Oxford College Choirs

I've just discovered an interesting series of short videos about Oxford College choirs on the Oxford Today website. Currently there are 4 videos to watch, but there will be 6 by December as they are adding one each month. Worth a watch as they give an interesting insight to life behind the scenes at these well known, and well loved institutions.

Choral recordings July to September 2012

Another batch of fine recordings as featured in Gramophone Magazine's reviews for the last quarter and available now from a record shop (or website) near you.

For a change I'm heading back in time a bit further than usual.

July:
Gesualdo Quinto libro dei madrigali performed by the Hilliard Ensemble on ECM New Series. Gesualdo, the master of surprise dissonances is one of my favourite early composers and his works are just the sort of thing the Hilliard Ensemble excel at. I could hapily listen to them for hours (particularly live) but in this recording you get the added bonus of a countertenor and soprano thrown into the mix making the whole sound lighter and more vibrant.

August:
Zelenka's Responsoria pro Hebdomada Sancta & Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae performed by Collegium Vocale 1704 on Accent. I'm becoming a bit of a fan of both Zelenka and performances of his works by this choir (check out the Missa Votiva too). Vaying in mood from serious and contemplative to wonderfully bouncy this is quite simply glorious Baroque music from the 1720s, wonderfully sung.

September:
Divitis / de Fevin Requiem performed by Ensemble Organum on Aeon. No this work wasn't written by two composers, they simply aren't sure who did write it, but it was almost certainly one of these two. It's also an early Renaissance work of considerable interest, and performed by a choir that may not be the most refined or balanced at times, but a choir nevertheless that contains a number of superb individual voices such as their basso profundo Antoine Sicot. Other choirs have recorded this work with instrumentation, but here you just have the voices, with no other distractions.

That's it for now, but next time we'll be in the run up to Christmas, so based on my current course there might just be some medieval carols served up with your mince pies, you never know.

Recordings review April to June 2012

It has been a long time since phantomchoralsnake performed his blogging duties, so apologies for the delay (holidays, a generally busy schedule and all sorts of other feeble excuses). It will soon be time for the next quarterly review of recordings, but here's the batch worth checking out from Gramophone Magazine reviews between April and June this year.

To tell you the truth April wasn't actually that exciting so I've chosen one recording from May and two from June to make up for it.

May:
Vasks Plainscapes performed by the Latvian Radio Choir on Ondine. This is a marvellous selection of Vasks' a capella output written from 1978 to 2008. You should know by now how much I love Baltic music in general, but this recording is sublime, shimmering, spiritual, soothing, soaring and a bucketload of other s's big enough to keep any snake happy.

June:
Schnittke Penitential Psalms performed by the SWR Vokalensemble, Stuttgart (no, I'd never heard of them before either) on Hanssler Classic. Written in 1988 to mark the 1,000 year anniversary of Russia's Christianisation this is an interesting take on Russian Orthodox and Gregorian chant traditions. If you know some of Schnittke's more radical works, and you're worrying that this might be equally difficult to approach (although personally I like some of Schnittke's way out stuff quite a lot), don't panic, as this is very accessible, but with an interesting edge to it.

Chilcott Requiem performed by the Wells Cathedral Choir on Hyperion. Something firmly smack bang in the middle of the British choral tradition for those of you who feel more comfortable with that sort of thing. The music is mostly gentle and reflective in tone (no Verdian hystrionics here, more of a Faure Requiem part II) and this popular British contemporary composer has managed to come up with enough innovation and original input to distinguish his Requiem from its many predecessors and make repeated listening an enticing prospect.

That's it for now. Back again soon, I promise.

A brief history of the Passion Oratorio.

As early as the 4^th Century the story of Jesus’ death was being recited dramatically and partially sung during Holy Week services. By the Middle Ages a number of conventions had been established (the Evangelist was sung by a tenor, and Christ by a baritone or bass with one voice per part in choruses where these existed).

Gradually composers developed the structure of the Passion Oratorio based on these conventions, reaching a peak of musicality and popularity during the Baroque period. Johann Sebastian Bach took the levels of drama and emotional intensity several steps further than his immediate predecessors such as Schutz by incorporating a complex and blatantly operatic style in his three Passion Oratorios. Following this peak, however, the Passion Oratorio fell out of fashion. Even Bach’s greatest choral work, the St. Matthew Passion sank into obscurity until it was resurrected by Felix Mendelssohn in 1829.

Even with the re-acceptance of Bach very few 19^th century composers felt inclined to follow his example. One of the few who did use Bach as an inspiration for writing his own Passion Oratorio was Carl Loewe. This work, written in 1847, has rarely been performed and it failed to spark a resurgence but it remains a powerful and moving rendition of the Easter story. The U.K. premiere of Loewe’s Passion Oratorio will actually take place on 31^st March this year (next Saturday) in Oxford Town Hall in a performance by Oxford Harmonic Society.

The 20^th century saw an improvement in the fortune of the Passion Oratorio as composers such as Penderecki with his St. Luke Passion brought a strong national flavour into the mix. This trend has continued into the current century with an increasing number of contemporary composers such as Gubaidulina and Golijov producing an eclectic mix of sounds fusing traditional classical styles with folk and a variety of other elements. The future of the Passion Oratorio looks bright indeed.

Recordings review Jan to Mar 2012

I've got a trio of budget bargains for you this time round, all from Naxos:

January: Janocek Glagolitic Mass Warsaw Phil. / Antonio Wit. Up there with the best recordings of this choral masterpiece, so if you haven't already got a recording of this work go out and buy this one now.
February: Pott In the heart of things Commotio / Matthew Berry. Local choir Commotio strut their a capella stuff with a selection of works by contemporary (and relatively local) composer Francis Pott. Sublimely and spiritually luminous but not in a faffy way.
March: Brahms Choral works (incl. Ave Maria, Begrabnisgesang, Schicksalslied etc.) Warsaw Phil. / Antonio Wit (again). Mr. Wit was obviously having a highly productive period in the recording studios recently. This recording covers virtually all of Brahms' worthwhile choral work ouside of his German Requiem, and it's another cracker.

So, after saving you loads of dosh with those three bargains I reckon you're allowed to slip another recording into your shopping basket. Also featuring in the February edition of Gramaphone magazine was Tuur's Arkamine with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Sinfonietta Riga / Daniel Reuss on Ondine. You should know by now that Baltic music generally hits all of the right buttons for me, and the EPCC are one of my favourite choirs, so I could hardly pass this one by. Lots of moments of sublime beauty with plenty of bite inbetween.

More recordings worth having a listen to in three months time, just before I trundle off to Mongolia for a holiday. Perhaps I'll find some interesting vocal music out there on the steppes. You never know.