Messiaen: O sacrum convivium (performed by the EVCH)
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2014
- Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992): O sacrum convivium
Performed by the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki:
Iida Antola, soprano
David Hackston, countertenor
Martti Anttila, tenor
Valter Maasalo, baritone
Live recording 6/2014 in Olaus Petri Church, Finland
www.englishvocalconsort.com/ - Hudba
Man, it takes some guts to do this as solo quartet. Kudos.
There's an additional clarity to it with only 4...I'm amazed it's only four parts with no divisi to begin with...God do I ever love Messiaen's harmonies...They're heartbreakingly lovely...
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But ya GOTTA have the right space to sing it in with this few performers...This was a great choice
No kidding! I'm floored!
Tears streaming down my face. Thanks for your stellar artistry and bravery!!!
Thank you, Thomas! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and that this performance continues to touch people after all these years.
I love how the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki is doing a piece in Latin by a Frenchman. Music truly is the universal language!
This is incredible! Such a big sound with only four voices!
The first time I heard this piece I thought, wow Messiaen wrote the most sublime and majestic "Hallelujah" that I'll ever hear. This is def my favorite performance and recording of it.
Glorious. The sounds Messiaen constructed in contemplation of the divine almost seem to reach beyond the limits of human perception. There's an almost terrifying psychadelic quality to the music, not in the sense of purely evoking a "trip" but an altered state of consciousness, one almost capable of comprehending concepts like omnipotence and eternity.
What a revelation to hear this piece with one voice on a part! The clarity is incredible, and I applaud your sheer nerve! Exquisite!
What a remarkable performance! The tuning of each individual singer brings a clarity not easily achieved in a choral ensemble, or in most solo quartets for that matter. Simply beautiful.
Yes.
It utterly evades me as to why Messiaen wrote this to be performed by massive choirs. If he had lived to hear this version….I can’t even….
It's amazing how rich the harmonies are in this piece when you realize that it is only four parts. My all-time favorite choral moments from Messiaen are the lovely chorale in Mvt 2 of La Transfiguration (Configuratum corpori claritatis suae) and the entirety of Mvt 7 (Choral de la sainte montagne). The latter in particular has some unspeakably beautiful harmonies.
Indeed. It's perhaps a rare Messiaen piece that gives me some insight into his harmony, pared back to four parts while the rich texture is still there.
Such a heartfelt performance! Thank you!
Amazing, amazing. We get not just the grandeur of the music but an extraordinary intimacy. Quite a revelation to hear the work performed by such a small ensemble.
This is outstanding guys! terrific work!
This is an incredible performance of an incredible piece of music.
Incredible voice and breathing control. No hiding places with just four voices !
The whole soprano line from 0:57 to 1:11 sounds like performed on Ondes Martenot: pure awe!
Oh, wow!!! Only four.
Wonderful! It’s difficult enough to get the phrasing, legato and breathing sorted out in a small choir (I know; I’ve sung this in a small choir of 8), but this performance is excellent.
This is one of my favorite performances of one of my favorite pieces of music.
Such harmony, awesome indeed 💖
Wonderful performance from a superb ensembel. Bravo!
So beautiful!!!!
Simply stunning
You guys are Amazing!
Wonderful performance of this technically quite challenging piece and as already many have stated, very brave of these excellent singers.
Mesmerising... Such clarity with conviction .. Thank you for sharing😇
lovely
Agree with David Perry. Guts indeed. Well done!
It sucks to have tastes so eclectic that one can find something as profound as this and find so little comment on it. Even Messiaen miscalculated the power of the writing. His version was for massive choirs of upwards 80 performers. Yet this quartet finds the soul of it in is smallness
And it's minimalism helps me understand Messiaen's harmonies more than any other from his amazing oeuvre.
Wow
Does anyone know why there are menorahs in the back when it's a Christian church? I could be wrong but it seems very uncommon to see a church with a cross and menorahs.
How do you say "incredible!" in Icelandic??
Why Icelandic, these are Finns.
So difficult to keep in tune (cf the other such work Kenneth Leighton, Drop, drop slow tears.) Part of the problem is solved in being certain that repeated notes don't go flat...
Wonderful sound. Doesn't quite sound as dissonant as sung by a choir, but still sounds great!
Thanks, Alex! Glad you enjoyed the video! Having sung it both in choirs and in this performance, I think when you have only one singer on each part it's much easier to tune the chords properly, so the piece isn't actually as dissonant as it sometimes sounds :)
David Hackston: I’ve listened to this version over and over and over again. It veritably breaks my heart every time. It may very well be the best version of one of the beautiful pieces of music ever written. Considering Messiaen’s ease with smaller ensembles, it’s odd that he would have opted for the ‘big’ choral sound with O Sacrum. The clarity and intimacy you guys brought to this would have left him sobbing in gratitude. You guys were really smart in recognizing what was always CLEARLY the WAY this was meant to be performed
@@ashbell1046 Thank you so much, what a lovely comment!
David Hackston I’m honored!
Now the embarrassing question...Which part are you singing? I can rule out one member using simple heuristics. LOL...But BTW, she is AMAZING. That penultimate crescendo....Like a bell.
Again, I can’t begin to tell you how many of my fellow musician friends I’ve insisted listen to this performance....It’s absolutely seminal. Like Yuja Wang’s version of Ravel’s piano concerto under Dutoit, you kind of hate having a ‘favorite’ because it’s unintentionally dismissive of all the hard effort that others have put into these works. But ce la vie...Like the tag-line from the movie Highlander...There can be only one
Sort of.
Thanks again....
(:
C'est pas mal ...mais c'est écrit pour choeur...là , trop de sopran ...bien quand même ! :)