New choral piece from the nether regions of the Antipodes

[Soubasse]

A local choir I've been involved with on and off for the past few years has put a clip of one of the pieces I wrote for them onto their YouTube channel.

Lumina specialise mainly in Early (Medieval/Renaissance) and Contemporary repertoire. They've approached expressions of interest from many local and national composers and this is the first piece I wrote for them. It's written on excerpts from the ancient Hindu astrology texts.

The freaky thing is that only last night, I was sitting down with the laptop with Sony Vegas open and was trying to put together a clip of this same piece! Then, I arrive at work this morning to see an email from Lumina's Director saying that they've put up their clip on YouTube - and it was practically identical to what I was thinking!! (I wouldn't have thought of subtitles).

http://www.youtube.com/user/LuminaVo.../0/DVrhXfEsi78
The above link is their YT channel page, if it doesn't work (and it sometimes hasn't for me), try the public one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVrhXfEsi78

Do let me know when you've watched it too because now that my secret identity has been revealed, I'll have to kill you afterwards! .

Seriously, I hope this may find favour with those vocally or chorally minded.

Kind regards to all,
Matt

[wljmrbill]

Enjoyed this performance very much. Great vocal blending of harmony that you achieved with this peice. It would take a good group of good singers to do this justice and they do.

[Contratrombone64]

Nether regions inDEED

[Soubasse]

Thanks bill - I've always enjoyed the potential that semitones offer in a-capella choral music, especially from suspensions to resolutions. It is of course, rather derivative of Arvo Pärt but I hope there are enough new(ish) things in there for it to be interesting. They are a good group. I was stoked when I heard this because it took the piece much further than I'd imagined.

Nether regions inDEED

Could've been worse. Another forum I'm on, the only other Sth Aust member refers to Adelaide as "The crotch of the lucky country" !!)

[toto]

Hey – nicely done! I particularly like the sense of restraint – you haven't been tempted to put everything you know into one piece. (Well, I'm assuming that to be the case ~ lol!)

[Soubasse]

Yep, that is the case. The other piece I've recently written for this group is very different.

Then there's the Requiem I wrote many years ago - that did have practically everything I knew at the time put into it, which is probably why the complete performances lasted around 55mins! It's been a very good discipline for me writing these shorter, smaller pieces and still getting enough out of it.

[Dorsetmike]

Very nice sound. I browsed through the other works on their site and some of the works featured brought back some pleasant memories for me of the days I sang counter tenor in small choral groups. Particularly I liked John Bennet's "Weep O Mine Eyes"

http://www.youtube.com/user/LuminaVo...43/dNnhnN4fBmo

also the Weelkes and Purcell pieces. Thanks for the link!

[teddy]

Thoroughly enjoyable Matt. Thanks for the experience.

teddy

[Contratrombone64]

Matt - you need to come on a vacation to the east coast, ok?

[Soubasse]

Matt - you need to come on a vacation to the east coast, ok?

And do what exactly? We were actually there at the start of this year, but it was a condensed three day visit with little time for socialising whilst we were keeping our young boys entertained (which always seemed to involve spending a hell of a lot of money). I didn't get to see any of the family friends I used to visit in Sydney, let alone do an "organ crawl" as I have done before (some places have changed a bit in the last 15 years!)

@Mike: I've known and/or known of and/or sung with a lot of this group's members from the days (many aeons ago) of the Uni Choral Society. This group (Lumina) are wonderfully meticulous in their performance practice and it certainly shows. I was really very chuffed when they contacted me in more recent years to write for them (especially in the light of some nasty lies about me that have been flying around this oft pathetic and incestuous little city). Back in the glory days we (the uni choir) were a huge group under the direction of one of the best conductors to have ever happened to this city in a long time - a marvellous woman from the UK (who sadly had to leave us to return home a long time ago). Those of us who were there at that time have those very happy memories and experiences to draw from (myself included). There's an innate joy in being able to go to a pub or some other social event with folk like that and suddenly burst into song at the slightest provocation (one of the many things I love about the UK, Wales in particular )

@teddy: Thank you - glad you liked it.

[annapope]

Thanks Matthew. Lumina really enjoyed singing this piece - especially in the gorgeous acoustic of Sevenhill Church. Yes, it would be lovely to sing it in Gloucester Cathedral, but not sure we'll ever make it over there on tour...

[annapope]

I'm so glad you have enjoyed our musical offerings Mike. We love sharing some of this gorgeous choral repertoire with the world. There is so much wonderful music to sing :-)

[annapope]

I miss Hilary too - she was such an inspiration!

[Soubasse]

Aha! You're here - that didn't take you long Hope you like it here!

MPA

[Montefalco]

Wow Matt - wonderful, beautiful piece.
Glad to hear Australians producing music such as this. Keep up the good work.