I Need Your Recommendation...

dulcinea · Post by **dulcinea** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:00 pm

... of Macmillan's SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS. Does it have an orchestra and solo singers? If it is an a cappella piece I'm not interested; there is no worse SADISM and BRUTALITY inflicted on musical sensibility than that of unaccompanied choral neighing, baying and wailing.

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:42 pm

dulcinea wrote:If it is an a cappella piece I'm not interested; there is no worse SADISM and BRUTALITY inflicted on musical sensibility than that of unaccompanied choral neighing, baying and wailing.

De gustibus, but I wonder if you've ever heard Palestrina or Victoria or just about any Tallis Scholars' discs?

Brendan · Post by **Brendan** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:26 pm

I've never really thought of Bruckner's 2nd Mass as "unaccompanied choral neighing, baying and wailing."

MacMillan's work is for choir and string orchestra. Best rec is probably with Stephen Layton and the Britten Sinfonia (that's the one I've got, anyway).

david johnson · Post by **david johnson** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:22 am

'there is no worse SADISM and BRUTALITY inflicted on musical sensibility than that of unaccompanied choral neighing, baying and wailing.'

chuckle. heard something you didn't like? what was it?

dj

dulcinea · Post by **dulcinea** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:08 am

david johnson wrote:'there is no worse SADISM and BRUTALITY inflicted on musical sensibility than that of unaccompanied choral neighing, baying and wailing.'

chuckle. heard something you didn't like? what was it?

dj

The appallingly incompetent and tone-deaf church choirs of my youth screeching such hellish blasphemies as FARTHER, MY GOD, FROM THEE and ONWARD, UNCHRISTIAN SOLDIERS. Such unspeakable torment forever disabused me of any foolish notions about the ability of vocal choirs to fend for themselves without the aid and support of choruses of strings, winds, brass and percussion. In fact, if it weren't for the yearly TV Christmas productions of MESSIAH, I would have ended up not liking any choral music at all.

dulcinea · Post by **dulcinea** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:01 am

Bland, flabby, namby-pamby religious mush such as the sissy REQUIEM of milksop Gabriel Faure--which doesn't even have the DIES IRAE--is the most offensive and profane of blasphemies. I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST, such as in the oratorios of Handel and Haydn and the MISSA SOLEMNIS, opus 123. I love THE HIGH MASS of Sandstrom, a magnificent piece that would likely have earned the enthusiastic approval of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner; which others like it would you recommend to me?

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:10 pm

dulcinea wrote:I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST,

Mmmmm. Methinks that sublety is not in your kit.

I don't think I could recommend anything.

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:28 pm

Corlyss_D wrote:
dulcinea wrote:I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST,
Mmmmm. Methinks that sublety is not in your kit.

I don't think I could recommend anything.

Certainly could not recommed Henning

Cheers,
~Karl

Mark Antony Owen · Post by **Mark Antony Owen** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:23 pm

This thread has me so incensed that I'm putting on some Magalhaes immediately ...

PJME · Post by **PJME** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:49 pm

SADISM and BRUTALITY

choral music really hurts you....it must have been a traumatical experience that caused such fervent dislike! And I'm totaly shocked and surprised - again!! How is it possible!?
Too bad - you're missing a lot of superb music.

II can only repeat my former remarks...: a capella choral works are often of the highest order.
Singing = like the breath of life, the most intimate expression of the human soul,sincerity,truth,emotion,clarity & mystery....Since the human voice is such an" intimate instrument" ,so directly part of ourselves, it makes it easier to appreciate music ..for me.

Here are - again & again - a few composers who wrote very well for chorus or chorus /instruments: Benjamin Britten, Ralph vaughan Wiliams, Albert Roussel, Heitor Villa Lobos,Johannes Brahms,Arthur Honegger,Frank Martin.
And the incredible wealth of renaissance & baroque works - from Spanish Insaladas,Bolivian vilancicos and French complaintes to Flemish peasant songs, British anthems and Polish noels....Bach.

Only once in my life I really felt unconfortable in listening to music : Wagner ( probably Tristan und Isolde...?) sung in French (César Vezzani (Tenor); Germaine Lubin (Soprano) - I do acknowledge Wagner's genius, but I sincerely dislike his music ....A "historical" French performance is absolutely horrible - I ran out of the shop were the Cd was playing...

dulcinea · Post by **dulcinea** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:30 pm

Corlyss_D wrote:
dulcinea wrote:I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST,
Mmmmm. Methinks that sublety is not in your kit.

I don't think I could recommend anything.

Don't underestimate yourself. Try me.

Brendan · Post by **Brendan** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:14 am

You didn't mention Carmina Burana, so give that a whirl. I like Jochum's recording, but there are plenty out there.

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:55 am

dulcinea wrote:
Corlyss_D wrote:
dulcinea wrote:I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST,
Mmmmm. Methinks that sublety is not in your kit.

I don't think I could recommend anything.
Don't underestimate yourself. Try me.

Don't think so. I like the Faure. Our tastes are incompatible on this topic.

Jack Kelso · Post by **Jack Kelso** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:02 am

dulcinea wrote:Bland, flabby, namby-pamby religious mush such as the sissy REQUIEM of milksop Gabriel Faure--which doesn't even have the DIES IRAE--is the most offensive and profane of blasphemies. I like my religious music to be BOLD--to be ENERGETIC--to be DYNAMIC--to be POWERFUL--to be MUSCULAR and STRONG and HAVE HAIR IN ITS CHEST, such as in the oratorios of Handel and Haydn and the MISSA SOLEMNIS, opus 123. I love THE HIGH MASS of Sandstrom, a magnificent piece that would likely have earned the enthusiastic approval of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner; which others like it would you recommend to me?

From what you describe (muscular, strong)---choral music you'd like, I cannot help but recommend STRONGLY to you the Berlioz "Requiem", opus 5. Now THAT work should be exactly "your cup of tea"!

Jack

david johnson · Post by **david johnson** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:36 am

dulcinea:

would you like some rough sacred a cappella music, often a little on the dark side? i have some in mind.

dj

dulcinea · Post by **dulcinea** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:53 am

david johnson wrote:dulcinea:

would you like some rough sacred a cappella music, often a little on the dark side? i have some in mind.

dj

As long as it's not maudlingly sentimental, I'm interested. And going back to the Macmillan, does it compare well to Haydn's SEVEN LAST WORDS OF OUR SAVIOR ON THE CROSS?

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:08 am

Mark Antony Owen wrote:This thread has me so incensed that I'm putting on some Magalhaes immediately ...

I applaud you, sir! :-)

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