Your top 5 Choral works?

[71 dB]

1. Elgar - The Apostles, Op. 49
2. Elgar - The Kingdom, Op. 51
3. Elgar - The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
4. J. S. Bach - Mass in B minor, BWV 232
5. J. S. Bach - St. John Passion, BWV 245

[karlhenning]

Stravinsky's Mass (The textures are so clear & clean and iconic ... I'm talking horizontal not vertical music..)

Great piece.

And, sure, it works vertically as well as horizontally 

[karlhenning]

Gustav Holst - The Hymn of Jesus

Oh, I like you, Greta! 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

My pick:

1. Beethoven - Missa Solemnis

The Mount Everest, to me. Then, after a very long pause:

2. Havergal Brian - Gothic Symphony (Te Deum)

3. Frederick Delius - Requiem OR A Mass of Life

4. Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms

5. Gabriel Fauré - Requiem

All these works seem smaller in scope (yes, even the Brian!) than the Missa Solemnis, which is really stupendous in its power and architecture.

(By way of explanation - I have difficulties in liking Bach's vocal works. Something in the way he writes for the human voice, I think. So - no Mass in B minor for me, yet...)

[knight66]

(By way of explanation - I have difficulties in liking Bach's vocal works. Something in the way he writes for the human voice, I think. So - no Mass in B minor for me, yet...)

I am with you re the Missa Solemnis. Today on another thread I mentioned a different occasion where someone felt that Bach did not write well for the human voice. I know that is not what you are saying: but I would be interested if you can explain what your difficulties are with his writing for the voice.

Mike

[bhodges]

My current favorites:

Britten: War Requiem
Bruckner: Te Deum
Sandström: The High Mass
         
Ligeti: Lux Aeterna
Howells: Requiem

--Bruce

[The new erato]

Among modern a cappela works (I make a distiction to orchestral works with chorus) I've always found this moving and profound:

[bhodges]

Oh yes, yes, yes to the Krenek!  And thank you, too, for alerting me to another recording.  (There can't be many...)  The one I have is below, with Marcus Creed and the Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir.



--Bruce

[quintett op.57]

In no particular order :

Berlioz : Romeo & Juliet
Haydn : The Seasons
            The creation
Handel : Messiah
Brahms : Ein Deutsche Requiem

[karlhenning]

They are many, James, and I won't be bound to a list of five.

These are the first five that came to mind, though:

Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine
Berlioz, Grande Messe des morts, Opus 5
Brahms, A German Requiem, Opus 45
Rakhmaninov, Vespers, Opus 37
Nielsen, Fynsk foraar, Opus 42

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I am with you re the Missa Solemnis. Today on another thread I mentioned a different occasion where someone felt that Bach did not write well for the human voice. I know that is not what you are saying: but I would be interested if you can explain what your difficulties are with his writing for the voice.

Mike! I'll try to answer your question as succinctly as I can, but it's a vast subject.

Why I don't warm to vocal Bach (but not all vocal Bach, his chorales are wonderful) might of course be written off as a blind spot. But I know that I'm not deficient in the musical department, so that there must be a more 'interesting' reason for my dislike. And I think I know what it is.

Bach, to me, is a sort of Über-Brahms without the softening romanticism. I like the instrumental Bach, the Bach of the organ works, I like the Wohltemperierte, because I think his genius is most at home there. Bach is theological and titanic. His competence is massive, but I don't think the musical language as an expression of the human has already evolved into what we start to hear ever more clearly in Haydn, Mozart, and above all, Beethoven. Do you know the three great Athenian tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides? Bach reminds me of Aeschylus - vast, paternal, theological, intricate, but the human is only part of the great scheme of things. It's the gods that dominate. For me the same goes for Bach.

I don't think his music is sensuous or sensual, it's tremendous and monumental - I like that in instrumental music, but when the human voice comes in, I want humanity. I know, I know - 'What about Christ, in the St Matthew's Passion" I think it's the surrounding chorales with their wonderful harmonies that bring out the pathos, not the Christ part itself (I took singing lessons a long time ago, and I sung the part with my teacher accompanying me - perhaps it's down to me, but Christ didn't move me...)

Jez

[knight66]

Thanks Jes, I guess we sit at opposite ends of the spectrum here. I find I respond very readily to his vocal writing. There seems deep humanity in the contemplative arias that ponder faith, express doubt or grief, they can on occasion be ecstatic.

I can see that he is working in such a way as to exclude what might be thought of as every day human situations, no romantic love or expressions about personal relationships, but there seems a deep well of human emotion in many of his vocal works. We have now left the faceless white tone that infected many HIP performances and singers are now increasingly being given elbow room to again express in their singing the way some singers from the past did and to really communicate and dig into the meaning of the music and convey the words.

So, we can agree to disagree, but thanks for your explanation.

Mike

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I envy you, Mike! It's sad when you have to miss out on a whole continent of superb music (yes, I do recognise quality when I hear it). I can hear the pain in Bach, though, and a great sadness. Although I'm not the kind of person to shy away from these emotions, there is something in the way Bach expresses them that doesn't appeal to me.

Ah well - one day my Bach will come, perhaps...

Jez

[DetUudslukkelige]

Nothing particularly abnormal or spectacular about my list, but here it is:

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Bach: Mass in B Minor
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
Händel: Messiah

Woo. Behold my originality. 

[S709]

I'll stick to a capella works:

Ligeti: Lux Aeterna. This came to mind first, and I think it may indeed be my favorite choral work of all. Glad to see others mention it too.
Allegri: Miserere. A standard choice, still wonderful though so well known!
Martin: Mass for Double Choir. An incredibly beautiful piece, in a style that is vaguely renaissance in places yet very different.
Schnittke: Choir Concerto. An ancient-sounding modern work. The very moving lyrical second movement also exists in a Kronos SQ arrangement.
Pérotin: Viderunt omnes. When I read that Steve Reich was influenced by Perotin I can't help but think of this piece. It's hard to believe it is so ancient (13th century?).

[BachQ]

3. Frederick Delius - Requiem OR A Mass of Life

I need to acquaint myself with these .............................

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I need to acquaint myself with these .............................

Do, and you won't be disappointed.

The Requiem should be available from EMI, Meredith Davies conducting. And I know A Mass of Life in a recording by the late Sir Charles Groves.

The Requiem is Delius's lament for the fallen of World War I, a beautifully spare work, that's not very popular because of its anti-religious stance (in a Requiem!) It manages to offend the three world religions in one movement - quite an achievement.  But the work celebrates life and our earth in a typically Delian fashion, which is basically religion without a church, I would say...

The Mass of Life is Delius in his prime. An ebullient, masculine, yet dreamy work, that goes through many moods before ascending the heights of grandeur at the end.

Jez

[BachQ]

The Mass of Life is Delius in his prime. An ebullient, masculine, yet dreamy work, that goes through many moods before ascending the heights of grandeur at the end.

cool !

[Drasko]

Rachmaninov - All-Night Vigil
Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms
Schnittke - Choir Concerto
Kodaly - Psalmus Hungaricus
Leifs - Hafis

[knight66]

Drasko, Can you tell us about Leifs - Hafis? I have not heard of it.

Mike