Spem in Alium
spem in alium nunquam habui praeter in te, Deus Israel... words to the effect that "I have no hope in other than you , God of Israel..."
For 40 voices -- five 8-part choirs! It was written by Thomas Tallis in the 1550's or thereabouts, complex, magnificent...the entire repetoire of Elizabethean music fascinates me...I have two recordings, Tallis Scholars on Gimmel and Kings College Choir on London. I think that the Tallis Scholars do it better.
spem in alium nunquam habui praeter in te, Deus Israel... words to the effect that "I have no hope in other than you , God of Israel..."
For 40 voices -- five 8-part choirs! It was written by Thomas Tallis in the 1550's or thereabouts, complex, magnificent...the entire repetoire of Elizabethean music fascinates me...I have two recordings, Tallis Scholars on Gimmel and Kings College Choir on London. I think that the Tallis Scholars do it better.
)My latest two discoveries :
Lizz Wright with her debut "Salt". Great voice, hairraise guaranteed. I´d say it´s a slow Jazz album.
So is Silje Nergaard "At first light". Not a big and massive voice like Lizz Wright but just very very special.
If you like Norah Jones definitely check both out.
Lizz Wright with her debut "Salt". Great voice, hairraise guaranteed. I´d say it´s a slow Jazz album.
So is Silje Nergaard "At first light". Not a big and massive voice like Lizz Wright but just very very special.
If you like Norah Jones definitely check both out.
It surprises me that some CD's are often mentioned as being good recorded ones, while I can't stand them. Is it my set or... ?
I think Eva Cassidy-Songbird sounds plain awful. The music is ok, but the voice very distorted and noisy. The Norah Jones CD (come away with me) is IMHO very processed (or does she really have such a voice?) and so is one CD of Patricia Barber (I forgot the name, sometimes a very artificial sounding vocal, the instruments are very ok though). I agree that the soundstaging of the Norah Jones CD is good.
I like old vocal music. Like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Some new vocal music I like: Fiona Apple, Beady Belle, Portishead, Clannad, Kate bush...
Fedde
I think Eva Cassidy-Songbird sounds plain awful. The music is ok, but the voice very distorted and noisy. The Norah Jones CD (come away with me) is IMHO very processed (or does she really have such a voice?) and so is one CD of Patricia Barber (I forgot the name, sometimes a very artificial sounding vocal, the instruments are very ok though). I agree that the soundstaging of the Norah Jones CD is good.
I like old vocal music. Like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Some new vocal music I like: Fiona Apple, Beady Belle, Portishead, Clannad, Kate bush...
Fedde
Knowing that this is an extremely old thread, but I just couldn't resist revealing a secret love, and this directly from a motion picture soundtrack: the closing credits to the movie The Ninth Gate is a vocalise with string orchestra accompaniment. The vocalist is Sumi Jo, a lyric coloratura soprano of note. I am not really an opera aficionado, so you can factor that into your assessment. Even the director (Roman Polanski) mentions her closing theme as a notable point in closing the movie in the director's voice-over track. The track, which starts at 02:09:15 in the Blu-Ray version, is effectively in a 4.1, with suppressed center channel.
This track has been overlooked, I'm afraid, which seems to happen so much on cinema soundtracks.
To give you some sort of feel for the quality of this recording, I play it back at 0 dB on my preamp, which would be almost deafeningly loud if it was virtually any other audio CD. But this track has hauntingly beautiful instrumentation, and the vocalist...actually makes the orchestra accompaniment sound inadequate. It's very difficult to describe, but that's almost as if she shouldn't have that much range and control...and sheer beauty of voice: it's just amazing when turned up to concert level.
The opening harpsichord + piano accompaniment is the closest thing to the perfect opening instrumentation that I could imagine, and the string basses just send shivers up your spine as the piece progresses. Leave your subs on for this one since the fundamentals go well below 40 Hz on the string bass soli. Listen for the background studio noises closely in this one, and listen to it more than once: you will be amazed.
The burning log in the background of the titles is also very entertaining while listening.
Enjoy!
This track has been overlooked, I'm afraid, which seems to happen so much on cinema soundtracks.
To give you some sort of feel for the quality of this recording, I play it back at 0 dB on my preamp, which would be almost deafeningly loud if it was virtually any other audio CD. But this track has hauntingly beautiful instrumentation, and the vocalist...actually makes the orchestra accompaniment sound inadequate. It's very difficult to describe, but that's almost as if she shouldn't have that much range and control...and sheer beauty of voice: it's just amazing when turned up to concert level.
The opening harpsichord + piano accompaniment is the closest thing to the perfect opening instrumentation that I could imagine, and the string basses just send shivers up your spine as the piece progresses. Leave your subs on for this one since the fundamentals go well below 40 Hz on the string bass soli. Listen for the background studio noises closely in this one, and listen to it more than once: you will be amazed.
The burning log in the background of the titles is also very entertaining while listening.
Enjoy!
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