Dona nobis pacem/Sancta Civitas, by Ralph Vaughan Williams

[annathepiper]

This is the album virtually loaned to me by ceallaighgirl--to which I have now listened, since I had the chance to fire it up on my iPod today.

Amazon.com's page for this album says it's actually two distinct pieces, which I hadn't really noticed while listening to it; I didn't get a feel that the earlier tracks weren't related to the latter ones. But I guess this is a consequence of coming into this on a completely cold listen, without any clue about what I was about to hear.

Overall reactions... wow. Big grand operatic glory here. Thinking about it, I think I actually liked "Dona nobis pacem" better than "Sancta Civitas"; the tracks in the former stood out for me clearer than in the latter, in terms of stuff that made me jolt and go "ooh, that's cool". The musical impact was more impressive there. Oddly enough it made me think of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack--not because I think this sounds like movie music, but rather, because I find myself thinking that Howard Shore did a bangup job coming close to this kind of grandeur and scope writing the LotR score, which makes me respect him more as a composer. Because damn. If you're writing a musical score for movies, and you can come even into the same ballpark of musical magnitude as what's on this album, that's a mighty impressive feat.

Given that, I find it ridiculously amusing that the second movement of "Dona nobis pacem" is called "Beat! Beat! Drums!" It does of course make me think of the Great Big Sea ditty called "Beat the Drum". Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a GBS fangirl. Y'all know that already. But I was amused nevertheless. ;)

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes. If that's Bryn Terfel singing the lead on "Dona nobis pacem"--damn. That is indeed a fabulous resounding baritone. And although I liked "Dona nobis pacem" better, I must also add that I caught some really neat contributions from the bass section of the chorale in "Sancta Civitas"--the sort of deep, low, rumbling notes that sound like they're coming right up from the very bones of the earth. Beautiful and haunting chorale work all over the album in general, and to hear English lyrics was an unexpected surprise--but I guess it should not be one, given that Mr. Vaughan Williams is a British composer, yes?

The only vaguely annoying part of the listening experience was that since I was listening to the album on my iPod, and since the pieces seemed to have been constructed for each movement to flow right into the next, that inevitable little 'skip' when the iPod changes tracks kept throwing off the music. Feh. There must be a way to take care of that--I know there is in iTunes, but I haven't managed to find an equivalent setting for the iPod itself.

All in all, not sure I'd take this on as a permanent addition to my collection, but I can definitely respect the work, and I'd like to hear Mr. Terfel on more pieces!

Comments

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I totally forgot to mention that Sancta Civitas was in there with that too! (I had originally zipped it to send to my little brother to hear.)

More replies to come later on after work. :-)

[annathepiper]

I think you'd mentioned both titles in the earlier thread we had about it, so I should have clued in. But no worries! And thanks for sharing the music with me.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

It's Mr. Vaughn Williams, btw. And yeah, he does some darned fine work.

[annathepiper]

Correction noted, thanks. ^_^

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Err, except for the fact that I apparenlty can't spell today. But, yeah, 2 last names. And he is most definitively a Brit.

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

And his first name isn't prounced the way it looks, hehehe. It's "Rayf".

Aaaah wonderful English composers!

[annathepiper]

Ah okay, I'm familiar with that pronunciation courtesy of Ralph Fiennes. ^_^

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

How funny, I never thought of that. Actually, I've never heard Ralph Fiennes name said aloud (I've always thought of him as the-man-who-is-very-pretty).

[annathepiper]

He is certainly very pretty, that's for sure. ;)

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wonder if the majority of Britons named Ralph are "Rafe" and it's just us Americans who want to pronounce the L..

[annathepiper]

One does begin to wonder! But with a sample set of only two, it's hard to say. :)

[annathepiper]

Heh! No worries--it took me a second glance to catch the problem myself.

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

R Vaughan Williams ... *violent twitch*

ahem. Don't mind me. choir practice flashbacks.

[annathepiper]

Oh dear. Not so much with the Vaughan Williams, then?

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

He's *really* hard to sing. Painfully so.

[annathepiper]

I see! How so? I haven't had any vocal training so I can only begin to guess--breath control? Range?