Choral Public Domain Library

I thought it might be nice to have a topic for fabulous choral pieces we are currently entranced by. At the moment, mine are:
William Mundy's Vox Patris, and Hugh Kellyk's Gaude Flore Virginali, both Renaissance sacred pieces. Do other people similarly have pieces they want to gush about?

Well, I could quite easily gush about those two myself - perhaps I should put the Kellyk on my "to do" list, since I have a copy of its unique source somewhere. And not so much currently entranced, but having reached the realisation that if the trance lasts long enough the object has become immovably part of one's life: Byrd's Plorans plorabit: the old boy supremely at the top of his game in every note, and coolly picking the most blameless Biblical texts to point out to James VI and Anne that they were merely mortal.

DF

On a seasonal note, Gustav Holst's fantasy Christmas Day is a nifty piece, and includes among some others two fine old carols that are not sung quite so much anymore, presumably because they are deemed sexist and hence politically incorrect (Good Christian Men, Rejoice and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen).

On a non-seasonal note, I've lately acquired a, well, unique CD, "Odi Et Amo," a piece (song cycle? rock operette? modern oratorio?) by Uģis Prauliņš (a Lithuanian, I believe). It defies categorization, between the liturgical and classical Latin libretto, the choral singing, and the rock (taken broadly) accompaniment. Maybe if Queen and Bach collaborated they would come up with something sort of similar, or perhaps if Jesus Christ Superstar took a different turn and ended up a few counties away. I'm not really convinced it's great music, nor yet a great recording (there are a few distinct lapses in the audio engineering, with nasty clipping on a few of the vocal takes). It is at least quite interesting and, at least for me, a wee bit addictive.

I'm happy to hear about favorite pieces in general (esp. a cappella), even if they've moved beyond current entrancement to being a favorite for the long term. Thanks for posting!

I haven't sung that particular piece by Byrd and will bump it to the top of the stack.

Thanks for suggesting the Holst--I think I've sight-sung the Holst (with piano only, though) and it was a nice piece. Haven't met a piece by Holst I haven't liked.

The Lithuanian work sounds intriguing. I am curious if a collector I know has the recording...

Another piece I'm liking these days--Whitacre's Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sPxAGFp_IE
(esp. 5:40 et seq)

At the moment I'm [singing & studying] particular interested in Commissa Mea Pavesco by Filipe de Magalhães.

You can find it here:
http://www.ensino.uevora.pt/jpa/PAMMsco ... ssaMea.pdf (score)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipe_de_Magalh%C3%A3es (general info on the composer)

Give some opinions on the score. (I'll open a new topic on the subject).

Greetings,
Luís Henriques

A nice score! I just realized there are no Magalhaes scores on CPDL:
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Fili ... lh%C3%A3es

Would it be possible to get the Commissa Mea or other works contributed it to CPDL? I've sung Commissa Mea, and also Asperges Me and Vidi Aquam (both SATB, and would love to sing new pieces by Magalhaes.

I'm planning to transcribe some portuguese polyphony works. I'm having some trouble with finale and with some theoretical issues on the transcription. Next Summer I'll probably have some works finished that can be added to CPDL.

That would be much appreciated!

The fab pieces we sight-sang tonight included:
Davy: In Honore Summae Mater (Eton Choirbook) -- I wanna sing it again, like, now!
Javier Busto: Pater Noster
Tchaikovsky: Pater Noster

Stolzer, O Admirable Commercium, SAATB. You can hear the opening at http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue ... pid=627858 (I have no affiliation whatsoever with the people on the recording).

These last two months I have been entranced by these ones:

The Lent at Évora Cathedral

I'm familiar with the Ecce and a couple of the others but will check the rest out--thanks for the suggestions.

Tides of Ocean, by Matthew Orlovich:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd-xa_Dli2s

Hjaoningarima (Icelandic):
http://thechoirgirl.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... ecret.html

Kalējs kala debesīs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pACSXrGucBo

We have 8 professional-level sight-singers (SSAATTBB) meeting 6 times this summer to sight-sing non-Renaissance music for fun. Can people suggest pieces that are available on CPDL? As examples, last year we sang movements from the Martin double-chorus mass, Elgar, Stanford, and a bunch of other nifty music. I'm trying to order the afore-mentioned Tides of Ocean and possibly Mantyjarvi's shipwreck piece if it can be condensed for 8v. Would love to hear suggestions people may have for CPDL gems.

William Hawley: O Magnum Mysterium:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... =classical