This is absolutely the best version I've found on youtube. Fantastic job! I actually had to learn how to sing this same version, same song, in 10th grade, by memory. It's an extremely intense and VERY difficult song. Some parts are broken up into 14 part harmony, it is 28 pages long, and the rhythms get very tricky to learn. I give huge kudos to thse people. It's one of the hardest songs I've ever learned in my choir career, and these guys did an amazing job on it!
That tenor was absolutely fantastic! wat an incredible grace and respect to the line! i thought that was absolutely beautiful! i gasped when i heard that! This is my all time favorite whitacre piece. it's just brilliant in every way! it really captures grief in the best way possible! bravo!
In 2006, I had the wonderful oportunity to perform this fantastic piece under the personal conducting of Eric with Coral Paulistano (when it completed 70 years old), from the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brasil. That was one of the most exciting and unforgettable experience Ive ever had in my all musical experience. The choir has 44 professional singers and the performance sounded intense and full of passion. Unfortunatelly I dont have it recorded to show you all.
man the dude who does he solo 2:04 is perfect- gosh this song is so beautiful and gives me chills every time i listen...amazing..i wish my choir group was big enough to do this!
Wow this is the most moving rendtion of this piece I have ever heard. Can you imagine a parents heart being renched out from the loss of your child? I have felt it and this piece describes perfactly how I felt.
Wow! That is an incredibly powerful piece. For me it truly plumbed the depths of human grief. The overwhelming heartbreak David must have felt. My Son! My Son!
I would've liked more facial expression. When a song is sung this well, having the feeling and emotion of the piece on every single persons face just takes it to the next level. Amazing job.
Pretty fantastic, especialy for such a small group. The sopranos are having some issues, and some of the difficult rhythm patterns aren't quite locked, but this song is SO difficult that overall I'd give them a B+. I would like less from the director however. Whats so beautiful about this piece is the silence and I felt some of that was diminished with him keeping the beat throughout. It's obvious this group knows this piece, have a little more faith ;). Like I said: overall fabulous job
@JetsToReason I don't know! My choir is singing this now. The song is about the death of a son. Their faces should be filled with sorrow and mourning. Nobody smiles when their loved one dies
Eric is great, but Thomkins did it in 1572 his own way. Now listen to Morten Lauridsen's choral works. I call this whole genre "Lux Aeterna". But Bach wrote one called "Es Ist Genug" which the Swingles Singers recorded and sang for the banned French movie "La Belle Verte" (The Beautiful Green). Go to Panda and get more of this at my station "Morte Lauridsen".
@JetsToReason is partially right. This is the death of a son; This the death of THE son; this is the death of the son that David did not save, but the at the same time, the son who would not be saved. The faces of the performers must vacillate between total harmony and agony. Everything is broken, but everything is totally correct. The tragedy of the cadence of this pattern is the simplicity, not the complexity: God did not save my son.
@clauclau33 Well, the fact that they are smiling when this is a piece commissioned for a director whose young son died disheartens me. It is well sung, but I wish they connected with the meaning of it. There are plenty of songs I sing that I love, but I don't smile when they signify tragedy.
I absolutely adore this song and these guys do it amazingly....It's aural perfection. But visually...this song is about extreme loss; a father losing his son, and grieving and mourning and weeping. And these guys just look bored, like they've done it a million times (they probably have) and "yeah we sound great" (they do). I dunno, I just like to think choir is more than sounding good.
I totally disagree. Lots of people are pedalling 'less is more' on youtube. Whilst it's a valid viewpoint, the argument for 'more is more' is not only equal, but in my opinion often stronger. Whilst context and stylistic fashions dictate the strength of either side, 'more is more' is often miss-understood. An example- the tenor line in the first part of the recording- far too prevalent for the texture. Therefore more can often be better. Oh and huge crescendos often make Whitacre recordings.
They really sound good... and about the facial expression what did you expect? They're swiss, they're always neutral! (I'm fully aware of how bad that joke was)
i like this choir! they make this song awesome, though its sad since david is hearing about absalon being slain because of his stupid actions (nice going david). This song is sung beautifully
I'm always amused by the monday morning quarterbacks, who try to lampoon an obviously stellar performance of an very challenging piece. I assume the idea that these are generally German speaking performers whose accents may color their vowels a bit has never entered into the air filled chamber that passes for your head. That is confirmed by your inability to spell the very difficult word "was" in your comment. Congratulations on showing yourself to be a fool of epic proportions.
@wasww26 I totally agree - I was just listening, and then actually started watching, and it was REALLY DISTRACTING to watch the conducting! I don't believe this song is about getting all the rhythms exactly correct and every single rest exactly right. Its about the feeling of David losing his son - the agony, weeping and mourning...
Technically, fair...Interpretation, could be better. Example, alto consistently smiled before her entrance. Didn't feel it this time. Nice tenor sound though.
the only thing that bothers me is the facial expressions! they look so bland! some of them look excited and ready to sing but most look bored which maked it boring for people to watch. it sounds fine though!
I think this is arguably the best of Whitacre's compositions.
This is absolutely the best version I've found on youtube. Fantastic job! I actually had to learn how to sing this same version, same song, in 10th grade, by memory. It's an extremely intense and VERY difficult song. Some parts are broken up into 14 part harmony, it is 28 pages long, and the rhythms get very tricky to learn. I give huge kudos to thse people. It's one of the hardest songs I've ever learned in my choir career, and these guys did an amazing job on it!
das ist unglaublich stark. stück und chor, gänsehaut pur!
This is the best version on you tube Ive seen of this song. it probably doesnt mean much to you but Congrats
That tenor was absolutely fantastic! wat an incredible grace and respect to the line! i thought that was absolutely beautiful! i gasped when i heard that!
This is my all time favorite whitacre piece. it's just brilliant in every way! it really captures grief in the best way possible! bravo!
In 2006, I had the wonderful oportunity to perform this fantastic piece under the personal conducting of Eric with Coral Paulistano (when it completed 70 years old), from the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brasil. That was one of the most exciting and unforgettable experience Ive ever had in my all musical experience. The choir has 44 professional singers and the performance sounded intense and full of passion. Unfortunatelly I dont have it recorded to show you all.
man the dude who does he solo 2:04 is perfect-
gosh this song is so beautiful and gives me chills every time i listen...amazing..i wish my choir group was big enough to do this!
One of the most heartwrenchingly beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. It makes me cry every time.
chills, recurring chills throughout.... that was sooo beautiful
I sat here listening with chills all over my body. This is truly beautiful and it brought tears to my eyes! An amazing performance!
Wow this is the most moving rendtion of this piece I have ever heard. Can you imagine a parents heart being renched out from the loss of your child? I have felt it and this piece describes perfactly how I felt.
fantastic. performing this with my choir was one of the most emotional experiences I've ever had.
My God this song is fantastic. His chord progressions are amazing. Minor
Very very good! im very impressed! our choirs did water night, seal lullaby, and sleep by eric whitacre.
The tenor is incredible!
Wow! That is an incredibly powerful piece. For me it truly plumbed the depths of human grief. The overwhelming heartbreak David must have felt. My Son! My Son!
Harvey Vivian it’s also his fault
Really a nice interpretation. The effort to memorize this certainly paid off in your focus.
God that tenor is the perfect choral tenor of all time. lol
Just right!
I would've liked more facial expression. When a song is sung this well, having the feeling and emotion of the piece on every single persons face just takes it to the next level. Amazing job.
THAT TENOR!!!!!!!!!!! O_O Nuff said!
WHO DOES THIS WHOLE SONG FROM MEMORY?! DADGUM!!!
Well I think this is a great group of singers and they know how to blend and get the message across, good job!
Culture is not dead!!
Whitacre graduated from Caltech. I think he's possibly one of the greatest human beings alive.
STUNNING. like, honestly. this is AMAZING. my high school choir is working on this right now....its not easy :/
By the way: great job conductor, feels really naturally flowing.
@JetsToReason my guess is because the song is just so moving and beautiful, one sometimes may smile at this beauty that he/she is singing :)
WHO DOES THIS WHOLE SONG FROM MEMORY! DADGUM!
1:48 - 1:59 i ALWAYS get goosebumps its so beautiful!
Eric Whitacre u rock the fukin world!
Pretty fantastic, especialy for such a small group. The sopranos are having some issues, and some of the difficult rhythm patterns aren't quite locked, but this song is SO difficult that overall I'd give them a B+. I would like less from the director however. Whats so beautiful about this piece is the silence and I felt some of that was diminished with him keeping the beat throughout. It's obvious this group knows this piece, have a little more faith ;). Like I said: overall fabulous job
gorgeous
grandios!
@JetsToReason I don't know! My choir is singing this now. The song is about the death of a son. Their faces should be filled with sorrow and mourning. Nobody smiles when their loved one dies
i must agree it is epic :P
I want to tackle the soloist, he's soo good!
Eric is great, but Thomkins did it in 1572 his own way. Now listen to Morten Lauridsen's choral works. I call this whole genre "Lux Aeterna". But Bach wrote one called "Es Ist Genug" which the Swingles Singers recorded and sang for the banned French movie "La Belle Verte" (The Beautiful Green). Go to Panda and get more of this at my station "Morte Lauridsen".
@JetsToReason is partially right. This is the death of a son; This the death of THE son; this is the death of the son that David did not save, but the at the same time, the son who would not be saved. The faces of the performers must vacillate between total harmony and agony. Everything is broken, but everything is totally correct. The tragedy of the cadence of this pattern is the simplicity, not the complexity: God did not save my son.
Ladies and Gentlemen the featured tenor soloist Seth Rogen!
0:55 best chord EVER!!!
Agree!!
Seth Rogen is a great tenor.
lol I can't unsee it now
@clauclau33 Well, the fact that they are smiling when this is a piece commissioned for a director whose young son died disheartens me. It is well sung, but I wish they connected with the meaning of it. There are plenty of songs I sing that I love, but I don't smile when they signify tragedy.
all around good performance. I think it needed a bit more blending though.
I absolutely adore this song and these guys do it amazingly....It's aural perfection. But visually...this song is about extreme loss; a father losing his son, and grieving and mourning and weeping. And these guys just look bored, like they've done it a million times (they probably have) and "yeah we sound great" (they do). I dunno, I just like to think choir is more than sounding good.
*sobs*
dat tenor.
2 people accidentally hit the dislike button.
Yes, it's great - but HOW do you LEARN such a thing?!
Clivejvaughan practice
I totally disagree. Lots of people are pedalling 'less is more' on youtube. Whilst it's a valid viewpoint, the argument for 'more is more' is not only equal, but in my opinion often stronger. Whilst context and stylistic fashions dictate the strength of either side, 'more is more' is often miss-understood. An example- the tenor line in the first part of the recording- far too prevalent for the texture. Therefore more can often be better. Oh and huge crescendos often make Whitacre recordings.
2 people accidentally hit the dislike button
They really sound good... and about the facial expression what did you expect? They're swiss, they're always neutral! (I'm fully aware of how bad that joke was)
i like this choir! they make this song awesome, though its sad since david is hearing about absalon being slain because of his stupid actions (nice going david). This song is sung beautifully
all I can hear is that tenor...
I'm always amused by the monday morning quarterbacks, who try to lampoon an obviously stellar performance of an very challenging piece.
I assume the idea that these are generally German speaking performers whose accents may color their vowels a bit has never entered into the air filled chamber that passes for your head.
That is confirmed by your inability to spell the very difficult word "was" in your comment.
Congratulations on showing yourself to be a fool of epic proportions.
@mattomisal17 I agree 100%
That one tenor who did the solo was awesome, but he needs to back off in the choir parts because I can always hear him.
@muscleboi4use lol who ever said it was?
Tenor needs to tone it downnnn but other than that amazing:)
@wasww26 I totally agree - I was just listening, and then actually started watching, and it was REALLY DISTRACTING to watch the conducting! I don't believe this song is about getting all the rhythms exactly correct and every single rest exactly right. Its about the feeling of David losing his son - the agony, weeping and mourning...
why the hell are they smiling?
@muscleboi4use ... but Absalom is.
Technically, fair...Interpretation, could be better. Example, alto consistently smiled before her entrance. Didn't feel it this time. Nice tenor sound though.
what choir is this?
less is more, literally... get control and consistency of the pattern. Decide what's important....
just notes
the only thing that bothers me is the facial expressions! they look so bland! some of them look excited and ready to sing but most look bored which maked it boring for people to watch. it sounds fine though!
basses barely hearable... the rest not very well balanced. BYU singers delivered the best version for me!
Mason Starling I heavily disagree, BYU were one of the worst I ever heard. Just my opinion lol.