UMMGC - Lux Aurumque

[hardporecorn]

Performed well, yes! I'm not one to give critiques, especially on a beautiful performance. I had the pleasure of performing in this piece as well. However, it's a bit too powerful at 0:53 for my taste. Perhaps it's the strength of the TTBB sound, but it took the heavenly, shimmery feel away. Besides that, I only have great things to say about this rendition! If I end up at UM for grad school, perhaps I will look into joining the group!

[sxehayndude]

Wow, great job guys. just two things i wanna say is that a little more consonant sound and it will go a long way. haha. and second is that at times, some of the vowels were really bright. just think tall and vertical vowels, and that should fix it. haha. besides that great job!!!

[nwmusic06]

lol yeah this song would sound pretty bad if they tried to sing the SATB arrangement.

[nwmusic06]

because the song is re-voiced so it can be sung with just men. The tenor 1 part is down an octave from the original soprano part. any whitacre piece where there are f's and g's (or even higher) in tight chords that need to ring and at a soft dynamic should use falsetto simply because it's easier and places much less strain on the voice, resulting in a pure rich straight tone that probably couldn't be achieved by average male singers using full voice or head voice.

[nwmusic06]

well I agree, but women don't have falsetto, and this is a men's arrangement so it's perfect for falsetto.

[nwmusic06]

not true. falsetto is very natural and is so much easier to sing than normal voice.

[StevyRich]

Fine. It's a male choir, but i think the could've done the sopranos and altos in a falsetto like voice. It's not so high anyways

[rajidae]

yeah i agree, i dont know why you got two thumbs down on this comment. i was actually expecting more falsetto for the amount of men there are.

[ayanaday213]

i hate it when ppl cough.. makes me wana throw a machete at them!!

[MCProduckshins]

Much better than the GMC's efforts!

[gfunk49]

wow... your tenors are ethereal... fascinating sound

[LA54LE]

genial! Whitacre!

[iron101]

Great song. We are currently playing this song in my high school band. Not only is it amazing to listen to, but also to play. It tends to give me the chills every time we play it.

[makemehappyish]

we played this last year for band...i know exactly what you mean about the chills!!

[melodiouslove]

ha lol just sang this song in my choir concert last night and it was kinda pretty much awesome =P

[AshleeK1490]

Yeah, the acoustics at Hill pretty much rock. :)

[skipro215]

Amazing sound!! The acoustics must have been incredible in this kind of venue, I wish I could sing in a place like that!

[Borriss78]

Wonderful sound!!!

[Wehavenoclue]

I love this song, so much emotion. We played it in my high school band this year, amazing to hear and play.

[Kilfio]

Got a spot open? :D

[theevmeister]

1 word: gravisque :')

[i4GotPants]

at 1:47... WTF was that

[kelclay724]

a cough... what's so weird about that?

[heathermagill]

My choir sang this in New york at nationals. Amazing song.

[stargazer9188]

Wow. I got chills listening to this. Amazing.

[oplatre]

Who doesn't love Eric Whitacre's music,...i mean,...the guy is a freakin genius! It does seem a lil odd hearing this piece in TTBB,..but they performed it very well!

[LongDriveChamp03]

i love the basses at 1:29 when they sing velut aurum.

and at 2:04 during canunt

and at 2:30 at moliter.

[gab1279]

I love this with men's choir, good music stands up in any arrangement. :) This group sounds amazing, lots of control. Gorgeous.

[fiddlinmatt]

truth about good music. I think that as TTBB they do it very well, but I miss the sopranos on some of the phrases. Still Beautiful.

[heliopolis2]

Id just stick with the double whisky and cigar personally. Thats what I am doing....

Tengs Mum has a nice rack of power tools....

[rory09]

i'm a bass and performing this is four days and am less than a semi-tone of the bottem c sharp, any tips? (other than a cigar and double whiskey)

[LongDriveChamp03]

gravisque

[LongDriveChamp03]

those tenors are great!!!

[LittleLotte1410]

My man Whitacre does it again!!

My choir at high school should be performing this piece SATB sometime this school year, so I'm way uber excited!

[MonkeyBizness654]

I've got to say, I really think it loses something in TTBB, especially with the added weight of the sound. I know TTBB is innately heavier just because of the lack of female voices, but I think with this piece it's a detriment. Not for arrogance sake, but only to prove that I'm not just making this up: I've performed Lux under the direction of Eric Whitacre, and he said he felt restraint was one of the most important parts of this piece.

[singingismypassion]

I love Eric Whitacre and I love U of M's music program.

[klickenpod]

those are ma boyz!

ok kind of.

go u of m and eric whitacre!

[JPSaxMan]

I myself don't prefer this arrangement over the traditional SATB or instrumental arrangement but it's not bad...certainly not bad. Very well done!

[DoubleABaterriezzz]

the band transposition of this song is to DIE FOR.

[ughxugh]

I have it on my myspace!!!

(The instrumental)

It's truly amazing. I love playing it, too.

[midnightpredator18]

Eh.. this should not at all be be an instrumental piece.. *tear*

[ughxugh]

A lot of his works work well as both instrumental and choral pieces...ESPECIALLY Sleep and Lux Aurumque...

[mabyer2]

I actually like this better than the SATB version and I have done both. This is great.

[ryanxp]

For those wondering...

- the recording is pretty cool, but everything on the softer side of things feels different than it does in Hill

- I agree that traditionally while some parts are attacked harder and are a little heavier than they would be in the SATB version, one of the strong points of the Men's Glee Club is dynamic contrast; our renditions, especially of pieces not natively TTBB, are usually tailored differently in order to account for the intricacies of the male voice

[Fulldre]

i love this song XD

[Goberile]

Interesting. Good, but..different than other performances. Probably because I am used to hearing chamber choirs do it.

[Matejivanovich]

Damn. Eric is probably one of the coolest people to ever meet in person (i've had the opportunity to meet him several times). The Concert Choir in 2002/03 of Green Valley High School performed Lux Aurumque, the first version before he brought it into his operah. Just...omg. It was performed back in Salt Lake City's Festival of Gold. (I was a member of Concert choir, Madrigals sang the piece)

[eddie090909]

God, i LOVE this song so much, and i must admit, i'be never heard a choir sing it, but i must hand it to you, this sounded really really good!!

[zweeric]

Eric Whitacre is THE man!

[Slink12345]

He's not the man, HE'S GOD!

[leo959]

what happened to the altos and sopranos in this song? there suppose to be there like the original but this sounds pretty cool too

[spiffy224]

Did you read the part where it says "Men's Glee Club"?

[walkermusic]

Wow, way to go U of M. I'm thinking about graduate work in music there and this definately helps define the strength of the Music School there. Awesome.

[j0hnny]

I've never heard an all men's rendition of this piece. This is absolutely amazing!!

[GYGsam]

wow.. just wow.

[deathisgrace]

my highschool choir sang this and obviously we aren't as good as these gentlemen but I do like women's voices on this song as well...but the men have a very nice falsetto! :)

[startxsomethingg]

this is an amazing version,

i just think that some places where its supposed to be soft and beautiful is too powerful and heavy.

but i guess you cant blame them because men voices are so powerful.

its a tough song all in all, especially the ending, my choir had a hard time tackling it.

[lilman4u]

the "gra" is too wide..it should have a "grah" sound not "graau"...and creshandos and cut offs need improvement...i liked singing this song even though it was quite difficult...but overall great sound

[kelclay724]

dude, you can't even spell crescendo, I don't think you have any place commenting on the quality of this song.

[balladtree]

hm.. this is different...definitely like the color women add to it. The song is about light and should be sung more lightly in certain areas. Still... nice voices!

[professorfingers]

I sing in the World Famous and Renowned Morehouse College Glee Club. Our Director Dr. Morrow got his Doctorate from Michigan University. As a Ph.D candidate myself in Music Physics, I THINK MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SOUNDS AWESOME.

[rajatonfan]

well, im from the world famous Amabile Boys Choir- and i Must say well done!!! One of the best I have heard this song

[kelclay724]

It's the University of Michigan performing in this clip, not Michigan State, there's a big difference...

[iheartwillow]

i thought this was amazing! thanks for sharing!

[phillysportsgenius]

i would agree that i am partial to the SATB arrangment after doing it myself, and if I might toot my own horn, doing it under the direction of Eric himself...but this is still beautiful, there is no greater instrument then the male voice...

[jomarkdave]

haha...how can people judge tone off of a camera recording?

but...when talking about light...lux...you would think you wouldn't want a dark sound

[kgrahams]

I think of this piece being a modern gregorian chant so I think the style works well.

[Davidmavfan2]

where the crap are the women? lol. JK nice job basses. but I think i like it better with sapranos and altos.

[xetwc]

um....it is the Men's Glee Club!

[kelclay724]

the sound quality on my camera isn't that great because it's mainly just a still picture camera, it was much better in person, just so you know.

[malmangelucci]

nope, not diggin' this arrangement. group sounds alright though.

[Crushingsitar]

This group did a decent job of the song, and I bet half the reason this doesn't seem quite right is the quality of recording. This is a very tough to perform, not only because of the need for subtle dynamics, but the key change from the front half, to the blocked out "Natum" chorus. If you'd like to hear a good recording of this, go to ericwhitacre.com.

[Crushingsitar]

I agree.. they attacked the beginning.. Every time I have performed this song, it has felt somewhat subdued in the beginning, as though you are hearing an old echo of the song.. and then AN-GE-LI! And your there.. you realize the song, you are in the present. And then the song tapers off, beautifully.

[Dorkeeqirl]

Omg! Yes. You stole the words right out of my mouth!

[bwd2010]

Amazing sound. I like the SATB arrangement MUCH better. The chorus gave too much away too soon. "Calida" and "gravis que" should be much softer. The high point should be "angeli." "Moliter" could have stretched more. Great venue though. Hill Auditorium is one of the most accoustically perfect venues in the States.