Wife and Husband at Fish Market

Wife and Husband at Fish Market, a photo by daengkm on Flickr.

ordinary life in Manado

Libera - New Dawn

Yet more from Libera for my survival kit of their so peaceful, soothing and incredibly accomplished music. Every voice has, as ever, clearly been trained to perfection for its contribution to the overall fabulous blend, and in their skill the soloists really do defy belief, especially for singers who are so young. My only concern is the complexity of some of the solos and therefore the pressure for those who will be singing them live in high-profile concerts, etc. However, these appear always to have been risks that were carefully calculated by Libera's Director thus far, and I guess the same will be true again. New Dawn equals the very best of Libera to date, and that is praise indeed.
Libera - New Dawn

Libera - Angel Voices

Libera is a non-profit all-boy vocal group directed by Robert Prizeman. Their name comes from their signature song "Libera," which is based on the Libera Me portion of the Requiem Mass. "Libera" is the Latin word for "free". Most of the boys in Libera come from the parish choir of St. Philip's, Norbury, in South London. The albums, tours and TV appearances the boys do as Libera are in addition to their regular singing as part of the full choir of men and boys at parish choral services.According to a Songs of Praise TV special that aired January 25, 2009, the choir has approximately forty boys between the ages of seven and sixteen. This includes new boys who are not yet ready to fully participate in albums or tours. Nineteen boys participated in their 2008 US tour. Twenty four boys sang for the album New Dawn. The boys come from a variety of backgrounds in the London area, attending many different schools, including local state schools, church schools and performing arts schools. Libera recruits boys from any religious denomination and even those with no religious affiliations. Most boys join between the ages of seven and ten, however older boys may join if they have the appropriate singing abilities.
Libera - Angel Voices 

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The former are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.
Unlike other radicals, such as Richard Wagner or Hugo Wolf who fit the enfant terrible mould, Bruckner showed extreme humility before other musicians, Wagner in particular. This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward context for his music.
His works, the symphonies in particular, had detractors, most notably the influential Austrian critic Eduard Hanslick, and other supporters of Johannes Brahms, who pointed to their large size, use of repetition,and Bruckner's propensity to revise many of his works, often with the assistance of colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which versions he preferred. On the other hand, Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers, including his friend Gustav Mahler, who described him as "half simpleton, half God"
Bruckner – Messe e-moll • Motetten

Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa is a piece of music composed by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in 1977, scored for two violins, string orchestra, and prepared piano. Tabula Rasa, a philosophical concept, is Latin, roughly translating to “clean slate”. The first movement, called “Ludus”, revolves around a theme that is repeated throughout the movement, each time longer and more elaborated, building up to a climax at the end. The second movement, called “Silentium”, consists of a somber and ethereal part played on the violins, interspersed with haunting chords on the prepared piano, gradually thinning out and fading eventually into silence. The entire piece is approximately twenty-six minutes in length.

To a certain extent, Tabula Rasa was Gidon Kremer’s suggestion.When the musicians saw the score, they cried out: "Where is the music?" But then they went on to play it very well. It was beautiful; it was quiet and beautiful. - Arvo Pärt

http://www.mediafire.com/?mvzxdrlv6ts

Maurice Duruflé – Requiem

The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for SATB choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists. It exists in three orchestrations: one for organ alone, one for organ with string orchestra and optional trumpets, harp and timpani, and one for organ and full orchestra. At the time of commission, Duruflé was working on an organ suite using themes from Gregorian chants. He incorporated his sketches for that work into the Requiem, which uses numerous themes from the Gregorian "Mass for the Dead." Nearly all the thematic material in the work comes from chant.
Maurice Duruflé – Requiem

Cloudburst - Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre is one of the leading lights of the choral music scene. The 14 text-centered, emotionally-charged works on this well-filled disc suggest why. Outwardly conservative, his music is full of fascinating harmonic explorations, dynamic shifts, and rhythmic nuances that make them fun to sing and absorbing to listen to. The texts are drawn from poets of the stature of e.e. cummings, Octavio Paz, Garcia Lorca, and Emily Dickinson, among others. And they pack emotional power, as in When David Heard, whose Biblical text is illuminated by powerful tiered dynamics. He’s adept at tonal contrasts as well, the soaring sopranos in Sleep have their counterparts in a firm bass line. In Cloudburst he adds piano and percussion to the unaccompanied chorus to dramatic effect, and in some works, such as Cummings' "hope, faith, life, love" he chooses to set only a handful of the poem's text, with harmonic movements and other unexpected twists focusing attention. The fine English chorus, Polyphony, is at their best here, clearly relishing the inventiveness of the music, and the sound is from Hyperion's top drawer. --Dan Davis 

Eric Whitacre - Cloudburst