Lumen Valo: The Blue Bird (by Charles Villiers Stanford)

[ElTGV]

The song, although nice, itself will never be a favorite of mine, but the singing is superb.

[TheGrengds]

cambridge and oxford choirs take the nod by a nose in the top 3, followed closley by this...

[TheGrengds]

It is delicious, I am enamoured by this peice always, although secular, it feels deeply devine don't you think. 3rd favourite performance this is for me, the tailing finale in particular, bravo

[margaret51dear]

Perfect in every way! Thanks for posting.

[fgbowen]

"The sky beneath me blue in blue." - this piece is... like... from the grieving heart of God Almighty.

[tambowas]

Such a joy to hear this sung so beautifully !!!

[PettyCrimes]

My last name is Valo. So that's cool.

[MsEnanus]

great performance!!!!!!!!!!

[Cardossian]

Wonderful! Thank you for posting!

[fwchapman]

This is a wonderful performance! I like how the choir sings "below the hill" with some separation (as marked in the score), but does not get carried away with staccato, like many YourTube renditions. Too much staccato makes no musical sense, and this choir gets it just right.

I also like how the choir and soloist end the piece so very softly, like an echo. It paints a picture of the bird flying off into the distance. Singing very softly is quite difficult, and this group does it perfectly.

[iniskid]

The soloist is divine. Her high notes are perfection. This is the best version of this song I have ever heard, even after becoming somewhat of an aficionado on this song, listening to every available recording for months and months.

[pydbl]

@iniskid The female soloist's voice is indeed divine!

[NikF92]

one of the most beautiful pieces for choir i ever heard. it's so simple, but lyrics, melody, harmony and above all dynamics make it so incredibly touching... what a peaceful song...

[Spongebobbkn]

Absolutely beautiful; the alto is divine.

[fgbowen]

I've said it before, I'll say it again - Best performance of this song on youtube.

Possibly EVER ANYwhere.

fgbowen

[MrHoppy66]

Really controlled and expressive rendition of this wonderful piece! So nice to hear purity on here. On YouTube I often hear warbling women with pitch problems singing old favourites ;) This was near perfect.

[fgbowen]

best performance of this song on

youtube!

fgbowen

[Eurofrank1]

What can you say?? Words fail me, which doesn´t happen very often.

[enpluskom]

Thanks a lot for such wonderfull performance!

[Manonija]

Wow!Great!:)

[isti51]

the best record on youtube

[ummmmm47]

amazing

[tamazingic]

one of my favourite choral pieces performed beautifully.

[WeirdAndGeeky]

what are your others? im looking to become a composer and want to look at some choral stuff in a similar vein to this

[hughvane]

I rate this the second-best rendition of this loveliest of songs I've heard. The number 1 vote goes to Swingle II, who did a studio, close-microphone technique, version of it in the 1980's (I think). If anyone knows where the SwII version of it is, please post. I have been searching for over a year now, but without success.

[benjaminlathbury]

Best I've heard! Congratulations!

[pydbl]

sublime

[vangorkj]

If the word "beauty" had not been invented earlier, I would do it now. Sheer beauty.