Choir of King's College Miserere Part 2(recording 1963)

[193malibog]

Thank God im an athiest. intresting  !. ur thanking someone u dont believe in Rabin111

[rowanmark21]

It is good.It makes me feel.......I can listen I do not have to read.......It lets me cry i do not have to bleed.

[Ravensbread]

How very wonderful it is to have this great recording, but also, the history, the mystery, and the wealth of information, including the anecdote bearing on the young Mozart. It brings new magic to the piece.Thank you so much treblechoir99.

[treblechoir99]

@Ravensbread You're very welcome

[Jamaleen]

I heard David Willcocks in an interview say that the day they recorded this they started late because Roy was late coming in from the rugby field! Plenty of fresh air in his lungs and clearly no time to sit around getting nervous. Just another day in the life of a chorister - and so much pleasure for us.

If you ever read this, Roy - thank you!

[treblechoir99]

@Jamaleen I remember too, but in music's magazine, maybe in BBC music magazine.

[straypixel]

@treblechoir99 Re. Willocks's anecdote about lateness and rugby: he also mentions it and talks in much detail about this recording and others in an extensive interview recorded in 1984, which you can hear on the British Sound Archive website (a search for 'Willcocks' brings up the one result).

[bronxboy47]

Do any New Yorkers remember Bill Watson opening his all night classical music program with a recording of this performance at midnight of the day President Nixon resigned from office? It's an experience I will never forget.

[custhdard94]

@bronxboy47 And one you are so lucky to have had.

[reybuono1]

@bronxboy47 I remember Watson. He was a very good friend. "Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears. . . "

[damnthistinleg]

Should the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary ever require a definition for the phrase - 'Nailing it', they'd do well to simply provide a link to this recording.

[Mischafour]

Unquestionably one of the best - if not THE best -- recording of this I've ever heard.

[Thaikappatau]

Fantastic, bought the Goodman version last year, frightened of wearing the disc out,. When you are down just listen to it!!!

[BandWagon1987]

I am not religious at all, but since I first heard this (in a CD I was given around the time of my Irish leaving cert) it has been the singularly most stress-relieving piece of music I have ever been graced with. It's one of the few things I am ready to thank Christianity for. Sheer transcendent beauty - like a transportation to the clouds.

[rabin1111]

@BandWagon1987 well said,I am not Christian although I had sung many years in boys choir/serious quality/.But the feeling of singing amazing works in huge cathedrals and goose humps is something out of this world.I like many types of modern music , but this is something I will always go back and enjoy.I really thanks Christianity for this although I am an Atheist....

[BandWagon1987]

@rabin1111 This is why I love the net. People who would never meet conversing on a common theme. Thank Science, and as the supersaturation of religion dictates, thank God I'm an Atheist :p

[CTHSava]

C'est très très beau. Je souhaite la chorale de mon église pouvait chanter quelque chose d'aussi merveilleux que cela. Superbe interprétation de la pièce. Tout le monde dans ma maison se turent quand j'ai commencé à jouer et je pense que ma mère était au bord des larmes. Très bien fait!

I'm not entirely sure if my french is correct in places. i'm a little rusty!

[treblechoir99]

@CTHSava No, perfect your french. Et vous pouvez le demander à votre chef de chorale de chanter cette pièce. Je crois que ce serait possible.

[CTHSava]

@treblechoir99 Mon choeur n'a pas plus de la diversité. Très bien fait si, il était belle.

[Nathan1097]

I had this on a tape in 1987. They later released it on CD. It's the first recording I ever heard of this.

[treblechoir99]

@Nathan1097 You're very nice connoisseur, very appreciat. Really.

[Sidcup12]

Sublime....absolutely sublime!

[stnorberts]

Amazing!

[hiroshi2020]

Absolutely Beautiful! Never have I heard a version in English, and this is stunning! Thank You for uploading!

P.S. J'adore la photo du Vénéré Pape Jean-Paul II le Grand!

God Bless!

[treblechoir99]

@hiroshi2020 Oui j'aime cette photo, ça le représente bien.

[tudorlondon]

@hiroshi2020 I have listened to many versions myself, and this is the most beautiful, what a glorious voice

[danball7777777]

God that C is so clear! I doubt anyone else could get a C that sharp and clear.

[HarmouzeGaff]

c'est vrament magnifique et glorieux. merci

[yourforte]

Beautiful, beautiful performance of this sublime piece.

[blarny38]

Nice comment, Boolph. You are right. When I was a schoolboy in England, the King's choir was held up to us as THE standard for tone and tuning. But more recently this style of voice production for boys has been under attack, with directors favoring the "forward" tone that George Malcolm introduced at Westminster Cathedral.

[ninnie1943]

A window into heaven! thank you!

[boolph]

just another aspect of why this is so good is the tuning..major 3rds and major 7ths sung almost sharp and 5ths(dominant ) almost flat. I suspect David Willcocks worked harder than most choral conductors on this with boys in rehearsal. I don't think the recent kings choir you hear at christmas is quite as good at this.

[treblechoir99]

Absolutly, you're all right. Roy Goodman, exposed top Cs, remains unsurpassed in the haunting effect he achived.

Appreciat your comment, thank you.

[danball7777777]

@boolph

Roy himself said that he needed good pitch on the last G, he found it really hard to stay in tune. I bet he work reeeeeeeeeeally hard to get it this good.

[Jamaleen]

I own several versions of the Allegri Miserere, but this is the one I come back to most often. English cathedral and college choir schools have a wonderful tradition of teaching choral singing. Add to that the sublime voice of the young Roy Goodman and the result is exquisite.

C'est vrai, c'est magnifique!

[treblechoir99]

Exactly, agree at 100%.

[ucsteve]

"I looked and saw before my face the 200 angels who rule the stars and their services to the heavens, who fly with their wings and come round all those who sail" --- Secrets of Enoch

[LLCoolPass]

music was the website and computer programming and video gaming of its time

[cabbalistic]

I love this treblechoir! :)) Thanks for posting.

[treblechoir99]

Welcome.

[dorofacol]

Astonishing music, astonishing performance.

[JenseninBrizo]

I love soprano singers- but not much of ladies they tend to sound (in my opinion) very opra like which I hate.

[GhostisBoo]

These are not ladies... the voices u can hear are the voices of young boys...its a boy choir

[JenseninBrizo]

Tallis Scholar does a good rendition of this as well.

[loupblanc26]

Après les commentaires d'illustres experts, je contenterai de dire : c'est magnifique! Merci.

[treblechoir99]

Oh absolument Loupblanc. L'une des plus illustres pièce de toute la musique sacrée.

[sfkcbf]

Thank you for including the very informative and useful history...essentailly important for understanding this sublime work. The performance is quite wonderful. The soprano is perfectly pure, the only minor disadvantage being that the boy understandably is not able to sing the high, solo passage all in one breath, thereby having to break the line. The Colmar recording with soprano Patrick Husson is the only that I am aware of in which that line is sung unbroken.

[treblechoir99]

Oh yes, I remember with Husson come from Maîtrise des Garçons de Colmar, remarquable. I know why you think I remember too lol. Thank you SFKcbf