krzysztof Penderecki,  Wolfgang Rihm,  Alfred Schnittke,  Joji Yuasa,  György Kurtág); Bartok Cantata Profana; Ligeti Lux Aterna; Britten's War requiem; Rachmaninov's Vespers

From earlier do try Liszt's Requiem and Via Crucis.

[Cato]

My first thought:

Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden.

[Cato]

My second thought:

Barber's Agnus Dei (a reworking of his Adagio for Strings )

[Karl Henning]

My second thought:

Barber's Agnus Dei (a reworking of his Adagio for Strings )

My opinion is mixed on that. It's a beautiful piece, and hearing it in choral timbre is unquestionably lovely. But the composition has a dramatic arc which I feel is at odds with the litany repetition of the text.

[Geo Dude]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  In particular, Karl, thanks for the Rachmaninoff recommendation; I had always meant to pick up a recording of that piece but had completely forgotten about it!

In reply to the suggestion on Brahms' choral material I'll note that I currently own this set, and the disc of Sinopoli conducting Alto Rhapsody, Shicksalslied, etc. is coming in the mail.  I'm set in terms of volume, though I will of course be hunting down second and third recordings of some works.

[Karl Henning]

The Gesualdo Tenebrae Responsories are luscious, as well. Somewhat less outré than some of his madrigals, but rich nonetheless.

[pjme]

Brahms -  a very old Wunderhorn lied... Mesmerisingly beautiful, I think...as is Nänie.

http://youtu.be/sO6ih9ees2Q

P.

[pjme]

And do not forget Frank Martin's 1922 Mass.

http://youtu.be/hQTMrs0DMsI


P.