Eric Whitacre: Sleep

Recorded on Nov. 3rd, 2006
Peiyang Chorus & Mao Yong

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Chorale
• Choir
• Chorus
• Vocal
• Ensemble
• Group
• Choral
• Music
• Classical
• Concert
• Rehearsal

[sluggo163]

why does everyone have to act like we're at contest or something? thank you for singing an important vocal piece and sharing it over the internet...

[bimmerboy87]

Vibrato is good but it should be controlled. its ok 2 have what i call shimmer. shimmer is basically a light vibration and not a wavering vibrato. Sometimes 2 much vibrato can cause the pitch to sag (however the same goes with 2 much straight tone) W/ that being said, w/ eric whitacre pieces, because the chords are so tight, there really is no room for much vibrato cuz the chords will lose its dissonance. if u listen 2 polyphony sing sleep, they sing w/ no vibrato

[steelvenom2003]

...at the climax, the emotional core of the piece. The soprano ones sing an Ab above the soprano two G, but you can't hear that dissonance in this rendition, and that chord and its resolution are basically the reason that this song is so incredibly and well-loved.

So very well done on the blend and on the English (for the most part), but work on maintaining a straighter tone. :D

[steelvenom2003]

As much as I agree that every piece is up for interpretation and that it simply isn't my place to nitpick, I think that the heavy soprano vibrato did take some quality out of this otherwise very good performance.

The thing about vibrato is that it generally encompasses a quarter step on either side. So if you have two people singing minor seconds with vibrato, the audience hears the quarter tone in the middle, since they're both singing it.

And that's exactly what happened at the climax...

[thgshg]

i couldn't agree more, funny how mean people get in their anonymity

[MrJesusSierra]

pretty good enjoyed it =]

[sixstringace2002]

Why is it that so many people find it absolutely necessary to critique every little nuance of a choral performance? Music isn't a competition!! It isn't about always finding something wrong with a given performance...every person in a choir, including the conductor, has a million things going through their heads at any one moment...so sit back, keep your negative comments to yourself, and enjoy a beautiful composition...NO ONE IS PERFECT--NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRY WALKING ON WATER

[ChoirMusician]

Pretty nice!

[Vienna6969]

This song is particularily difficult to sing, you need to get the balance from S1 and 2 and A1 and 2 with bass perfectly or the effect does not stick. I sung this song with my choir last year and it went great, but this song is a hard one thats for sure........that one S1 needs to lose the vibrato for this song definitely lol does not fit. But other then that this song was preformed really well it gave me goosebumps

[gobiballer]

often the "e" vowel is pronounced as if it is spoken, a nasal like sound. Yes the soprano sticks out, but i feel that the men and women were, for the most part, balanced. Goosebumps on the climax, nearly cried, love this song, pretty good job altogether.

[thejamestm]

the spoken vowel on "Hangs" would be tough for this choir to unify, sure. But the compromise would be the ɛ sound in IPA, as in "bed". If you can achieve this unified vowel with the group then have them brighten it just a tad and ta-da.

[sarahsaurusx3]

i agree, there is one soprano who sicks out more than the others. but other than that it's very good!