Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow

[Corno Dolce]

Well gang,

I post this vid from the "Tube" - Yes, it is the choir of which I am a member of - And we were a small group for this recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...=jOl_thQDg4E#!

The composer is the Choral Conductor himself.


And some info on Natalia Hassler who has written some great choral music: Born and educated in Germany, now living in St. Petersburg, Russia.


The text of the piece we are singing is: "My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord."

[wljmrbill]

Excellent performance..well done.Must be great to be among this group.

[Corno Dolce]

Thank you dear and kind sir.

Oh yes, it is an honour to be with this group. Since this recording there has been a turnover in personnel - Half of them have gone on to more prestigious careers i.e. Opera Houses all over the world.

[sandal]

thank you corno dolce,

uplifting music, and what a choir! congratulations!

tried to guess which one you were; to no avail, of course

also listened to haszler's music. thank you again.

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Sandal,

The new members since the recording have even bigger voices - Now the Choir Gallery explodes with mind-dazzling color and dynamics - At "full throttle" it can take ones breath away.

[teddy]

CD That was beautiful. What pleasure you must get singing in that choir

teddy

[Corno Dolce]

It is a pleasure but also a responsibility - You have to be on your toes the whole time. Now that I don't work as an organist/music leader of services anymore, I feel free to reflect on the, imo, real importance: In the Choir as in the Orchestra, its the group effort that counts - Yes, the conductor facilitates that which is to be the final product but he alone cannot create the beauty without the efforts of the singers/instrumentalists.

I must also add the music that you hear is harmonic improvisation based on a melody(from the Obikhod - Book of Liturgical Chants). (Most of the melodies are written by those who are unknown). Just like a portion of JSBach's works are based on melodies by those who were unknown even to him!

In the specific piece that you hear you have a verse and then a refrain, verse and refrain, verse and refrain aka solo and chorus, solo and chorus, solo and chorus. Here it is Music that is the Handmaiden of the Word - Through the Music your eyes are opened to the Beauty of the Word. The Word is that which inspires the Music to be Beautiful.

I shall end by stressing that the sum(the end product) of all the voices in the choir is exponentially better than if it were only sung by solo voice.