Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

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maartendas
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Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by maartendas »

The CD "Arvo Pärt - Babel" by the Wiltener Sängerknaben and Johannes Stecher (Col Legno, 2015) is the first recording of composer Arvo Pärt's vocal music by a boy's choir. Besides being a delight to listen to, the liner notes are also worth reading. This excerpt in particular I found quite touching:

When you get the sound just right

Notes on the inspiring task of performing Arvo Pärt's songs with children and youths
By Johannes Stecher

The kids arrive at the evening's rehearsal with their smartphones and iPads, after a day filled with ringtones, WhatsApp messages and the like; in other words, they get here straight from school and Facebook, and if you, the choirmaster, don't end up as the protagonist in a video posted on Youtube after the rehearsal, you should count yourself lucky. At first they refuse to put away their tablets, explaining that they need them to look up the score.
You sing a folk song with them, followed by Bach and Bruckner; as you get to Arvo Pärt, they calm down even more, having become aware of their own distractedness. It is fascinating to see how intensely the react to Pärt's music. You demand a lot of them - conscious breathing, poise, concentration, calm, intonation, legato, piano - and you explain the texts. Before long the kids are familiar with the stories of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, of Simeon and Hannah, of the Babylonian captivity, they know where to find Fatima, and that the sermon on the mount is one of the most beautiful texts in the Bible. They take in the music, and for a moment they create and feel something very special, something calm, a kind of spiritual dimension. You're glad, delighted, grateful for this gift. But then their attention begins to waver again - some of them are not older than six, after all - and it irritates you that they're unable to stay focused for longer. Yet at the next rehearsal you find that not only they haven't forgotton a single detail, but they master the passage you practised last time even better, have become comfortable with it, greet it like an old friend.


It then goes on in further detail about the singing techniques, the musical challenges and experiences in performing this music. I found this to be a moving account of the way young people react to such spiritual and profound music as Pärt's motets.

The CD has been on replay for days on end now :)
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PaulWSpaceRockDodger
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Re: Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by PaulWSpaceRockDodger »

Thanks for drawing our attention to the Wiltener Sängerknaben, another of Germany's impressive boychoirs. Their website saengerknaben.com is very well organised and has some material in English too.
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maartendas
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Re: Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by maartendas »

PaulWSpaceRockDodger wrote:Thanks for drawing our attention to the Wiltener Sängerknaben, another of Germany's impressive boychoirs.
They are actually not from Germany, but from Austria :wink: Innsbruck, to be exact.
You raise me high beyond the sky
Through stormy night lifting me above
PaulWSpaceRockDodger
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Re: Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by PaulWSpaceRockDodger »

Thanks for the correction. It's good to know about the Austrian connection. Incidentally, besides the Wiltener and Vienna boychoirs, does Austria have any other boychoirs?
j8000
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Re: Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by j8000 »

PaulWSpaceRockDodger wrote:Thanks for the correction. It's good to know about the Austrian connection. Incidentally, besides the Wiltener and Vienna boychoirs, does Austria have any other boychoirs?
There is the St. Florianer Sängerknaben but I don't know anything about them other than they were founded in 1071, so certainly have some history!
j8000
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Re: Wiltener Sängerknaben - CD liner notes

Post by j8000 »

I really like their Bach recordings, of which they have done quite a few. They have put a number of live performances on YouTube if anyone is interested. Haven't checked out the Pärt yet but it's on my list.
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