Monday, April 23, 2007

Marian motets

With May coming soon, most choirs would be selecting mainly Marian motets for their practice. Sacred Heart Choir wouldn't be any different, as the next Sunday Mass will be on May 13, which is also dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. Several versions of Ave Maria comes to mind once I looked at CPDL. However we are constrained to short pieces (scores not more than 2 pages) and no more than 4 voices, given the size of the congregation and the small number of singers that we have. If you have other suitable suggestions, do drop me a note or leave a comment.

In the meantime, here are several clips of Chanticleer (one of my favourite groups), singing Franz Biebl's Ave Maria as well as another unknown track. I posted a similar clip by another group here, and I have to admit, Biebl's Ave Maria never fails to give me goosebumps whenever I hear it sung. Beautiful!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice. When are u going to attempt it? : )

The Hymn Selector said...

Errrr... which one do you want us to attempt? Biebl? I think that is too long for the size of Sacred Heart Chapel. However, we did Arcadelt's Ave Maria on May 13 and received pretty good feedback. Now I'm wondering what to do for Pentecost Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you mastered the first verse most of the rest is repeats. I like chanticleer's "Amen" buildup and the beautiful vocalise on "mortis" near the end.
As for Pentecost, well, as a guide, we in CTK here in Reading are singing Vogler's Veni Sancte Spiritus for the Offertory and Farrant's O Sacrum Convivium. Recessional is Saint-Saens' Tollite Hostias. Some female sopranos will sing some polyphonic parts.