Gramaphones top 20 world best choirs, and the winner is....

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

Sue wrote: Relate to group size, they can have more groups & subgroups (not uncommon for german choirs) and different clothing for different appearances (not uncommon for german choirs as well). Is there any information from the organizers of the competition about this competitor?

Well, I'm fairly certain the winning choir is different from the German one Sue - the list of top 20 choirs had a photo of the members of the winning choir and the number of people in it is in keeping with the British Monteverdi choir, where as the German one seems to have at least 4 times as many members.

Don't be too upset Sue, you beat us at football so surely you can let us have the best choir in the world?

Couple of links to interviews:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 275086.stm

http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/whats_on/multimedia.cfm

maartendas · Post by **maartendas** » 14 years ago

I made a video of my favourite piece of music recorded by Polyphony, the setting of the Sanctus from Anton Bruckner's Mass in e minor, so you can get an idea of how great they sound (all the pictures are by me):

[youtube][/youtube]

symphonica7 · Post by **symphonica7** » 14 years ago

Wow!!!!! Very peaceful and powerful, moving, captivating....I like it....great video!!

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

BBC Radio 3 had a programme about the Monteverdi Choir this evening (by Aled Jones). It is an English choir, they are good.

If they have it available as a podcast I'll post a link.

BrightEyes · Post by **BrightEyes** » 14 years ago

symphonica7 wrote:I'm not too fond of traditional choirs anyways....which is why I Love Libera.

I started the whole boychoir thing when I heard the Texas Boys Choir way back in the 1980's. I thought they sounded good and looked for more...

From there I found the American Boychoir, King's College and others, and they were good too, but when I first heard Libera and the St. Philips Boys Choir... well it was like a sea change, and now Libera seems to be the epitomy of what I like in treble voices.

I just wish that other choir directors would follow Robert Prizeman's example. What he and Ian Tilley have accomplished has been remarkable.

Now I rarely listen to other choirs, but Libera on the other hand...

maartendas · Post by **maartendas** » 14 years ago

BrightEyes wrote:
symphonica7 wrote:I'm not too fond of traditional choirs anyways....which is why I Love Libera.
I started the whole boychoir thing when I heard the Texas Boys Choir way back in the 1980's. I thought they sounded good and looked for more...

From there I found the American Boychoir, King's College and others, and they were good too, but when I first heard Libera and the St. Philips Boys Choir... well it was like a sea change, and now Libera seems to be the epitomy of what I like in treble voices.

I just wish that other choir directors would follow Robert Prizeman's example. What he and Ian Tilley have accomplished has been remarkable.

Now I rarely listen to other choirs, but Libera on the other hand...

For me it has been the other way round - because of Libera I became interested in choral singing and boy choirs in particular. So I guess you could say that the Libera 'mission' so to speak - to make new audiences enthusiastic about the world of boy choir singing - has been accomplished for me

I agree with you that I wish other musical directors would follow Robert Prizeman's example - for instance I have sometimes thought: wouldn't it be great if other choirs sang Libera songs

You know, like cover versions... That would be a start... But I guess because Libera falls between different categories they will keep standing on their own. At least in Europe. If you think about how popular they are in Asian countries you'd expect choirs from there to follow in their footsteps. Maybe there are similar choirs in Japan, the Philippines etc, I don't know...

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

The radio programme about the Monteverdi choir is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next week.

Not sure if you guys outside the UK can listen to this but here goes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... rdi_Choir/

Rebecca (: · Post by **Rebecca (:** » 14 years ago

Yorkie wrote:The radio programme about the Monteverdi choir is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next week.

Not sure if you guys outside the UK can listen to this but here goes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... rdi_Choir/

Thanks for the link!

Listening to it right now, so yes, it works outside of the UK.

liberavieve · Post by **liberavieve** » 14 years ago

I love the sound from Wells. So nice to see them high up on the list!

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

liberavieve wrote:I love the sound from Wells. So nice to see them high up on the list!

Just for you:

[youtube][/youtube]

No idea how they beat the like of Westminster Abbey (and Cathedral not even making the list), New College or St John's

Just shows how subjective these things are.....

liberavieve · Post by **liberavieve** » 14 years ago

Agh, Yorkie, that's gorgeous. Thanks so much for that.

Now that you mention it, I was quite surprised not to see St John's College on that list (shhh; I believe I prefer them to King's, apart from a period in the 90's when King's were untouchable), but I might have been more shocked to find St Paul's missing. Maybe it's just that I enjoy the bombast of the huge orchestras that St Paul's are maybe a bit more likely than other choirs to employ, but they're another choir whose sound I adore.

JimmyRiddle · Post by **JimmyRiddle** » 14 years ago

Yes, I've mentioned from the outset that these are all high class choir essembles. However I fear that no matter how good or popular Libera become, I don't think they will ever feature in Gramaphone's 'best of' polls because they dip their feet in the crossover/new-age pond.

I've searched their online archive which contains content from all their articles since 1923. Nothing comes back on 'Libera'. They are definately heavy on traditional. Nothing left of centre.

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

liberavieve wrote:Agh, Yorkie, that's gorgeous. Thanks so much for that.
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Now that you mention it, I was quite surprised not to see St John's College on that list (shhh; I believe I prefer them to King's, apart from a period in the 90's when King's were untouchable), but I might have been more shocked to find St Paul's missing. Maybe it's just that I enjoy the bombast of the huge orchestras that St Paul's are maybe a bit more likely than other choirs to employ, but they're another choir whose sound I adore.

Yes, St John's is held in very high regard - I'm always playing their performance of Haydn's Insanae et Vanae Curae. Definately King's for Christmas though.

St Paul's has churned out some top drawer trebles in the past and I think a lot of their style comes from having to fill the huge echoy cavern with an unusually large (for England) Treble section.

What are your thoughts on Westminster Cathedral' choir? I popped in for Vespers and Mass last Thursday. Stunning. Could have done without the religion mind, but everything has its price

liberavieve · Post by **liberavieve** » 14 years ago

What are your thoughts on Westminster Cathedral' choir? I popped in for Vespers and Mass last Thursday. Stunning.

I've never been into Westminster Cathedral to hear the choir live, but based on a few of their recordings, I would absolutely agree with you when you say that they're stunning. Just gorgeous.

One of the amazing things about Westminster Cathedral's choir, I think, is how well the treble line can stand on its own. They've a recording of Britten's Ceremony of Carols that is very nearly flawless; the blend and accuracy of the choristers is unlike just about anything else I've heard, and the 'continental' sound that can sometimes be a bit hit-or-miss even in groups as fine as New College or St John's, is just lovely.

Could have done without the religion mind, but everything has its price.

True! I always feel a bit bad thinking this, but whenever I watch the Youtube videos from Westminster Cathedral (the midnight Mass, for instance), I find myself wondering why they're spending so much time showing the officiants and congregation and so little time with the choir!

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 14 years ago

liberavieve wrote: One of the amazing things about Westminster Cathedral's choir, I think, is how well the treble line can stand on its own. They've a recording of Britten's Ceremony of Carols that is very nearly flawless; the blend and accuracy of the choristers is unlike just about anything else I've heard, and the 'continental' sound that can sometimes be a bit hit-or-miss even in groups as fine as New College or St John's, is just lovely.

I have a CD by them of Britten's Ceremony of Carols (didn't he write it with them in mind?) - I wonder if it is the same CD you have?