Monthly Archives: March 2013

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Easter Sunday: Now the Green Blade Riseth

I thought I should finish my Easter sequence of music with my favourite Easter Carol.  There’s something about this one that has always spoken to me, even in my pagan / agnostic days.  The harmonies are beautiful and haunting, the melody has a lovely simplicity to it, and the words are just gorgeous.  And maybe a trifle pagan in a Corn God sort of way (looking at you, James Fraser), though I rather think that’s a deliberate subversion of the pagan imagery on the part of the poet.

(Much like the way the early Church subverted large chunks of existing pagan festivals into their holy day celebrations.  There’s this fabulous letter from one of the early Popes that basically tells missionaries that if the people are used to having a feast on this day, you should let them have the feast, and dedicate it to a saint, and if they are used to worshiping in this place, you should dedicate the place, and call it a church.  He doesn’t *quite* say that they’ll never notice the difference, but there is definitely the implication that if you let them keep all their other habits, you’ll be able to quietly slip in the Christianity without anyone getting upset…)

But I digress…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27p98aLPZPI&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →

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Good Friday: He Was Despised and Rejected (Handel)

I actually sang Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott at this morning’s Good Friday service, and had every intention of posting it here.  But as I was sitting at my desk, writing about last night’s Maundy Thursday service in more detail, Mayhem, who shall henceforth be surnamed The Liturgy Cat, walked across my keyboard and somehow managed to switch on Handel’s Messiah.  This is impressive on two counts; first, I have no idea how she managed to start something playing in iTunes without, apparently, leaving the Firefox browser window, and second, I had no idea I even had a recording of The Messiah on my computer…

Anyway, The Liturgy Cat has spoken, so the Messiah we must have.  And for Good Friday, there can be only one choice.  Actually, that’s not true – there’s quite a bit of Good Friday stuff in The Messiah, but ever since I heard Bejun Mehta sing He Was Despised and Rejected, no other version can ever compete.  I’m afraid it’s spread across two videos, but it’s absolutely worth it to click on video number two, which is where Mehta demonstrates ornamentation so perfect that I and my alto friends can only swoon in envy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chel8xQGVek&w=560&h=315] Continue reading →

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Maundy Thursday: Ubi Caritas et Amor (Mariano Garau)

We had the Maundy Thursday service this evening at Christ Church Brunswick.  It’s a truly stunning piece of liturgy, particularly when the priests and servers stripped the altar and its surrounds of all decoration – first putting out the candles, then removing the candles and candlesticks themselves, then removing the altar cloths and all other accoutrements, and changing their decorated golden vestments for plain ones, while we spoke Psalm 22 (O God, my God – why have you forsaken me).

Priests and choir then exited silently through the side door, rather than processing, leaving the alter bare and empty, and the congregation were invited to hold silent vigil at the side chapel for a few minutes or until midnight if they chose.  Next year, I may do the full vigil.

Anyway, after all that, I really couldn’t go and write up a post for Friday Fun this week.  So instead, you get one of the pieces we sang this evening during the foot-washing part of proceedings.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMhIHfJU2pQ&w=420&h=315]I love how archaic this sounds.  I don’t think it is a medieval arrangement, but it does have that sort of feel to it.  All those parallel 5ths and octaves. We sang it more slowly and softly, which I think suited it better for this occasion.

The lyrics are in Latin and are traditional for Maundy Thursday.  The English translation is:

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

 

I’ll be singing these lyrics again tomorrow, as a Taizé chant for the Way of the Cross.  Not such beautiful music, but still a good sentiment, and perhaps one that holds more meaning when sung by a large, ecumenical congregation rather than a small choir.  Trying to fund the Garau version on YouTube, I realised I’ve also sung the Duruflé version at some point.  It’s much lusher, and very gorgeous, but I think the simplicity of the Garau suits this service better.

And, while we’re on Maundy Thursday music, here’s the final hymn for today, Pange Lingua Gloriosi, or Of the Glorious Body Telling (we sang it in English, but the lyrics I know kicked in at about verse 5, and start Therefore We Before him Bending) (also this recording claims to be by Benedictine Nuns, but I have my doubts.  Most nuns I’ve met don’t have those bass notes…).  This is another text that keeps getting set in beautiful arrangements (some texts just seem to consistently inspire magnificent music), but the Gregorian chant – which we sang – is still, to my mind, the most beautiful.

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Monday Music: Litany (William Walton)

I had all these lovely plans about a little festival of Lenten music for Holy Week, but in all honesty, between work and the fact that I’ve got choir rehearsals, music lessons, and Easter themed singing every day this week, I don’t think it’s feasible.  Actually, what I really need to do is figure out what we will be eating on all those days when I don’t get home until silly-o-clock.

Anyway, this Litany, by William Walton, is one we sang for Palm Sunday this year, and I kind of love it and hate it at the same time.  I really love the effect of all those harmonic changes and how sad and spooky and gorgeous it all sounds, but, with the exception of a few glorious bars towards the end, I actively dislike singing it.  Which is rather a pity, and also pretty unusual, but my relationship with 20th century music is vexed in general, so perhaps I should just accept that and move on.  It’s beautiful music, either way.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPZQXg1U4GA&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]

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Friday Fun: Les Mis in 6 minutes (Natalie Weiss / Daniel Rein)

Yeah, I seem to be going though a bit of a Natalie Weiss phase, but this one had me in hysterical laughter when I listened to it. Also, we have to celebrate our freedom from grant applications – this is the music of a people who can finally get back into the lab and do some real science!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fd_QaNdQv4&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0] 

Continue reading →

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Random Video: The 9 Cutest Things That Ever Happened (Gordon Hamilton)

It’s been a pretty hellish week for a lot of people I know, and everyone knows that the solution to a really hellish week is cute fluffy animals.

Since this is a singing blog, I’ve gone one better: cute fluffy animals set to choral music.

Thank you, Gordon Hamilton and the Australian Voices, for providing the video we all needed right about now…

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Friday Fun: The Alto’s Lament (Zina Goldrich, Marcy Heisler)

I’m currently obsessing – and I really do mean obsessing – about every Shakespeare-related opera ever written, but I am trying to resist the urge to write about every single one of them here this week, because I’m reasonably certain that nobody in the world is quite so fascinated by them right now as I am.  Instead, I bring you this rather amusing bit of Broadway send-uppery that speaks to my heart right now, all about the sad lot of the alto.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLdWmq0W0KM&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]

Isn’t it brilliant?  I love the way she really is singing the alto line in every one of those songs, and in all honesty, those low notes are fabulous.

(and should my favourite choir director be reading this… well, I wouldn’t stoop to leaving hints in my blog, of course. That would be wrong.)

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Music for a Monday: Je Veux Vivre (Gounod)

I seem to be in a French mood at the moment (but then, look what happens when I go into German).  Actually this is mostly because I’m looking for repertoire for my next exam, and thought it might be fun to do a little set of Shakespeare-themed songs (I already have Fear no more the heat o’the sun on my list).  This one might be a little high for me (it goes to a D, and while I got to a D flat comfortably for my last exam, I don’t know that my voice goes higher than that reliably – certainly not for so long).

But that doesn’t matter for Monday music.  I’m sharing this one basically because it is really, really cute.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAHO0er9A8k&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]

This is taken from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and it’s actually filmed in Verona and on a balcony, which really is priceless, even if the singing wasn’t amazing.  Though the random blonde is a bit disconcerting.  Also, technically, the balcony (while gorgeous) shouldn’t be there for this scene, as it occurs before the ball.  But if one is trying to be iconically Romeo and Juliettish, a balcony in Verona is clearly the way to go.  And Rocío Ignacio’s voice is just lovely, and suits this piece beautifully.

Something about this waltz reminds me a lot of Sempre Libera (not the start, but once you get about 3 minutes in, you’ll see what I mean), which was written by Verdi about a decade earlier.  This isn’t in any way a complaint, incidentally – I think they are both gorgeous pieces of music.

Here’s another version of Je Veux Vivre, this one sung by Jane Powell, and obviously completely out of context, though I have no idea what the context actually is.  I really enjoy the light purity of Jane Powell’s voice – she’s a very precise singer, and one I really enjoy listening to, though her French accent is fairly awful.

If you’d like to see a version of this actually in context, here’s a recording by Angela Gheorghiu that should do the trick.  And if you prefer your Shakespearean opera with cross-dressing – and really, who doesn’t –  here’s Elina Garanca as Romeo Bellini’s version of the opera (really, everyone did a version of Romeo and Juliet, and none of them stuck to the plot – in this song, Romeo is disguised as a messenger, offering Lord Capulet Romeo’s hand in marriage for Juliet, as a replacement son after the death of Tybalt…).  How gorgeous are her low notes?  And her high notes, for that matter…