Purcell - Hear my prayer - Choir of Clare College Cambridge

[HansBBJJ]

too fast!

[guidolongoni]

Definitely the best version I found on youtube so far. Perfect intonation, amazing musicality and great harmony (both in musical sense, thanks to Purcell, and in team-harmony sense, thanks to the choir). All these factors make an incomparably beautiful music, indeed.

[MusicPredominates]

Mmmm. This is SOMETHING !

[iesjie]

wow It´s really beautifull

i got tears in my eyes

[RebeccaJayneClarke]

Utterly divine. This is recommended for those that enjoyed... youtube.com/watch?v=nZeipQOHgh­s

[ragle7]

This is what music should be, inspiring, uplifting, and truly and utterly beautiful. Thanks to all os these superb muscians.

Dwight Ragle 

[whisperFM]

O Purcell...far too short was thy life.

[NiallMS]

@whisperFM Yes indeed. They reckon it was a cup of contaminated water that did for him!

[fgbowen]

Again and again I say this - Best performance of this song on YT.

And Clare is so awesome - Best College Choir goin'.

I heard them in the 80s - awesome then, awesome now.

I bought a tape of theirs - played it so much that the tape broke.

Literally.

[cousinjk]

So much of Purcell's music is penitential and sorrowful (though not all of course; he was a great composer and expressed everything). Still I wonder, did he have a presentiment of his early death at 36? I welcome replies.

[saintandrews83]

yes yes yes very well done in deed !! thankyou ....

[LatreesaG100]

this is amazing! i agree six stars if possible!

[MercuryPrice]

i wonder if the girls sing like that in bed?

[ueberwachung]

@MercuryPrice What is your deal? Not everything requires a sexual reference.

[MercuryPrice]

@ueberwachung No, not everything...it was just a thought that came to my head..Not everyone has to send a reply back to get an argument started? Do THEY??

[BernardProfitendieu]

who's the guy in the back row, far left?

[elainezmaher]

Fantastic!! D Scarlatti has a lot of dissonance like this. They were both ahead of their time.

[smitschagen]

Rock and roll man, rock and roll..

[GosfordAbercrombie]

fabulous choir! probably my favorite in the world!!!!!!

[Castalis011]

I need a change of underwear.

[Santasbestbuddy]

Oh fantastic, I'd forgotten what a land of suspensions and false relations, purcell's is.. good job Clare Coll.

[Santasbestbuddy]

Oh fantastic, I'd forgotten what aland of suspensions and false relations, purcell's is.. good job Clare Coll.

[carillonoccitan]

What a pity my computer cannot give me all the quality of the sound...

[zemotheon12987]

beautiful. it really is. I still wonder how many of them sing this to God's glory or to their own.

[charles43110]

@zemotheon12987 well, in danger of my own personal condemnation, a verse does come to my remembrance. Judge not lest ye be judged. In the same measure ye meet it out unto others it shall be met out unto thee.

[gpoec]

@zemotheon12987

I think it only matters to God, and He is hearing only the beauty.

[shivahisme]

@zemotheon12987 this music may be to god's glory, but all of them sing to the glory of music, the glory of man.

[82mage]

6 people are deaf and jealous!!!

[Manderzz29]

This was beautiful. Everytime i hear a choir the one thing that impresses me so much is that it never sounds like a single voice singing; rather a set of instruments. I've been involved in choir for years, and it always amazes me every time. GREAT JOB!!!

[AlesSoldyadier]

This is SO amazing! They totally harmonize with each other!!!!!!!!! I really want to like go up to them and tell them what a great job they are doing!!!!!!

[bachaphiliac]

Hear my prayer Oh Lord and let some of these hot chicks come unto me.

[voxaltera]

Your sound is very terrific indeed: this Purcell music cannot wish for anything better! Well done: very compliments!

[crodenuclan]

I CANNOT describe how much this little tiny bit of music has influenced me

[paternoster22]

I wondered if anyone knows the name of this wonderfull soprano (the one who sings the solo)

[rosalbasemiplena]

@paternoster22 do you mean the girl with the short hair? if so she's angharad Gruffudd -jones and she's now a qualified midwife!!

[mightybassman1]

Marvellous!!!

[necheraa]

I can't count the number of times I've watched this over the last few months...

[yourforte]

Beautiful cross relations and dissonances. Beautiful music that's hovering between being tonal and being modal.

[makersdude8]

Beautiful

[smitschagen]

Услышь молитву мою, Господи,

и пусть мой плач придет к тебе.

Помните, господин наш преступлений,

ни возьми месте наших уст, боже

Запасные народа твоего, которого ты redeem'd

Твоим Most Precious Blood;

и быть не сердитесь на нас навсегда.

[yukikoforevernoise]

I know nothing about Russian so I am saying this only based on this comment and I think it is a beautiful language and this comment is made in complete jest but I thought it was funny so . . . you know you have a bleak language when there is no word equivalent to "redeemed". LOL.

[english00patient]

Погашен = redeemed

драгоценной кровью = precious blood

the need of redemption is deep in the russian psyche. read your dostoyevsky

[yukikoforevernoise]

@english00patient I don't need to read Dostoyevsky to know that I made clear that I was making that comment based on the Russian in the comment I was replying to . . . I figured there was some alternative expression for it and the particular text of that comment made use of romanization to specifically use the words . . . there are cases in other languages (most notably Japanese) in contemporary culture where the roman alphabet is used within the native alphabet for certain expressions . . .

[yukikoforevernoise]

@yukikoforevernoise while that is usually used in a commercial capacity (the mixture of alphabet I mean) and I only know of the Japanese doing this it is presumably not what the original poster had intended . . . perhaps they just don't know how to spell the words in Russian . . . but this is precisely why I made clear that my comment was in jest, pretentious shit, I've performed Russian choir music (I know Purcell is British) all my life I can understand that part of their "psyche" just fine.

[yukikoforevernoise]

@english00patient sorry I got so heated if in fact you were only trying to help out but you might want to learn some tact . . . your statement just sounds condescending and I don't need to be condescended to over a less than serious remark. It was also in bad taste to name drop a classic Russian author for no reason whatsoever. I'll read what I please.

[english00patient]

apology accepted. really, there is a very good reason for mentioning dostoyevsky in the context of redemption. condescension may be like beauty, which is to say in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. merely sharing some stuff i happen to have picked up along the way.

[animanatural]

peace...

[fgbowen]

dgarrick below - omg - Too funny.

This made me smile.

and Yes - omg - literally!

This performance is perfect.

I wish Clare would put MORE

on the tube!

To share with the world.

[gehaktmolen]

just perfect, i LOVE the chord and intensity on 1:44

[dgarrick]

omg

[baroquegeek]

Wonderful composer, died WAY too young. It makes me wonder of the music he could have composed if he had lived longer.

[handelfan610]

i can only imagine....

[genpet2]

Это божественно.Пробирает до самых глубин.И спето великолепно!

[Haidimbya]

Divino.

[gsharp143]

Just Great Music!!!! Purcell wonderful writer and Clare College Choir.... Just Great!!!

[navdon12]

One of my favourite pieces of music - has me in tears regularly. I've the Tallis Scholars version on my ipod. They do it a bit slower and you can hear every dissonance like a knife through the heart - just magic... Only sung it once - would love to do it again...

[smitschagen]

Can you post the Tallis Scholars version please....

this brings tears so can it be better?

[navdon12]

My bad!...After all these years - it's Jeremey Summerly and the Oxford Camerata, not the TS - just uploading, have a listen...

[smitschagen]

much obliged!

[whisperFM]

@smitschagen The 'Scholars did this song?? How did I miss that one?!

[smitschagen]

@whisperFM I wished they did, if so please post...

[HamerD]

I want to give you a hug!

[Quoyled]

Dear god this is gorgeous.

I wish we still wore those cassocks.

[smitschagen]

chilling! best interpretation I could find, they sell the CD at Clare College, fantastic restrained power

Purcell rules and these girls and boys make the most of it

[magpie4321]

I'm watching this on EWTN, when was this done?

[Jemimia]

Mixed choirs are the best, beautiful sound!

[13orthanc13]

because this whole planet it a mixed choir i think

[Raichu234]

Stunning very moving and atmosphereic. Sung this as an anthem last week, very spooky and nice xx :D

[liuawy]

They really enjoyed the fabulous dissonances!

[areyouquitemad]

@liuawy Ah, the dissonances! Purcell creates wonderfully painful/pleasurable dissonance! What a fantastic composer. And really good choir too.

[Altivelzian]

First class, very fine version indeed.

[tsusan04]

So beautiful!

[DEBOISMORTIER]

Splendid !

[dspreston74]

This lead me to Psalms 102.

[gsharp143]

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[choirboyfromhell1]

Six Stars, if I could....

[pepitho]

@choirboyfromhell1 Yes, 1000 stars

[Jopangloo]

Its a beautiful piece with some running notes.. Requires timing & precision to excecute it. I especially love this version done by this choir.

[PB4U]

the best...

[GosfordAbercrombie]

I am obsessed with Clare College, Cambridge!!!! I wanna go to Cambridge just to sing with this choir!!!!!

[handelfan610]

so do i! let's do it! lol

[GosfordAbercrombie]

OK!!! I'll meet you Saturday at the Pizza Hut on 5th and Lincoln!!!! We'll taxi to JFK!!!

[handelfan610]

that must be in new york...sure let me just jump in a on a train there...then i'll get in a taxi and meet you there at the pizza hut...are you sure you dont want to meet at one of the five million starbucks?

[GosfordAbercrombie]

The pizza hut would be easiest!!!! Plus i love cheese!!!!

[jibberjabber]

i got into this college in cambridge with a choral scholarship! come join me

[GosfordAbercrombie]

Seriously?!?! Congratulations!! It's something I can only dream of accomplishing!!!

[jibberjabber]

well i didn't think i would either so i guess it's always worth a shot.

[gsharp143]

Thats Haven!!!

[ScurvyOaks]

None of us deserves to see Him. But by His grace, sometimes we are permitted a glimpse of who He is.

[chobrocoli]

I'm terribly sorry to say that many of those who did not see "him" actually believe that you do not desrve the inability to see him.

[fgbowen]

I have absolutely ALWAYS loved the Clare C Choir. I have a cassette tape of theirs that I love - but it broke - the tape ribbon. Would it be possible for you to get me another copy of the same tape? I would pay of course. Absolutely an incredible performance of Hear My Prayer. Again, inCREDIBLY musical. Just- I could listen to you ALL DAY. And also learn, from watching you sing!!! ( : fgbowen

[ManuelRelativista]

Great song, great chorus...

Thanks

[GosfordAbercrombie]

This choir is glorious!!!!!

[andiejanefisher]

When I first heard this piece i didn't think that such beauty was possible

[handelfan610]

i watched another vid on youtube with this...and i first stopped it because i had a feeling it would be intense...then i watched the whole thing...and cried from start to finish.

[Nick6784]

Man, I love this song. People in my choir don't really like it, but I think they're all crazy. This was a great performance though.

[mizzpurple312]

AMAZING!

[88pie88]

that was good but i perfert brass and string

[Sorec2008]

Ähm look right...

[JFman00]

Holy crap, those basses sound like an organ when they get down low. Or is there an organ playing?

[Onplezierig]

The guy on 1:47 is not typing a letter on that thing.

By the way, beautiful performance.

[JFman00]

Either I was hallucinating or magic happened because I remember writing that comment on a sheet music video.

[handelfan610]

look in the corner at the beginning...they had a bit of help.

[SOLYAHU]

Yes, and what a pity they had. I think it would have been perfectly pitched anyway. No need for the instrument, this piece is even more astonishing a cappella.

Great performance, anyway.

[handelfan610]

yeah...but the organ does add a bit of something...maybe not to the music...but the mood...i mean this was written for a funeral...the funeral of queen mary actually.

[1401JSC]

I'm afraid it is there to add substance to the bass line?

Instrumental doubling of vocal lines however is not forbidden in music of this epoque.

Even the (later) Bach Motets were probably supported by instruments at outdoors graveyard singing.

[Alieaz]

My mate just finished a year with this choir and just came back from a tour to Austria with them. Apparently Tim Brown can be a bit of a cock but I guess he gets the results.

[Alieaz]

This must have been what... 97, 98? I've got a dutch DVD done about that time with all the same singers.

[achinghunger15]

One of the most beautifal songs i've ever heard

[choirboyfromhell]

Wonderful performance and a glorious piece, I remember weeping during my first sight reading. Truly magnificent.

[yourehavingalarf]

Clare Choir is twice as good now - I sang on this clip (1995), and recently sang with them again.

[vanni9283]

Could you tell me which one you are?

[yourehavingalarf]

3rd from right, top row.

[YKW2]

Ah, so this is from 1995! Thanks for that. I have this recording on CD (Brilliant Classics), but there's no date. It's so good :)

[yourehavingalarf]

My pleasure!

[1401JSC]

Wonder what you've all become.

Cambridge is such a good diving board.

[gm345]

Tim is still at Clare, and doing very well, although he is retiring in two years time.

[DerWandrer]

Aww...this makes me miss Tim Brown (director of this Choir). Anyone know how he's doing these days?

[Lukretia90]

Wonderful.

I love Purcell! ;-)

[godequaljesus]

I love this choir.

[angelinakat]

I love this song with all it's parts. WE did this at a field study in NY, or some convention, and we were conducted by Anton Armstrong. it was a truly blissful song.

[swich68]

An old favourite of mine from my choir days. It used to make my eyes wet, not that I used to admit it. I prefer boys usually but this has proved me wrong! No vibrato I suppose. Great to hear it.

[harukaminamino]

My orgmates and I performed this almost 4 years ago, one week before Good Friday (though, I will admit our performance wasn't as polished. ). The polyphonic beauty of this song makes me feel a bit sad that it was never finished. The first image that hit me when our voices came together was of a crowd gathering at church as individuals, all pleading to God for help one by one, which I think is exactly what this is.

[pepamicro]

Beautiful Purcell. And wonderfully sang too. Good dynamics and good voices.

I sang this last year with the Brussels madrigal Singers at the Canterbury cathedral, and I still feel chills down my spine... Thanks for sharing!

[janeym]

look at the girls! and it sounds like its a boys choir! oh snap!

[skyler807]

Great right :)

[janeym]

woohoo are you a choirgirl because I am haha

[madsylver]

Yep have been one since I was born. Both my parents are conductors/musicians. I got to travel and experience many great things as a choirgirl. Good times ;)

[janeym]

cool! yeah, this is my ninth and final year as a chorister...next year it's on to the adult choir.

sniff sniff

[jennywren413]

yeah, I'm in the same boat, I've been (gently) booted out of the youth choir. *weeps* I'm an old fogey at 17! :( madsylver, I dunno how I ended up being a chorister, because I was raised on Vietnam protest songs and Pink Floyd. Funny how things turn out! But my parents can't complain! :)

[janeym]

haha my parents are thrilled that I chose such a "goody goody" interest lol

[chlagaguel]

Absolument sublime ! un grand moment d'émotion musicale et vocale ; merci pour cette vidéo .

[Rorraro]

I absolutely agree with the comments about vibrato and the organist's wife. I think as well that, known that perfection is not reachable, this performance is in the nearest zone to it.

I would also like to point out that, to me, one of the markers of excellence in the performance is the optimally well tuned dissonances in the last three bars. In my opinion the achievement of definition of such a clear sound on them is one of the more difficult points within the score. Thanks for posting!

[DWOK56]

c'est tout simplement sublime!

[JPGupta1]

beautiful

[shirleymarkham07]

Beautiful music elegantly performed

[zairasoprano]

Viva Purcell... thank you for such a lovely performance

z

[kralle7611]

i love this a lot

[SamDinoHarmon]

:'-)

[BetaEpsilon2]

This is a really excellent performance of a most beautiful piece of music.

[Shogunmiyuchan]

Henry Purcell, when he died, was interred under the organ of Westminster Abbey, where his epitaph reads in Latin, "Here lies Henry Purcell, who has left this life and has gone to that Blessed Place where only His Harmonies can be exceeded"

[choralbliss]

I would have to say that this comes as close to choral perfection as I've ever heard.

[swich68]

No it wasn't

[Morrisjbm]

WHOA, the organ was really noticably out of the at the beginning

[vanni9283]

Out of the what?

[stephenlazell]

Utterly sublime.

[melisandedebussy]

realmente este coro es lo maximo sobre todo el miserere de allegri es impresionante como lo cantan

[jorgealbertobaron]

GRAN COMPOSITOR

[caydamien02]

.....im spechless.... perfecto digarcia...huhuhu

[firebreathone]

The lack of any vibrato is what makes this so special.

[edders05]

Exactly!!

[operaarie]

Also makes my jaw hurt...

[janeym]

if you do a little bit of vibrato at the end of sustained notes it should help...does it?

[wikke1]

very nice.

they have that amazing english choir sound that is required for this music. thx for posting :)

[reallyharried]

Exactly, and my gratitude for showing that women can sound as wonderful in this choral tradition as boys!

[notyobs]

It's a different kind of beauty. Let both exist, but don't let one extinguish the other.

[reallyharried]

No, I wouldn't extinguish boys for anything! I said "as wonderful as," and that should not have led you to believe I was advocating for women and girls to supplant boys. To paraphrase what you said, ... two kinds of beauty... I would love for my infant grandsons to grow into this choral tradition, and they're already having grandmother-directed ear training. A female soprano myself, (the organist and not the organist's wife) I don't want to be barred from singing polyphonic choral stuff.

[gsharp143]

OMG! They are wonderful. They really own that song!

[phalcoboenus]

Que increible interpretacion!!! gracias por poner este video, es sublime... y las niñas muy huapas, por cierto.

[margotlorena]

beautiful.... I love this piece... there is sth about british choirs that I love...

[planthi80]

bravo~!

[barbaraanne123]

May every soprano who uses vibrato in a church chorus -- and gets away with it because she is the organist's wife -- be chained to a chair for 12 hours and made to watch this video until she pledges to God that she finally understands the concept of intonation. If she falters next rehearsal because she can't help herself? Another 12 hours in the chair with this video. :-)

[mbruzzo]

Great comment!!! ;-)

[GabriellaKrystal]

Thats interesting! I only ever do vibrato in solos's I think your point is excellent. Vibrato in a cathedral choir is the ovbious desperation of standing out!

[claveldelaire]

amen amen amen amen amen and AMEN

[janeym]

I LOVE YOU

yes yes AMEN TO THAT!

hahaha well maybe we should be a little more Christian about it lol

[barbaraanne123]

Bravo! Perfect. Sublime. They own it.

[1svlad]

This is just a sublime piece of music. I want this sung at my funeral!!