VU Kamerkoor: Mendelssohn - Richte mich, Gott (Psalm 43)

A well-known psalm, sung with fervour. At least, that was our intention ;-) This opened the second part of our "Book of Psalms" concert, January 13th, 2008 (Amsterdam).

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[LuvHopeDream]

This is the best recording I could find...you really captured the Eastern European vowel and the cold color of the piece.

[mcouzijn]

Thanks, Luv' (:-))

BTW, Brahms came from the northern (Hamburg) area. That is not really 'eastern Europe' (apart from the fact that Europe is so large that even Poland is 'central' rather than 'eastern' Europe).

You are right in that we certainly attempted to create a real 'Germanic' Brahms. Our director is a sucker for Brahms, for German, and for vowels and pronunciation (and he's great in promoting all).

Yes, the 'cold' or rather unembellished sound should be there, but also decisiveness.

[Joanna Kilanska]

OMG, this piece was written by Mendelsson!

[mcouzijn]

OYG, a stupid mistake on my behalf!

We sang a lot of Brahms with my choir, and their music apparently got mixed up in my memory... :-)

Nevertheless, it is not strange to associate this Mendelssohn piece with Brahms. Both are fabulous choral composers, of course. This piece reminds me of "Warum ist das Licht gegeven", "Unsere Väter" or "O Heiland reiss der Himmel auf".

And Mendelssohn is as 'Eastern European" as Brahms! (Both are from Hamburg; M. lived in Berlin, Paris and Leipzig).

[AmazingAce87]

I enjoyed this. In some earlier posts you mentioned blend. I've actually been turned off by the word 'blend' because some directors let their singers under-sing for the sake of ensemble 'blend' or 'balance.' But, that doesn't seem so in this case - thank you for letting them sing! Thank you for displaying the fact that you do not have to compromise your unique timbre in a choral setting. Why mute good voices?

[mcouzijn]

Quite right, AmazingAce. It is an offplay between being 'safe' and being ambitious. In a not-so-good choir with not-so-good-voices, it is wise to temper the loudest not-so-good-voices in order to get a pleasant, balanced sound. Conductors who have better voices at their disposal may loosen such restrictions in order to have all voices adapt to the better (often louder) voices. There is a risk in this approach, but also an interesting promise. We're not afraid of risks. Cheers from sunny Poland!

[AJ Muzik]

Good job in keeping the pitch up.

[Marzipancat]

Nice! Small correction about Mendelssohn: he did not live in Paris. In fact, although he spent time there he did not care that much for the city or its musical culture which he considered too superficial. However, he did live in Düsseldorf and, I think, Frankfurt for a time.

[jean george pierre]

nice performing :)

[Hannes Minkema]

@cdsnjs: Definitely because of the recording. The sound of this video was recorded by a distant vidcam. We also recorded the audio by means of a stereo microphone and DAT-recorder. That sound is obviously much better. Maybe one day I learn to combine these two: video and audio. You will notice by then.

[Hannes Minkema]

@vabemouton: Thanks, Vabemouton. That really makes us blush. Our director usually puts a LOT of effort into our pronunciation. At present, we are singing a Russian-Armenian programme, and we have both a Russian and Armenian language coach. So if you believe our pronunciation is good, it means our efforts pay off!

[Hannes Minkema]

@lamarian22: Thank you so much for your compliment! The song is indeed awesome, a true statement, sung with blatant fervour. That all gives the necessary energy to sing it out loud, to pronounce it as it should be heard, and to reach out to the listener.

And yes, there are many ahteists and agnosts in our choir. You don't need to believe in god to send out a message of hope and dare.

[LaMarian Lovett]

we are singing this for all region in arkansas and its awsome you all did an excellent job!

[vabemouton]

The pronunciation is better than most german choirs :-D And it's very well sung. Good job!