St. Olaf Massed Men's Chorus - Ave Maria (Biebl)

[Contrubas]

I bought this concert on VHS when working in the US - I'm from the UK.. I play it all the time even 15 years later. Wonder what all these guys are doing now? Lovely singing and spirit of Christmas.

[relientkfn4evr92]

At exactly 2:42, the singer on the left is Christopher Aspaas '97, the current director of the St. Olaf Viking Chorus and the St. Olaf Chapel Choir.

This is AWESOME

[Haleyomnom]

@relientkfn4evr92 HE LOOKS THE SAME. But with less "tenor" hair now...

[39neilm19]

Awesome and how refreshing it is to see a choir singing "off book" even "master choirs" are not able to accomplish this!, the cougher should have been gagged, or at least left the space

[cyph2111]

they cut out half the piece which hurts the overall continuity

[IrishSinger18]

This is absolutely beautiful!!

[donaldrose]

I want to comment on some comments.

The final N in Amen was fine. Also the alternative suggested could be fine, just different.

Their Latin pronunciation was fine albeit with a sllight American lilt.

I loved the sound that these young voices make. It is vastly different to that made by male choirs largely comprising men past middle age.

A amateur choir this large is either "mechanical" or sloppy; I vote for mechanical.

In summary: exquisite.

[acuison1]

@donaldrose You're so critical. Just enjoy it.  Why? Do you speak in Latin with your family at home to get the perfect pronunciation?

[cellokid502]

@acuison1 because he's a musician giving feedback. I'm a musician as well. Don't see anything wrong with his comment. I kinda agree with it.....

I sang this piece with my high school choir. I personally dont very much care for this version. but thats just my opinion. people are granted the right to their own opinion. and most importantly, music is an opinion. thats why we dont have just one recording of this piece, or something like Beethoven 5. Its all in the eye of the beholder.

[AngelCaida1]

Most beautiful version ever, :)

[CurzonRoad]

((((((((((( Thank You! )))))))))))

[arpschneider]

Considering it's a bunch of Norwegian/Americans singing Latin, I don't know how we could expect the kind of diction that would be spoken by a native-born person properly trained in Latin.

[Cranfillr]

Some of their vowels are atrocious. It's my only complaint, however vowels affect the sound completely. Everything else I thought was awesome.

[harpdivack]

A wonderful performance of one of my favorite pieces. I listened to it ten times!

[daniel820118]

i really enjoy their emotion and respect their concentration~

[stewkingjr]

Who is the conductor?

[aiahw4boys]

@stewkingjr Robert Scholz...director of both the Viking Chorus (all male freshman choir) and Chapel Choir (mixed upperclassmen) at St. Olaf College for many years.

[ahryko]

My favorite version of Ave Maria. It's absolutely gorgeous.

[sambucazabic]

Brings me back 50 years ago with my glee club, when I sang as these lads. Makes you want to shake each one's hand. I hope Franz heard these fellows.

[garettgentry]

This was Christmas of 1993.

[Eurofrank1]

An impressive piece, beautifully and precisely executed. Great to see these young guys enjoying themselves, knowing they´re creating such a wonderful sound!

[1037pm]

when was this?

[Joghurt2000]

Love it!

Realy good performance.

Love this song...

[maestrohammer]

This is one of my favorite pieces for men. I prefer the solos performed by individuals rather than sections, though. This was a standard piece performed by a chamber group I was in a few years ago. Nicely done.

[shutyoudown]

That was an exquisite performance

This footage looks rather old, what year was this recorded??

[aiahw4boys]

@shutyoudown this was recorded for PBS at the annual Christmas Festival at St. Olaf College in 1993. Each year the Festival is held the first weekend of advent. It is routinely listed as one of the top 10 holiday events not to miss in the entire nation.

[gabeangelo7]

Wow that was great!! It was all very well done. One thing though. The last chord couldve been held a bit longer with a bit of a decresendo to the n of Amen, then end the chord with a soft carrying "nnnn" sound. This mens choir did an awesome job. Five stars!

[chimacri]

BRAVISSIMI!

vi consiglio di curare meglio la pronuncia del latino, in particolare le "T" e le "R", tipica imprecisione anglosassone.

Intonazione, interpretazione e vocalità sono splendidi.