Dear ACLumsden,

In defense of the ensemble interpretation, what you hear is a large ensemble of women who had less than a week singing together, most under a new conductor, and some, perhaps, that were new to the experience (and thus perhaps overly careful or "in the notes," so to speak). So before dismissing the rendition entirely, please be aware that these factors played a part.

Can one name an average pianist who can pull of, say, Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu flawlessly and with all its … [More]

Gosh... this interpretation is definitely NOT a result of the Solesmes method (old or new!). The quelismas are done like the Mozarabic and Ambrosian styles, i.e. like quick mordents. The rhythm and phrasing is also rather dry and unemotional. Why is it that whenever we consider Latin Chant, we think so little of its composers as to consign them to emotionless entities of the past? After all, they were human beings with neurological capability for emotion just like us (even more, since they … [More]

"BUT EVERY WOMAN PRAYING OR PROPHESYING WITH HER HEAD NOT COVERED, DISGRACETH HER HEAD: FOR IT IS ALL ONE AS IF SHE WERE SHAVEN. FOR IF A WOMAN BE NOT COVERED, LET HER BE SHORN. BUT IF IT BE A SHAME TO A WOMAN TO BE SHORN OR SHAVEN, LET HER COVER HER HEAD."
(1 Cor. 11: 5-6)

Wunderbar!!! Einfach herrlich!
Vor allem auch, weil der Chor wie die Kantorin das Tempo gehalten haben, nichts schlimmer als wenn man den Choral so zieht, dass man dabei einschlafen könnte.

So ist er frisch und jung wie immer