Sang this for the first time probably in 1970 with the Lafayette College Men's Glee Club under the direction of John Raymond. I still have the vinyl recording and it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Have sung it several times in the past 25 years with the West Chester Area Community Chorus under the direction of George Waldie. Probably one of most favorite pieces that we have done.
This extraordinary piece won us the Best in State of Florida in my senior year (1970). I shall never forget meeting Randall Thompson when he came to visit in Tampa. Such beautiful music must never be lost.
I miss singing this song back in my High School Chorus. It was such a moving piece! One time when we performed it, we got off the risers and surrounded the audience, not one soprano, alto, tenor, or bass were next to a fellow soprano, alto, etc. It was all without our music or piano. It made everyone in the audience tear up including us who were singing. We had also sung it at our director's mother's funeral as well as when we went on a trip to Maryland and were in an old church and we just oculdn't help ourselves to sing it. Such an amazing piece! Great job.
Thanks for sharing your memories.I too have sung this, but not as you did. Your description brings back happy/sad memories of other pieces I've sung with various groups over the years.
mL Crispy, that audience-surrounding performance must have been incredible & so effective! I am 57 & we did it in my 9th grade chorus & we actually did it justice. Our director was ambitious & we delivered. Once I was at a high-school performance of "Fiddler of the Roof". During "Sabbath Prayer" the "papas" & "mamas", each with a candle, surrounded the audience in pairs. It was haunting & astounding. I had a couple right next to me, & I know I looked up at them with my jaw hanging open! The "mama" broke the 4th wall just long enough to look into my eyes & see how it had affected her & pride that flashed across her face at being a part of something like that. Thanks for sharing your memories that brought back treasured memories to me too.
mL Crispy Me too. I enjoyed singing this in high school in My Ensemble/ Show Choir. I'm black with an Indian Grandmother. I learned to appreciate that white people can sing TOO. Blacks and whites Do sing differently. I learned to love it all. I realized I could sing choral music as well as I could do soul music. It's amazing.
I also sang it in high school. We sang it without music and also with no soprano standing by another soprano etc. It was the highlight of my high school choir experience.
That director is REALLY good! I would follow his direction ANYTIME. i've sung this song many times, so I know this man's tempo and dynamics transitions are out of this world! The chorus was super-accurate too!😲❣️
He is one of the best conductors I’ve ever had. His conducting is CRYSTALLINE clear, and you always know EXACTLY what he wants from you. I’ve sung with him many times, both in chorus and with full orchestra and he still is my reference for good conducting years later.
I know this is college, but my high school went to state w/ this song!! Plus... It was performed in our school and in 1986, we were the high school that Won 1st place in the State of Texas!!!! It was so Fab!! This College did a Great job as well!! Such a Beautiful song....
This is a simply outstanding performance of one of the musical masterpieces of the twentieth century. The conducting, singing, intonation, beauty of tone, artistry, performance, demeanor, and reverence are befitting of such a musical offering to God. The recording and photography are also superb.
The OU University Chorale has done a phenomenal Job! I have always loved this piece. I love it more since my mother passed away. To know that one day I shall see her again and the one responsible for that meeting is Jesus himself. Alleluia! We will be in awe of Him saying Praise God, Alleluia!
Truly a haunting performance of a great masterwork. Those youthful voices blended so beautifully. Too bad it's not heard more often in churches and concerts.
Randall Thompson came to my college as Artist in residence, in 1977. He directed us in a concert doing a collection of poems set to music, that he wrote by poet, Robert Frost. We also performed his famous, "Alleluia" which we had committed to memory. I'll never forget it as long as I live.❤
PERFECT PITCH!!🎶 Masterful job....BRAVO to the choir and director!!🎵🎼🎶 I performed this piece in high school in 1967( Yes!! I am a singing dinosaur🤗)! I also taught this to my high school chorus in 1980( teaching at my alma mater)!⚜💜⚜ What wonderful memories to last for a lifetime!!!💝🎶💝
I like that the choir is set up mixing the voices rather than the traditional SATB arrangement. This piece was written for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center in 1940 at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, mass: the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is sung every year by the students of the Berkshire Music Center.
My favorite choral piece done to perfection. I still remember every note of the Alto 2 part... moves me to tears every time and I'll never understand why. I had the honor of breaking the minute of silence at Westminister Abbey and the National Cathedral with this piece and I'll never forget it.
This was a signature piece of a public high school called Morgan Park H.S ,on the south side of Chicago and a director during that era by the name of Leonard Hurst. It was an integrated high school in the 60's and 70's/80's when this was rare. Leonard's choirs were tops in Chicago and Illinois and were twice asked to sing with members of the Chicago Symphony/Civic orchestra under the direction of Margaret Hillis. Leonard was a one man dynamo who built this 25 year long program with few resources or budget. He always challenged his H.S. choirs with pieces normally done by College Choirs like this one. He passed 2 years ago from Alzheimers complications. He was the best example of what a H.S. Choir director should be. When I here this I will always think of him. RIP Leonard
BOOMER!!! I was in the OU Chorale in 1986-87 under Dr. Dennis Shrock - and now work at the church (Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville) where Randall Thompson studied the organ, and attended worship, as a teen in Lawrenceville, NJ!
maestro11jdm , I sang under Dennis Schrock for many years with the Canterbury Chorale Society. He is by far one of the best choir directors I've had the honor to sing under.
@@ceceliarice5652 and I sang under Dennis in high school (Metuchen High School, Metuchen New Jersey) as well as being his student at Westminster Choir College. I am the conductor and composer I am today, in large part, because of him.
Oh my God, so many wonderful memories of college choirs, madrigal singing ...all preparing my ear and heart for the day of my salvation and singing with understanding...Alleluia to the King of Kings!
Thank you, Sara Cooper, and Antoinette Roach. A music teacher's greatest reward is students' fond memories 40 years later of making beautiful music! Do you also remember Thompson's "Choose Something Like a Star"?
Praise and worship God. Best regards brother's and sisters of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. lifting up all the ministries that teach the Gospel of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Insaine how good that was!! That massive MF crescendo was WOWWWW!! I'm singing it now and needed to hear it in full with all parts cause even though you can pretty much not get lost...you can get lost lol I closed my eyes and it was like I was in the presence of heaven listening to all the angels singing Alleluea. So grateful for this recording
We did the same - singing in our high school acapella choir was the most important and moving experience from those years for me. This piece in particular.
An amazing piece of work! I sang this in High School 54 years ago and in College several times. I love it and still remember the soprano part. I am now a Conductor/Director and I am planning on introducing this piece to my choir next month.
I belonged to an acapella choir at school in 1963 and we preformed this piece. I not only get vivid colors from sound, but I also get images of places (many of which I've never seen in person) occurring at the same time. Most of this one calls up tropical rain forest environments for some reason so suddenly that it causes goose flesh, even now.
OUCHOIRS I feel such nostalgia as I watch this performance. Dr. Z, you should know that in my own conducting technique I always kept in mind the image of your ability to communicate so clearly with your left hand. I'm sure that I never met your standard, but I certainly tried to meet your benchmark. The greatest.
Randall Thompson was supposed to compose a fanfare but France had just fallen to the Naziis. This is why there undertones of sadness. A beautiful piece.
Yes, there are flaws, but few and far between. I sang this in High School and with Mr. Robert Shaw. They all had flaws. That is the thing about art, particularly music. As Mr. Shaw used to say, Music is not art until it sounds. Yes, you can have the whole thing written down on paper, but it does not become art until it sounds. And that takes intense work, artistry, and someone who has the vision to make it happen. Mr. Harold Beckett and Mr. Robert Shaw had this vision.
We sang this powerful piece in 1957 (I think) when I was a student at the Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, MA. Regarding the comment by Sahat that the work is "a very sad piece," don't forget that it was a sad time, with Word War II already under way in Europe.
My goodness! a very sad piece. The word "Alleluia" has so many possible interpretations. The music in my particular Alleluia cannot be made to sound joyous. It is a slow, sad piece, and...here it is comparable to the Book of Job, where it is written, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I can understand what Thompson means now. Thanks all!
The word "alleluia" comes from 2 Hebrew words, "Allel) (Praise) and "Yah" /some pronounce it "Jah," (God). It has no other interpretation. Some words have only 1 meaning, or interpretation e.g. "said."
Conosco molto bene questa composizione per averla cantata a una rassegna corale a Fano (IT) con la maestra del Conservatorio di Trento Iris Nicolini ,allora maestra di direzione corale del Conservatorio; i coristi erano tutti studenti di strumento e canto nello stesso Conservatorio.
I imagine Angels flying around the Throne of God singing excitedly and getting so excited they sing faster and faster until they finally calm down. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
Im in middle school and I'm an alto2 in ssaa version and this song is very hard and at our concert my class has to sing it without music in front of us
+Brandon McDonald Brandon, keep at it! You'll get there. I'm learning it too and I was in the middle school choir a very long time ago. It doesn't get any easier but it is still really worthwhile. Glad you're taking it on.
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Completely broke Down crying ... what I wouldn’t give to be in college choir again
Truly beautiful
I'm a college choir gal who gets teary during good a capella music myself. If ever you get the chance, do Thompson's Peaceable Kingdom. Sheer bliss.
I feel you. I performed this with a choir
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Randall Thompson.
Still know every note to the soprano part.... nearly 30 years after performing this.
Be, too... bass
Same here. Soprano. Sang it in the early 80's.
@@asackville1 It’s just that kind of piece
Sang this for the first time probably in 1970 with the Lafayette College Men's Glee Club under the direction of John Raymond. I still have the vinyl recording and it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Have sung it several times in the past 25 years with the West Chester Area Community Chorus under the direction of George Waldie. Probably one of most favorite pieces that we have done.
@@charlesvogeley5757 This and Mozart’s Requiem. Also, in HS we did Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Absolutely haunting.
This extraordinary piece won us the Best in State of Florida in my senior year (1970). I shall never forget meeting Randall Thompson when he came to visit in Tampa. Such beautiful music must never be lost.
In the 1950s I was in this chorale and sang this ... since those long ago times I tear up every time I hear this.....
I remember every single alto note 🥺 sang this over 22 years ago in choir.
Llike weaves on see, like storm ans peace on oceans. Beautifull... Luke voices on Haven..... Aleluia❤
I finally found the piece my brother sang in his choir. He passed away in December. I'm creating a memorial slideshow for him.
Awesome job!!
One of my favorite pieces to sing. Alto part seared into my brain.
I miss singing this song back in my High School Chorus. It was such a moving piece! One time when we performed it, we got off the risers and surrounded the audience, not one soprano, alto, tenor, or bass were next to a fellow soprano, alto, etc. It was all without our music or piano. It made everyone in the audience tear up including us who were singing. We had also sung it at our director's mother's funeral as well as when we went on a trip to Maryland and were in an old church and we just oculdn't help ourselves to sing it. Such an amazing piece! Great job.
Thanks for sharing your memories.I too have sung this, but not as you did. Your description brings back happy/sad memories of other pieces I've sung with various groups over the years.
mL Crispy Randall Thompson is underated. He should be on Mozart's status.
mL Crispy, that audience-surrounding performance must have been incredible & so effective! I am 57 & we did it in my 9th grade chorus & we actually did it justice. Our director was ambitious & we delivered. Once I was at a high-school performance of "Fiddler of the Roof". During "Sabbath Prayer" the "papas" & "mamas", each with a candle, surrounded the audience in pairs. It was haunting & astounding. I had a couple right next to me, & I know I looked up at them with my jaw hanging open! The "mama" broke the 4th wall just long enough to look into my eyes & see how it had affected her & pride that flashed across her face at being a part of something like that. Thanks for sharing your memories that brought back treasured memories to me too.
mL Crispy Me too. I enjoyed singing this in high school in My Ensemble/ Show Choir. I'm black with an Indian Grandmother. I learned to appreciate that white people can sing TOO. Blacks and whites Do sing differently. I learned to love it all. I realized I could sing choral music as well as I could do soul music. It's amazing.
I also sang it in high school. We sang it without music and also with no soprano standing by another soprano etc. It was the highlight of my high school choir experience.
That director is REALLY good! I would follow his direction ANYTIME. i've sung this song many times, so I know this man's tempo and dynamics transitions are out of this world! The chorus was super-accurate too!😲❣️
He is one of the best conductors I’ve ever had.
His conducting is CRYSTALLINE clear, and you always know EXACTLY what he wants from you. I’ve sung with him many times, both in chorus and with full orchestra and he still is my reference for good conducting years later.
It’s been 2 years since I’ve sang this one and I can still pick out the alto part through the whole song
I know this is college, but my high school went to state w/ this song!! Plus... It was performed in our school and in 1986, we were the high school that Won 1st place in the State of Texas!!!! It was so Fab!! This College did a Great job as well!! Such a Beautiful song....
Fine performance. Stayed in tune all the way to the end; a very difficult thing to do with this piece.
This is a simply outstanding performance of one of the musical masterpieces of the twentieth century. The conducting, singing, intonation, beauty of tone, artistry, performance, demeanor, and reverence are befitting of such a musical offering to God. The recording and photography are also superb.
I agree with you. Now to get my choral to sing as well.
The OU University Chorale has done a phenomenal Job! I have always loved this piece. I love it more since my mother passed away. To know that one day I shall see her again and the one responsible for that meeting is Jesus himself. Alleluia! We will be in awe of Him saying Praise God, Alleluia!
Truly a haunting performance of a great masterwork. Those youthful voices blended so beautifully. Too bad it's not heard more often in churches and concerts.
I agree!!!
Randall Thompson came to my college as Artist in residence, in 1977. He directed us in a concert doing a collection of poems set to music, that he wrote by poet, Robert Frost.
We also performed his famous, "Alleluia" which we had committed to memory.
I'll never forget it as long as I live.❤
Jehosaphat! You are most fortunate to have met Mr. Thompson. Did you also do his 'Testament of Freedom' ?
I sang this in both high school and college. It's one of my favorites!!
PERFECT PITCH!!🎶
Masterful job....BRAVO to the choir and director!!🎵🎼🎶
I performed this piece in high school in 1967( Yes!! I am a singing dinosaur🤗)!
I also taught this to my high school chorus in 1980( teaching at my alma mater)!⚜💜⚜
What wonderful memories to last for a lifetime!!!💝🎶💝
I like that the choir is set up mixing the voices rather than the traditional SATB arrangement. This piece was written for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center in 1940 at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, mass: the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is sung every year by the students of the Berkshire Music Center.
I think that is more of a church choir thing anyway.
My favorite choral piece done to perfection. I still remember every note of the Alto 2 part... moves me to tears every time and I'll never understand why. I had the honor of breaking the minute of silence at Westminister Abbey and the National Cathedral with this piece and I'll never forget it.
This was a signature piece of a public high school called Morgan Park H.S ,on the south side of Chicago and a director during that era by the name of Leonard Hurst. It was an integrated high school in the 60's and 70's/80's when this was rare. Leonard's choirs were tops in Chicago and Illinois and were twice asked to sing with members of the Chicago Symphony/Civic orchestra under the direction of Margaret Hillis. Leonard was a one man dynamo who built this 25 year long program with few resources or budget. He always challenged his H.S. choirs with pieces normally done by College Choirs like this one. He passed 2 years ago from Alzheimers complications. He was the best example of what a H.S. Choir director should be. When I here this I will always think of him. RIP Leonard
Soft as a feather and gentle as a newborn lamb. We sang this in high school and now it's here again ;=)
Love this song. Sang it many times with choirs!
BOOMER!!! I was in the OU Chorale in 1986-87 under Dr. Dennis Shrock - and now work at the church (Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville) where Randall Thompson studied the organ, and attended worship, as a teen in Lawrenceville, NJ!
maestro11jdm , I sang under Dennis Schrock for many years with the Canterbury Chorale Society. He is by far one of the best choir directors I've had the honor to sing under.
@@ceceliarice5652 and I sang under Dennis in high school (Metuchen High School, Metuchen New Jersey) as well as being his student at Westminster Choir College. I am the conductor and composer I am today, in large part, because of him.
Oh my God, so many wonderful memories of college choirs, madrigal singing ...all preparing my ear and heart for the day of my salvation and singing with understanding...Alleluia to the King of Kings!
Thank you, Sara Cooper, and Antoinette Roach. A music teacher's greatest reward is students' fond memories 40 years later of making beautiful music! Do you also remember Thompson's "Choose Something Like a Star"?
Wow! Best performance of this piece I've heard yet. I got chills!
The sounds of this piece are visceral to me
Praise and worship God. Best regards brother's and sisters of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. lifting up all the ministries that teach the Gospel of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Insaine how good that was!! That massive MF crescendo was WOWWWW!! I'm singing it now and needed to hear it in full with all parts cause even though you can pretty much not get lost...you can get lost lol I closed my eyes and it was like I was in the presence of heaven listening to all the angels singing Alleluea. So grateful for this recording
We sang this in high school choir and I've loved it ever since. Beautiful.
Extraordinary!
I sang this in high school at an All state music competition. Very valuable experience for me. Made me a better singer.
We did the same - singing in our high school acapella choir was the most important and moving experience from those years for me. This piece in particular.
Absolutely gorgeous rendition. (and it gave the organist a chance to sort the rest of the music he's going to play. :-)
An amazing piece of work! I sang this in High School 54 years ago and in College several times. I love it and still remember the soprano part. I am now a Conductor/Director and I am planning on introducing this piece to my choir next month.
OU University Chorale! You are simply GREAT!
I belonged to an acapella choir at school in 1963 and we preformed this piece. I not only get vivid colors from sound, but I also get images of places (many of which I've never seen in person) occurring at the same time. Most of this one calls up tropical rain forest environments for some reason so suddenly that it causes goose flesh, even now.
Great use of the dynamics!
A work of immense beauty by one of my favourite American composers. My late colleague, Bernard Herrmann, thought highly of Thompson.
OUCHOIRS I feel such nostalgia as I watch this performance. Dr. Z, you should know that in my own conducting technique I always kept in mind the image of your ability to communicate so clearly with your left hand. I'm sure that I never met your standard, but I certainly tried to meet your benchmark. The greatest.
Randall Thompson was supposed to compose a fanfare but France had just fallen to the Naziis. This is why there undertones of sadness. A beautiful piece.
Beautiful and GREAT dynamics!
Truly a beautify and well interpreted performance.
Lovely
Touching. Reminds me of my youth. Good voices!
Superb in every respect! Thank you for this.
Awesome! What a great job you all did!
Beautiful choir for a stunning work. One f my all-time favorites. Bravo!
Yes, there are flaws, but few and far between. I sang this in High School and with Mr. Robert Shaw. They all had flaws. That is the thing about art, particularly music. As Mr. Shaw used to say, Music is not art until it sounds. Yes, you can have the whole thing written down on paper, but it does not become art until it sounds. And that takes intense work, artistry, and someone who has the vision to make it happen. Mr. Harold Beckett and Mr. Robert Shaw had this vision.
what a great quote from Robert! stealing it, right now.
Beautifully balanced.
Superb, thanks
Song was super fun to learn. My high school advanced choir sang this.
If we could truly sing what we mean so that we can mean what we sing, the world could change❤
We sang this powerful piece in 1957 (I think) when I was a student at the Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, MA. Regarding the comment by Sahat that the work is "a very sad piece," don't forget that it was a sad time, with Word War II already under way in Europe.
World War 2 = 1940-45 !!!
She may well have meant that the piece was composed in the early years of WWII
Anne, thank you for the clarification. I did mean that this piece dates from WWII, not that I sang it during WWII.
@@dezangerman 1939-1945
too bad the recording itself isn't better. we did this in highschool, still one of my favorite pieces ever.
Fabuloso
U guys did a good job
My goodness!
a very sad piece. The word "Alleluia" has so many possible interpretations. The music in my particular Alleluia cannot be made to sound joyous. It is a slow, sad piece, and...here it is comparable to the Book of Job, where it is written, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
I can understand what Thompson means now.
Thanks all!
The word "alleluia" comes from 2 Hebrew words, "Allel) (Praise) and "Yah" /some pronounce it "Jah," (God). It has no other interpretation. Some words have only 1 meaning, or interpretation e.g. "said."
we talk to God in are own ways
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 💜💜💜💜 🙌🏼
😢🎼🎶🎵💖😢 my memories for my master Mario Baeza...
Nicely done! I hope I can visit your group one time and join you in singing music scores like this
Conosco molto bene questa composizione per averla cantata a una rassegna corale a Fano (IT) con la maestra del Conservatorio di Trento Iris Nicolini ,allora maestra di direzione corale del Conservatorio; i coristi erano tutti studenti di strumento e canto nello stesso Conservatorio.
I imagine Angels flying around the Throne of God singing excitedly and getting so excited they sing faster and faster until they finally calm down. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
this director is fantastic! the devil is in details for dealing with Thompson. this director misses none
Im in middle school and I'm an alto2 in ssaa version and this song is very hard and at our concert my class has to sing it without music in front of us
+Brandon McDonald Brandon, keep at it! You'll get there. I'm learning it too and I was in the middle school choir a very long time ago. It doesn't get any easier but it is still really worthwhile. Glad you're taking it on.
I love this song! So compelling to sinnnng tho
We performed this number in high school. Our performance was not as beautiful as this one.
Jesus reign
It may be my ears or the recording, but the volumes sound unbalanced at parts where they should all be loud.
Is it Dennis Schrock conducting? I was in this choir starting in 95.
1:59
Beautiful! Boomer Sooner!
WHY IS THE FRONT ROW MIXED?
Can't hear the last syllable of many of the "alleluias." Not projected forward.
It's not supposed to be as projected as the other syllables.
You're correct, Tyna. The final syllable is unstressed. A common mistake of amateur groups is to hammer it.
Pro tip: start recording *before* the choir starts singing.
I feel that it was sang almost too strongly. This piece should only be strong in certain areas and build up.
One of the soprani was off pitch, generatin heterodynes.
No me gusta la opera pero mis padres me metieron a clases de canto 😑😐😣