Schubert's Ave Maria performed here by the Norwegian boys' choir the Nidarosdomens Guttekor (Nidaros Cathedral Boys Choir), the soloist is the incomparable Adrian Skaar Hestnes. I can't recall ever hearing it better sung. Click the player below to listen and enjoy :-)
markfromireland
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Last November I posted about the Dubna Choral School Choir's performance of Mikhail Lermontov's beautiful "Onto The Road I Walk Alone" with treble solo by Sergei Balashov (see: Mikhail Lermontov: Выхожу один я на дорогу (Onto The Road I Walk Alone) — Dubna Boys Choir | Saturday Chorale ). It's a difficult solo for a boy soprano and Balashov performed it very creditably, as I remarked at the time – "that boy can really sing". Somebody else who can really sing and who sings "Onto The Road I Walk Alone" is the Russian Basso Profundo Vladimir Miller. Basso profondo singers possess the very low-ranging voicess – some such as Miller or the late Vladimir Pasjukov can sing very low indeed.
Miller who is a soloist at both the State Academic Cappella of St. Petersburg and the Male Choir of St.Petersburg was born in Siberia in 1964. He studied musicology at the Leningrad State Conservatoire (now renamed St. Petersburg State Conservatory) and upon graduating decided he wanted to sing professionally. He trained as a singer in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne Music University) under Reinhard Leisenheimer and Kurt Moll. On his return to Russia he was invited to join the two choirs in which he now sings and the in the Male Choir of the Valaam Institute for Choral Art since 1990. His YouTube channel is well worth a visit and is the source of this wonderful performance of Lermontov's song. The video and a very short list of resources on Mikhail Lermontov are both below the fold. Enjoy :-).
markfromireland
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Even though he was acknowledged during his lifetime as the greatest English composer of his age and is acknowledged as such today only a small proportion of his music is well known and regularly performed. (This sad situation is just as true in the recording industry – Andrew Carwood and 'The Cardinall's Musick' pioneering work is just that, pioneering work). Byrd wrote over fifty English anthems, they're characterised by a tremendous range of musical inventiveness and technical ability, and religious intensity. For today's playlist I've picked three of these anthems. I've picked picked them because while each of them is very beautiful none of them are recorded or performed very often and each has some characteristic that sets it apart from the rest of Byrd's output. The three anthems are:
markfromireland
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Moses Hogan was a hugely talented and influential director and arranger of Negro Spirituals. Born in 1957 he studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Juilliard School of Music, and Louisiana State University. He created sparkling new arrangements of classic spirituals and formed new choirs to perform them. During his short life – he was only 46 when he died, he published more than 70 works and was the editor of the new Oxford Book of Spirituals, a wonderful collection of spirituals, published by Oxford University Press.
In the video playlist which you'll find below the fold you'll find two performances of his setting of "My soul's been anchored in the Lord". The first dates from 2008 is by The Mose Hogan Chorale who first performed it on February 21, 1999 at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans. They subsequently performed at concerts all over America.
The second performance is by the the University of Louisville Cardinal Singers giving their prize winning interpretation of Hogan's work at the 9th International Chamber Choir Competition 2005 in Marktoberdorf, Germany.
The playlist lyrics and some resources are all below the fold. Enjoy :-).
markfromireland
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Well finally, I've found an a capella version of Dowland's bitter-sweet song "Come again" on YouTube that I like. This performance was given by the English chamber choir "Novemaltare" in Christ Church, Cheltenham, on May 28th 2011. Lyrics below the fold. Enjoy – I did :-).
markfromireland
Video Source: Come again -- John Dowland – YouTube Uploaded by novemaltare on Jun 1, 2011
Click here to listen to the music and read the rest of the posting ...
