a great requiem is my idea of party music

[alocispepraluger102]

elgar's gerontius is perfecto, not to speak of missa solemnis.

fav sacred compositions, anyone?

Edited October 14, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[Rooster_Ties]

60-minutes in length, with no vocal or choral parts -- a "Requiem" in name only. The instrumentation is chamber orchestra (about 22 instruments, as I recall), and is really a concerto for trumpet (and to a lesser degree, piano too), and small orchestra.

One of my all-time favorite 20th Century works.

Edit: And if I remember correctly, Henze is an atheist too.

Edited October 14, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[brownie]

Not really my favorite type of party music, but I get kicks from Giuseppe Verdi's 'Requiem'.

Also Mozart's and Berlioz's, also...

[Rooster_Ties]

Much as it's probably overplayed/overperformed, you really can't beat the Brahms German Requiem.

I've sung the thing probably 6 or 7 times (I'm 37), and every time the symphony chorus I'm in has to / gets to sing it again, I'm aways afraid I'll get tired of it -- but I almost never do.

[alocispepraluger102]

thank you all, for the many(unknown) suggestions, and, coming from you cats, i know they are worthy.

[alocispepraluger102]

hardcore atheist--

Delius 'mass for life,' Janacek 'glagolictic mass,' Delius 'requiem'

Ligeti 'requiem'?

i like Henze OK but prefer going the deep end

Zimmermann 'requiem for a young poet'

***

leaving aside tons of excellent medieval & renaissence stuff for now--

Michael Haydn, Mozart (esp. in dark-as-dungeon 'hip' performance, Savall or Harnoncourt are my current faves)), Cherubini, BERLIOZ (prolly thee most underrated, misunderstood "popular" composer of the 19th c.), Brahms (once you 'get' Brahms), ** Faure **, DURUFLE...

***

Hubert Selby Jr. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (novel)

[the movie is quite good also but read the book first]

***

Penderecki?

some Arvo Part if you can roll like that

***

Requiem for a Heavyweight is a LOUSY film

tho' not as offensively overwrought w/hokum as On The Waterfront (most jive-ass lamely derivative fake crime film ever)

***

sometimes Britten yay, sometimes Britten nay... this morning: nay.

Love,

Lacrimosa Clementine

heavy into delius? me, too.

[alocispepraluger102]

when i have a chance-- & oh, if you like Elgar give Britten a shot, wot the hell-- when i have a chance i will endeavour to give a quick survey of medieval & renaissence stuff-- HIGHLY recommended if you think you have any interest at all... for now, if yr rocking the shoppes-- get ANY disc cond. Paul Van Nevel & Heulgas Ensemble. Nevel hates Arvo btw (think he's insipid, too simple) I can dig both arguments tho' if I had to go either way, it'd be w/the old-timers. the mid-20th c. stuff might-- might-- drive you batshit, Verdi is nearly opera, Brahms (if you don't git Brahms) is kinda dull, Durufle too French...

the Janacek is "sure-fuckin'-fire" as Lacan would say; Delius not too far behind in more Nitzschean "bag" tho' FD's unrepentant godlessness will surely tickle you in some sweet spots. how many? let us know!

fave Van Nevel today: Jean Richafort (c. 1480- c. 1547) "Requiem" (in memoriam Josquin Desprez)

Harmonia Mundi 901730 (via Amazon)

***

see also: lamentations

***

Salve Vagina,

clementine laetimini

this is the first thread i have printed out. it is a road map to where i love to go. thanks.

[brownie]

Not a Requiem, but close...

Purcell 'O Solitude' as sung by Alfred Deller!

Beauty at its purest.

[king ubu]

Oh sure, clem! Dufay, Ockeghem, Orlando di Lasso... also Palestrina, plenty of fascinating music around there! And probably one of the rather few instances where "ECM sound" is a plus, if it's the Hilliards doing some of this stuff... their Machaut disc is fine, too!

I think I should some day also read some about these chaps and their times... have read some about the renaissance in general, and in one of Peter Burke's books, Dufay plays a minor role. Pretty interesting, these earliest "geniuses" and what (and how) they achieved (what they did) between patrons and their own wants... (that last point is equally valid for all the great painters, of course).

[king ubu]

Oh, and I have a live recording of the Zimmermann thing somewhere, need to dig it up again, it seems...

[Rooster_Ties]

I'd be particularly interested in any 20th Century choral requiems that people can suggest.

(I wish Hindemith had written one.)

[alocispepraluger102]

I'd be particularly interested in any 20th Century choral requiems that people can suggest.

(I wish Hindemith had written one.)

http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/paccollegium_3_28_06.php

Weird and Wonderful

By Mickey Butts

It was an afternoon of high eclecticism in Berkeley, as director Christopher Kula led polished choral newcomers Pacific Collegium in a clever program that delighted as much as it confounded. Audiences don't often get to hear Hindemith's Mass, nor Britten's Sacred and Profane, both pieces written close to the composers' deaths. They never get to hear Gorli's Requiem, as it was the U.S. premiere, and after today's performance it's unlikely if they ever will again. And nobody, and I mean nobody, attempts to tie this late 20th century smorgasbord together with a sly musical reference to Gesualdo, but I'll come to that later.

Kula has quickly assembled a first-rate group of 17 professional singers since the ensemble's first official concert in January 2005. The group usually sticks to smartly programmed explorations of early music exotica, but it ventures into the modern realm once a year or so, this time spotlighting modern pieces with numerous early-music references.

Hindemith's intellectual rigor

The highlight of the concert was Paul Hindemith's Mass, written in 1963, just months before he died. Kula turbocharged this already delicious masterpiece, turning it into a liturgical re-creation interspersing chants — Gregorian propers for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25 — with the movements of Hindemith's composition. The product of this blend of old and new was a definitive success, the chant giving the dense, intellectual writing of Hindemith's Mass room to breathe and giving the audience time to absorb its meaning. It also gave the singers a break from what must have been extremely difficult music to perform.

The Introit chant began ethereally with tenors and basses in a well-blended unison, setting up Hindemith's Kyrie as sopranos came in, and then the other parts joined one by one, each line peeling off layers of musical meaning. Lush dissonances spun upward, the singers calling out repeatedly in the "Christe" section, then falling away into a low alto drone. Finally the tenors remained all alone. Pacific Collegium infused the Gloria with a full, rich sound, even though the music confounds the ablest singer to stay on pitch. A densely chorded "Amen" supplied the climax of cascading, ringing lines. Later, the Sanctus presented a formidable pitch terrain in which most choirs would have stumbled badly, but the ensemble held up until the Agnus Dei, where minor pitch problems caused Kula to subtly repitch the choir. The piece ended on a chord that finally resolved the accumulated tension that Hindemith had so solidly architected.

Soprano Tania d'Amelio's solo in the Gradual chant had a warm purity of tone that was captivating. Throughout, the interior alto and tenor parts shimmered against the soprano melody, which sometimes overly dominated the sound. Occasionally, pitches on the high end of the soprano range didn't always match each other, especially amid the glissandos. The basses and sopranos were also sometimes not as unified as they could have been on the chant, and overall in the chant the singers could have been more nuanced in hypnotically propelling the line forward.

(this work appears frightfully difficult to sing. the agnus dei, the last of the 6 movements, i would consider essential to any requiem party.)

Edited October 14, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[Spontooneous]

Britten's "War Requiem" doesn't do it for me, but his short instrumental "Sinfonia da Requiem" from 20 years earlier gets me every time.

Also Stravinsky's "Requiem Canticles."

Also Vaughan Williams' "Dona Nobis Pacem," a good example of what he could do when pissed off.

[Chuck Nessa]

Not a requiem but I'd add Mozart's Great Mass in C minor to the list of "religious" works.

There is always Tristano.

[Larry Kart]

Not exactly a requiem -- as the title implies, the subject is nothing less than the apocalypse -- but try Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (The Book with Seven Seals) , preferably the Mitropolous recording with Wunderlich and Dermota. The Welser-Most got some good reviews, but I haven't heard it.

[king ubu]

might be a good start for someone inclined to get into earlier music...

Perotin, sure! Machaut also (or did I mention him already?) - I am merely scratching the surface of this kind of music (or rather: these kinds...), but each time I play some it again, I am very fascinated and feel like I should get into it more thoroughly, so please prof. clem, give some good recommendations!

[Larry Kart]

Welser-Most's #4 has a rare orchestral coupling that eludes me now-- Hussar Variations? & what the fuck is an Austrian Hussar?

Mr. Clementine

Classical Mgr

Hussar = soldier in a light cavalry regiment. The full title is Variationen uber ein Husarenleied, Variations on a Hussar's Song.

[Epithet]

What is it about acrostics that gets hot chicks?