[Wil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masolino Some prefer Karl Bohm, some prefer Nikolaus Harnoncourt in the Mozart Requiem. I personally like Jordi Savall's recording best. Giulini's Verdi Requiem is great, though.

Hm....thanks for the info. The recording on my version is alittle rubbish though ( the music's great ) but it sounds very dynamically compressed. ( its a sony release )

 

[viator122]

I took a class in college on world musics. It was a very interesting class and one of the pieces we listened to was a choral piece from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Hungary or Bulgaria, I believe. Whichever it was, it was haunting and beautiful. Does anyone know the type of music I'm referring to?

 

[mbhaub]

Was is a Bulgarian women's chorus? If so, that stuff is marvelous. It was very popular in classical circles 15-20 years ago, and I don't know what's still available.

Re Mozart Requiem: adhoc wanted something akin to the Mahler 2nd. Great the Mozart may be, but hardly spine tingling. Should also add:

Verdi: Requiem
Mendelssohn: Elijah
Britten: War Requiem

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbhaub Here's a work that meets ALL of your needs: Franz Schmidt: Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (The Book with Seven Seals). It's based on the book of Revelation, and is awe-inspiring. From the lovliest vocal duets, to the earth-shattering organ interludes and choral fugues. It will send shivers: the earthquake setting is spine tingling, and done in a 12-tone style, no less (the rest of the work is tonal). The Hallelujah in the final section is ecstatic, and one of the most uplilfting things I know. This work, written during the mid-30s in Austria, is a masterpiece of the literature and is very well known and frequently performed in German speaking countries. It is less known elsewhere, although there have been a couple of US performances in the past few years; most notably in Cleveland. There are now an amazing 8 versions available, but the only one you need is on EMI (easy to get) with Franz Welser-Most conducting. I love this music more than I can say. It might take a few listens to really "get it", but once you're hooked, nothing can compare. Get it!

"Heilig, heilig ist Gott, der Allmächtige..."

Since first discovering it, I can honestly say that not a week has gone by during which I have not listened to Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln in Franz Welser-Möst's 1998 recording with René Pape and Stig Andersen. With this work, Franz Schmidt stands with Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms, and Mahler as a giant in the German repertoire. It is unfortunate, though understandable, that his work (including the tragic 4th symphony) hasn't gained the acceptance it deserves in the standard repertoire.

It stands as one of the competitors for "greatest oratorio of the 20th century" and might just be on the all-time short list. Schmidt, to my mind, is the worthy successor to Brahms and Mahler in the large-scale choral work. To that end, Schmidt really brings to an end the coda to tonal music in the Germanic tradition with Das Buch. Mahler, to my mind, is the official end, but Schmidt was an equally-brilliant recapitulation on the theme.

As you said, and without turning this into a Das Buch love-fest, it has everything. The great "Amen" chorus at the end of the prelude, "Nun sah ich, und siehe, mitten vor dem Throne" is as thrilling as anything anyone could want. Of course, there is also the "Hallelujah" at the end. I have, as I said, the Welser-Möst recording; however, I would really like to track down the Harnoncourt set. He, too, has been a solid and consistent advocate for this work. Alas, though, that work seems to OOP and difficult to find.

Really spectacular, and I'm glad you brought it up. As well as War Requiem, which is no less moving or important. Just a product of a different tradition.

 

[recstar24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GIGANTOID Cd: Vespers Artist: Robert Shaw Festival Singers Composer: Rachmaninoff

Damn, forgot about that one, tis good. I love this setting of the vespers, can;t beat Robert shaw either

 

[FalconP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 I took a class in college on world musics. It was a very interesting class and one of the pieces we listened to was a choral piece from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Hungary or Bulgaria, I believe. Whichever it was, it was haunting and beautiful. Does anyone know the type of music I'm referring to?

Bulgarian choral music? Its most famous exponents are Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares (listen to the samples at Amazon and see if that's what you're looking for) but many less famous groups are equally good or better.

 

[viator122]

Thanks, I'll take a look. The class was supposed to be showing us "traditional" music from either Bulgaria or Hungary...somewhere in Eastern Europe.

 

[FalconP]

For sheer Christian religiosity, nothing beats Orthodox church choirs in Russia and Greek, and the church choirs in Armenia. The Orthodox choirs are much recorded by world-music labels and should be easy to come by; the only recording I know of for an Armenia choir is the beautiful set by the Haissmavourk Choir, released by Celestial Harmonies.

The chants of the Russian Orthodox churched has inspired many modern Classical composers, notably Arvo Part and John Tavener. The most stunning and emotional of all such Orthodox-inspired choral pieces is surely Alfred Schnittke's Pslam of Repentence for unaccompanied mixed choir. If you like choral music but don't own the ECM recording of this work, you owe yourself a serious favor.

 

[Masolino]

So that novice listeners are not mistaken about the term
"Orthodox church chant" actually encompassing centuries
of different styles, it is a good idea to start with a comprehensive
introductory recording that shows this diversity. There is no
better introduction IMO than the compilation disc "Divine
Harmony" on the OPUS 111 label, sung by the much praised
Russian Patriarchate Choir and conducted by Anatoly Grindenko.



The disc comes with an art book, too, which, apart from
notes and texts provided by Grindenko himself, also contains
an essay by Russian iconographer Adolf Ovchinnikov on
icons and their use in Orthodox Church.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=glance&n=5174

 

[SysteX]

Perhaps a strange one, but I would listen to Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" Op. 80. It takes a while before the chorus comes in, but they're a real treat once they do.

 

[papy]

and How about "Spem in Alium" by Tallis...Get the Naxos CD with the Salve intemerata as well...good lot of a track on there

and on a lower scale, i'd recommend Summa by Arvo Part.

Papy

 

[Doc Sarvis]

For something completely different and awe-inspiring, you ought to try Howard Hanson's "Song of Democracy"...

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSmith08 "Franz Schmidt stands with Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms, and Mahler as a giant in the German repertoire."

I'm a big Schmidt fan.

Schmidt had the bad luck of being involuntarily associated with the Nazis. I found this description of the matter on the web:

"Schmidt's posthumous reputation has suffered because of rumours, vigorously rebutted by his many Jewish friends and colleagues (including Oskar Adler and Hans Keller), that he became a Nazi towards the end of his life. The true situation is more complex. Schmidt was a fairly conservative nationalist, but he was humane and in no way anti-semitic. As Austria's most distinguished composer still resident in Vienna he was compelled to begin a Cantata to a National Socialist text, "Deutsche Auferstehung" ("German Resurrection"), that he appears to have left deliberately unfinished at the time of his death (he was already a dying man when he received the commission). Nevertheless, the work was completed by a student of Schmidt's with Nazi sympathies (Robert Wagner), and performed and published under Schmidt's own name. Schmidt was notoriously politically naive, but he would surely have come to recognise the true nature of the Nazi regime had he lived a little longer (he died in February 1939). His first wife, who was confined to a mental hospital, but whom he continued to visit and support financially until his death, was subsequently murdered by the Nazis in their "euthanasia" programme."