Chicago Classical Music

I'm leaving for Hawaii tomorrow on vacation, and I just added 274 new tracks to my iPod.  The old playlist was getting stale.

Here's some of what I added to my iPod:

—Música de Latinoamerica -- a choral sampler mostly from Venezuelan choirs and composers, compiled by the publisher "earthsongs" in Oregon, some of which will appear on our upcoming "Voces latinas" concert in April

—Forestier:  Masses (sung by Chicago a cappella -- still one of my favorite projects ever)

—Fauré Requiem recorded by John Rutter and Cambridge Singers (typical British reserve from the soloists, but great choral singing and orchestral playing)

—Huff:  Requiem, SSAATTBB with soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, plus organ, strings, and chimes (this was a demo that Chicago a cappella did for the publisher Hinshaw Music in 1999-2000 -- terrific music that I later conducted at Unity Temple with the volunteer choir)

—Orban:  Mass No. 6 (SSAA with piano) -- also a demo for Hinshaw by the Budapest Girls' Choir, fabulous, lush, rich singing not normally associated with treble choirs, and a piano part reminiscent of Debussy

—Perotin by the Hilliard Ensemble -- 12th-century French cathedral music, one of my desert-island albums

—Spirituals by Chanticleer (Where the Sun Will Never Go Down) and Chicago a cappella (Go Down, Moses)

—and on the non-classical spectrum:  two by Elton John (Tumbleweed Connection and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), two by Lyle Lovett (Joshua Judges Ruth and Lyle Lovett and his Large Band), a folk compilation called "The Art of Fingerstyle Guitar," two by the Irish band Clannad, one by Anúna, the great Celtic choir from Dublin (semi-classical, really), Enya's "Watermark," a great "Digital Duke" Ellington album from 1987 conducted by Mercer Ellington, and Harry Connick Jr.'s early "We Are In Love."

Aloha! -- Jonathan

Posted in

• Chicago a cappella

• Jonathan Miller's blog
• Add new comment