For years I sang in choirs whose repertoire varied from Gregorian chant to Christmas songs to occasional “modern” music such as Aaron Copland. I stopped singing in choirs over six years ago. My “break” with choral music was mostly due to my desire to sing something a little more contemporary and maybe have a solo, as well as the frivolous reason of time. See, the last choir I sang in would rehearse at 8 am on Sunday morning. No one, not even the most experienced of singers can sing warm up at that hour.
But the intention of this post is not to bash on choir music, nor write about my break up with it. It is actually to let those of you who might be interested in choral music, and more specifically in polychoral music, that there is a wonderful piece, Miserere mei, Deus written by Gregorio Allegri. Obviously, the subject matter (given the title) might seem depressing, but in listening to it, I find it strangely uplifting. In fact, I’ve been looping it on the iPod over and over, listening to its nuances and trying to decipher the single, yet unified voices.
There, consider this a recommendation. Be forewarned, though, this is Gregorian chant, it is music that was composed sometime in the early 1600. It ain’t your Granma’s rock-n-roll either. Enjoy.
Oh and by the way, in case you begin to think I’m some Gregorian chant freak, I’ve finally “broken” the spell of the miserere and am listening Tell Me About It by Joss Stone. Get down!