Voce just released an all-Lauridsen album which Lauridsen describes as a "superb recording of my choral music and art songs . . . all brilliantly performed by Voce and the Voce Chamber Artists." It is available on cdbaby
Voce just released an all-Lauridsen album which Lauridsen describes as a "superb recording of my choral music and art songs . . . all brilliantly performed by Voce and the Voce Chamber Artists." It is available on cdbaby
I am singing this in my college's chamber choir. Of course, their sound is great. Sopranos overpower at times because of the recording quality, which sucks.
My only criticism would be the straight tempo. I'm not too into that. There are so many points in this peice where taking time is natural. It made it seem more mechanical and less passionate. The lyrics are based on a poem about the earth needing this "cloudburst." And obviously the lyrics are more symbolic than that. Look 'em up.
Sopranos always overpower. I sang this as an AltoII and I got over that fact. Truth is, they're melody, they're going to be heard more than everyone else. It's good practice for Basses, anyways. It teaches them to use all of their diaphragm and sing out.
I will agree with you however on the straight tempo. There are times when he needed to just slow down and take it without the help of rhythm. Just, let it flow naturally.
This was beautifully done, other than tempo. Whitacre is truly ingenious.
it shouldn't be accepted. Soprano's don't always get the 1st of the chord, it's pretty obvious here throughout those awesome whitacre chords. Look at that arpeggiating pattern 3:48. basses build up with the first root note. They need to be heard the most. The next most important is the fifth, then the third, and 9th and 7th. Your vocal part shouldn't determine the volume and balance in the music, your note in the chord and its importance should.
If any of you are actually sopranos, you would know it is quite difficult to sing in the passagio (which this piece sits in quite a bit) quietly. We do our best but it is kind of high. You would have issues too... just sayin' :)
Yeah totally.. on the climax part it really shows it lol. But i dont mean necessarily on the extreme super high soprano parts. I was referring to everything in general. The serene beginning for example.. has excellent balance. no overpowering sopranos or anything.
Beautiful. One of Whitacre's gems. The blending is very good. Obviously, for a professional choir, that would be the case.
The only thing that gets me is the speaking part in the beginning-middle. It felt a little out of place. I think it should have been done by a lower voice. I'm a tenor and barely ever say that things should be done by lower voices, but this is one of those exceptions.
Go check out the website. We have some clips out there from the one CD we have done so far, live performances of our first concert. Next May we are cutting an all-Lauridsen CD with Dr. Lauridsen himself. We had him in residency back in April for a concert, and he was impressed with us enough to want us to record.
Thats awesome. I love Lauridsen. When I was in regional choir we performed the song cycle Mid-Winter Songs and the director said he might come to the concert, but he coudn't make it. It was unfortunate but a great concert. we also did Sleep at that concert
My high school madrigals choir sang this at our last choir concert a few months ago and I fell in love with the piece. great job voce! (I did the soprano solo) :)
wow this recording was amazing. I woul have liked the tempo just a hare faster but it was really beautiful. The Sopranos were amazing and not "trumpet-like" lol. Great job!
my sister performed this her junior year of high school in her concert choir at Belleville High School (NJ) under the direction of Thomas Finetti and broke it up into 13 parts or so. im not too sure. but they did it fantasic and so did you. they also did ezekiel saw the wheel(w. dawson), agnus dei (john rutter), and bogoroditse devo (rachmaninoff) just to name a few
it was awesome but i will say this one of few videos where the snapping effect is not executed well for me...instead of rain this time it actually sounded like a bunch of snapping which its not supposed to
Wow. Awesome. I really love your sound for the most part, it's the best I've heard this song done since Polyphony. Your sopranos are out of balance for most of the song, work on a prettier and floatier tone and not a soprano-trumpet sound.
This performance is absolutely wonderful....the organized chaotic control of it all....along with rhythmic effects, instrumentation....it gave me chills all over in a warm room...and made my eyes well-up.....i love postmodernism...within the underlying context of some melodic directionality... it is utterly moving...
I love Whitacre, I love Cloudburst, and I love you guys! Excellent job, my congrats especially to the gentleman on the right doing the (Baritone?) solo. Excellent job.
This is very good on the whole, but the fortissimo sections get a little "shout-y". I think my one comment would be to not try and sing beyond the boundaries of the size of your choir. I am shocked, still, by how much sound the group can actually create with only 24 voices.
We performed this song my Junior year of HS in the Brainerd Senior High School A Capella Choir under the direction of Michael Smith.... We had a great time, and it looks like you guys did too :)
Thanks! We get to perform it again along another two Whitacres in our February concert. In April we are doing a concert with Morten Lauridsen himself playing the piano.
you should be thankful you guys have such on-key, authoritative sopranos. sounds like you guys could use a tidge of help with your 1st tenors- let me know if I can be of some assistance ;)
I played this in Regional Band a few years ago, but I have to admit that I like it MUCH better performed by a choir, and you all did a phenominal job!!! I got goose bumps!
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Voce just released an all-Lauridsen album which Lauridsen describes as a "superb recording of my choral music and art songs . . . all brilliantly performed by Voce and the Voce Chamber Artists." It is available on cdbaby
pettyjohnd 1 year ago
Voce just released an all-Lauridsen album which Lauridsen describes as a "superb recording of my choral music and art songs . . . all brilliantly performed by Voce and the Voce Chamber Artists." It is available on cdbaby
pettyjohnd 1 year ago
Fantasic performance!
speedfox51 3 years ago
nice one.
i am looking forward to hear this nice piece of music within the next weeks.
rgds
germantrabant 3 years ago
I am singing this in my college's chamber choir. Of course, their sound is great. Sopranos overpower at times because of the recording quality, which sucks.
My only criticism would be the straight tempo. I'm not too into that. There are so many points in this peice where taking time is natural. It made it seem more mechanical and less passionate. The lyrics are based on a poem about the earth needing this "cloudburst." And obviously the lyrics are more symbolic than that. Look 'em up.
jerryjj1955 3 years ago 2
Sopranos always overpower. I sang this as an AltoII and I got over that fact. Truth is, they're melody, they're going to be heard more than everyone else. It's good practice for Basses, anyways. It teaches them to use all of their diaphragm and sing out.
I will agree with you however on the straight tempo. There are times when he needed to just slow down and take it without the help of rhythm. Just, let it flow naturally.
This was beautifully done, other than tempo. Whitacre is truly ingenious.
leederagain 3 years ago
it shouldn't be accepted. Soprano's don't always get the 1st of the chord, it's pretty obvious here throughout those awesome whitacre chords. Look at that arpeggiating pattern 3:48. basses build up with the first root note. They need to be heard the most. The next most important is the fifth, then the third, and 9th and 7th. Your vocal part shouldn't determine the volume and balance in the music, your note in the chord and its importance should.
p0pkorn88 3 years ago
If any of you are actually sopranos, you would know it is quite difficult to sing in the passagio (which this piece sits in quite a bit) quietly. We do our best but it is kind of high. You would have issues too... just sayin' :)
olegurl2010 3 years ago
Yeah totally.. on the climax part it really shows it lol. But i dont mean necessarily on the extreme super high soprano parts. I was referring to everything in general. The serene beginning for example.. has excellent balance. no overpowering sopranos or anything.
p0pkorn88 3 years ago
The Cloudburst section of this performance is way intense. Very cool. Even more intense than the Polyphony performance.
tenortwo20 3 years ago
Beautiful. One of Whitacre's gems. The blending is very good. Obviously, for a professional choir, that would be the case.
The only thing that gets me is the speaking part in the beginning-middle. It felt a little out of place. I think it should have been done by a lower voice. I'm a tenor and barely ever say that things should be done by lower voices, but this is one of those exceptions.
tenortwo20 3 years ago 2
I would love to hear more from this choir. this was an amazing performance of this song
achinghunger15 3 years ago
Go check out the website. We have some clips out there from the one CD we have done so far, live performances of our first concert. Next May we are cutting an all-Lauridsen CD with Dr. Lauridsen himself. We had him in residency back in April for a concert, and he was impressed with us enough to want us to record.
moziggy 3 years ago
Thats awesome. I love Lauridsen. When I was in regional choir we performed the song cycle Mid-Winter Songs and the director said he might come to the concert, but he coudn't make it. It was unfortunate but a great concert. we also did Sleep at that concert
achinghunger15 3 years ago
My high school madrigals choir sang this at our last choir concert a few months ago and I fell in love with the piece. great job voce! (I did the soprano solo) :)
Bigbadflirt 3 years ago
i LOVE this song. and eric whitacre. haha
singerguy93 3 years ago
tbonefyre, i think it sounds perfctly like rain hitting the pavement.. do you live in hte desert where it doesn't rain much?
musikid4990 3 years ago
wow this recording was amazing. I woul have liked the tempo just a hare faster but it was really beautiful. The Sopranos were amazing and not "trumpet-like" lol. Great job!
COALLSTATE07 3 years ago
Lovely.
lastdreams 3 years ago
I love how you can actually hear every note in most of the chords, good job.
sorafb 3 years ago
go hartford!
janeym 3 years ago
awesome!! hehe, the only thing was the "vede" of the solo baritone, but it was cute, I know it can be hard to roll, even flip r's
GEF69 3 years ago
Finally, a competant interpretation of this masterpeice. =)
doormatttttttt 3 years ago
How could people possibly be criticizing this group? They're freaking professional, you can't do that unless you're a genius. like whitacre.
jose229922 3 years ago
my fault i think ezekiel was moses hogan.
bekkamero 3 years ago
my sister performed this her junior year of high school in her concert choir at Belleville High School (NJ) under the direction of Thomas Finetti and broke it up into 13 parts or so. im not too sure. but they did it fantasic and so did you. they also did ezekiel saw the wheel(w. dawson), agnus dei (john rutter), and bogoroditse devo (rachmaninoff) just to name a few
bekkamero 3 years ago
it was awesome but i will say this one of few videos where the snapping effect is not executed well for me...instead of rain this time it actually sounded like a bunch of snapping which its not supposed to
TBONEFYRE 4 years ago
Wow. Awesome. I really love your sound for the most part, it's the best I've heard this song done since Polyphony. Your sopranos are out of balance for most of the song, work on a prettier and floatier tone and not a soprano-trumpet sound.
jakem1000 4 years ago
whitacre is intense.
crazy, wonderful composer.
great job, i hope we end up singing this piece by the end of the year - its just sitting idly in my chorus folder waiting to be sung!
insertusernamehere9 4 years ago
in awe.
IAManton 4 years ago
This performance is absolutely wonderful....the organized chaotic control of it all....along with rhythmic effects, instrumentation....it gave me chills all over in a warm room...and made my eyes well-up.....i love postmodernism...within the underlying context of some melodic directionality... it is utterly moving...
Great job!!!!,
Oskar
musicmantoheart 4 years ago
I love Whitacre, I love Cloudburst, and I love you guys! Excellent job, my congrats especially to the gentleman on the right doing the (Baritone?) solo. Excellent job.
EquinoxParadox 4 years ago
This is very good on the whole, but the fortissimo sections get a little "shout-y". I think my one comment would be to not try and sing beyond the boundaries of the size of your choir. I am shocked, still, by how much sound the group can actually create with only 24 voices.
choralbliss 4 years ago
Voce is such an incredible group. How 'bout some other stuff?
carterjme 4 years ago
We performed this song my Junior year of HS in the Brainerd Senior High School A Capella Choir under the direction of Michael Smith.... We had a great time, and it looks like you guys did too :)
GREAT job with only 24 voices.
AdNoctum007 4 years ago
Thanks! We get to perform it again along another two Whitacres in our February concert. In April we are doing a concert with Morten Lauridsen himself playing the piano.
moziggy 4 years ago
you should be thankful you guys have such on-key, authoritative sopranos. sounds like you guys could use a tidge of help with your 1st tenors- let me know if I can be of some assistance ;)
AdNoctum007 4 years ago
I played this in Regional Band a few years ago, but I have to admit that I like it MUCH better performed by a choir, and you all did a phenominal job!!! I got goose bumps!
RheannaRaye 4 years ago
wow amazingly done.
dscarrillo24 4 years ago