The Choir Invisible by David Childs

2009 ACDA High School Honors Choir 1. Conducted by Christine Bass


The piece itself is very gorgeous, filled with soaring melodies, colorful harmonies, canon like passages from the choir that sparkle with clean texture and a beautiful piano accompaniment. There are many expressively aching suspensions, piercing cluster chords and lyrical passages that make this piece spectacular in its musical composition. I love the piano intro and outro; it sets the mood for the mysterious, unknown, ethereal soundscape that this piece communicates. The text is apparently from George Eliot's poem of the same name.

Overall, its a great performance from this honors choir. They do a great job in bringing out passages that demand for specific nuances of expression. I really like the ending, canon-like section that starts around 5:14. The choir members do a good job in bringing out each phrase, one after another, with each part complementing the other. One thing I would bring to attention are the notes that tenor's seem to struggle reaching for, particularly 4:30. They are not blending well with the basses. Contrary, the altos and sopranos do a fine job in the first phrase of the piece, with a nice pedal tone from the altos.
I'm sure that the sound of the choir would have been more clearer if one were attending a live performance of this piece.

Lacrimosa, from Mozart's Requiem
Los Altos High School Concert Choir, California

        Overall, the voices of the members of the choir sound very mature and well developed. I was very impressed with their tone, ability to project the sound over the orchestra and direction towards arrival points in the phrase. The choir's interpretation of the requiem is a fairly faithful one and I wouldn't expect to hear such a mature sound from a high school choir. My expectations for the capacity of a choir sound and repertoire have increased!
       However, the text isn't very clear in my opinion. The consonants drown out when the orchestra plays in forte and all I hear are vowels, which aren't perfectly in matched either. I can hear the pitches just fine, just not what it is their saying. A notable exception is at 0:50, when the orchestra quiets down, all the parts are heard with text and all. Also, some phrases seem to be giving certain choir members difficulty in range. The tenors, for the most part sing with a confident, strong tone but certain parts sound like they are struggling to reach the notes, like 1:31 and 2:15, when their part comes in. Its not stable but it has passion. Sopranos at times also seem to be struggling with some parts, but their phrasing is great, carrying the theme eloquently with passion and sorrow.

The Blue Bird Written by Charles Villiers Stanford
2012 South Jersey High School Choir

I imagine that this is the end of the concert, as there are many students, all dressed in different colors, representing different sections of the concert.

Listening to this, I found that the chordal intonation was great. All of the pitches were in tune with the chord and they stayed in key (F#) throughout the entire performance. There was one chord that could have been more clear, in 2:28, but it was a great chord and could have been very moving if the inner voicing's were clearer. The soloists also do a great job in having their melodies soar above the choirs homophonic movement. The diction, to me, is not clear. I don't think I could pick up the majority of words, and that could be because of the size of the choir. The vowels are sort of matching, but its the consonants that create my confusion in the text of the song. I do love the overall tone and character that this choir presents. To me, its clear that this choir likes this piece, as the sound emanates the sentiments, subtleties and character of the piece.

An interesting musical idea that this choir did is the staccato phrase that I think says "pick up the ??". I listened to another version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJcad_kowuI) and that part, "bellow the hill" as the text says, its slower and more marcato. The diction is clearer with this version and the tone more appropriate, not surprising since its performed by the Cambridge Singers. I think the high school's interpretation is also enjoyable and moving, creating a different ambience of sound.