Wiener Sängerknaben

[john45]

Not really another choir I like, but one which I feel obliged to check out when performing within twenty minutes of home. Concert by Wiener Sängerknaben in Saint John this evening. Sad that they have to resort slapstick humour, Lederhosen ‪Schuhplattler‬, and Sixties inspired dance moves to make up for their vocal deficiencies. The one redeeming feature was introducing me to the "The Seal Lullaby"(‪Eric Whitacre‬) which if arranged by RP or SC would be perfect for Libera.

[j8000]

Like you I'm not a fan, they seem to be more of a stage show than a serious choir.

Agree with you that would make a good Libera song.

[Yorkie]

Not really another choir I like, but one which I feel obliged to check out when performing within twenty minutes of home. Concert by Wiener Sängerknaben in Saint John this evening. Sad that they have to resort slapstick humour, Lederhosen ‪Schuhplattler‬, and Sixties inspired dance moves to make up for their vocal deficiencies. The one redeeming feature was introducing me to the "The Seal Lullaby"(‪Eric Whitacre‬) which if arranged by RP or SC would be perfect for Libera.

That made me laugh John I liked the Seal Lullaby but, really, how can you not be a fan of this:



That's the future that is

[danny-bulgaria]

I can't believe I am going to say this , but here it goes... BUYING THIS ALBUM WAS NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY, LISTENING TO IT WAS A WASTE OF TIME.

[Yorkie]

I can't believe I am going to say this , but here it goes... BUYING THIS ALBUM WAS NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY, LISTENING TO IT WAS A WASTE OF TIME.

I hope you didn't buy Vienna goes pop because of me! I have nothing but scorn for that album and I'm no fan of WSK and its robotic money making scheme...

My comment to John was a shared joke because he knows what I think about them - British humour:oops:

[fan_de_LoK]

Thanks for the laugh Danny and Yorkie

Reading you both made me to think to that great twitter account @SoVeryBritish

"That CD is not quite what I had in mind" , meaning "What the bloody hell is this ??"

[danny-bulgaria]

I can't believe I am going to say this , but here it goes... BUYING THIS ALBUM WAS NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY, LISTENING TO IT WAS A WASTE OF TIME.

I hope you didn't buy Vienna goes pop because of me! I have nothing but scorn for that album and I'm no fan of WSK and its robotic money making scheme...

My comment to John was a shared joke because he knows what I think about them - British humour:oops:

Oh no, truth is I bought it because I was very excited about the "Nothing else matters" and um... it was all right (kind of), not what I was expecting.

[ludwig1874]

Sorry,but in my opinion the Album "... goes Pop" is very interesting and exciting to hear. Yes, the Production is a Bit unprofessionel, but I Like the way they sing the Songs and how much fun they had. For the lovers of the traditional Kind of records it must be a shock.

[PaulWSpaceRockDodger]

The evolution of the Wiener Sängerknaben provides a cautionary lesson to other choirs, i.e. that even a choir with centuries of tradition can lose its way when it compromises on its musical standards. I'm old enough to remember attending a WSK concert 50 years ago, and my impression is that its standards have slipped a lot since then. I'm not an expert on the subject but I suspect that its focus on maximizing its commercial success has led to at least two problems: (1) its repertoire has become too varied, i.e. trying to offer too many different kinds of music, and thereby spreading itself too thin, and (2) dividing itself into four touring choirs, which makes it difficult to maintain consistent quality. Perhaps it will rediscover its original vocation, and its opening of its own purpose-built performance facility, the "MuTh", in 2012 is an interesting initiative. However, at the present time, there are many other boychoirs which maintain much higher musical standards.

[ludwig1874]

A nice japanese Christmas CD, found in Hiroshima, Japan. This silvester I will make my Holidays in Osaka, I am a big fan of Japan. I love to search japanese CDs of different boychoirs... I am a real hunter

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[Jay_S]

The evolution of the Wiener Sängerknaben provides a cautionary lesson to other choirs, i.e. that even a choir with centuries of tradition can lose its way when it compromises on its musical standards. I'm old enough to remember attending a WSK concert 50 years ago, and my impression is that its standards have slipped a lot since then. I'm not an expert on the subject but I suspect that its focus on maximizing its commercial success has led to at least two problems: (1) its repertoire has become too varied, i.e. trying to offer too many different kinds of music, and thereby spreading itself too thin, and (2) dividing itself into four touring choirs, which makes it difficult to maintain consistent quality. Perhaps it will rediscover its original vocation, and its opening of its own purpose-built performance facility, the "MuTh", in 2012 is an interesting initiative. However, at the present time, there are many other boychoirs which maintain much higher musical standards.

Paul, having seen this choir perform 2 years ago, I can agree with you about the watered down product. That being said, I still agreed to go see them again this winter for their annual Christmas tour to the northeastern US. With them having 4 touring choirs, you never know what you will get when they show up. If they wanted to really present a world class choir to the public, I'm sure they could do it if they took the best boys from the 4 choirs and assembled them into one. There must be a time while in Vienna they can assemble this 'all star' group to present to the folks who support them there. Don't even get me started about 'VBC goes Pop' (where's the PUKE emoji when you want one?)