Bath Spa University Choir 'Evening Prayer' by Ola Gjeilo

Bath Spa University Choir performing Evening Prayer by Ola Gjeilo at Bath Abbey for Bath International Music Festival's opening evening 'Party in the City' 15/05/15. Directed by Francis Faux

[@matthewscott7198]

Excellent performance of a piece which is actually not as easy as it might look. Wonderful blend and intonation from the choir, perfect rendition of the piano part, and some daring yet tasteful choices on the part of the saxophonist, whose tone and light vibrato are marvelous. (I wish that this had been mixed properly; we're hearing too much direct feed from the sax. Thank goodness he's in perfect tune.)
When Ola Gjeilo was made composer-in-residence for the Phoenix Chorale, he found that the group's marketing director's husband was a saxophonist whose talent for improvisation matched his own perfectly. The two of them gave concerts where there was no program and no set list - they simply improvised for 90 minutes together and occasionally paused for applause or to change mood, and audiences were spell-bound.
"Evening Prayer" was born out of this unique musical situation - the choir part was written down, but the saxophone and piano parts were largely improvised around Gjeilo's chord structure and were only fully written down and published after the Chorale's recording sessions. (The score still retains some room for improvisation.)
The idea of a choir providing the chord structure for a jazz solo is not new; in 1994, the Hilliard Ensemble recorded an entire album of Renaissance choral works where famed saxophonist Jan Garbarek improvised in a similar manner. (The opening track, Morales's 'Parce mihi domine') is particularly memorable and effective.) But the treatment of a choir as the third voice in a sort of piano jazz trio is entirely new, and it rightly serves as the grand finale on the Phoenix Chorale's album of Gjeilo's works, 'Northern Lights'.

[@krisnock5747]

Matthew Scott thank you for the kind feedback and the information! Keep an eye on Bath Spa University Choir's RUclips page for more videos, next month we will be singing Faure's Requiem in the same venue, Bath Abbey

[@tonyholland9664]

Beautiful playing and singing. The Malmesbury Community Choir will be performing this haunting piece at their Christmas Concert in Malmesbury Abbey on 5/12/15.