Live Recording: Ave Maria (SATB Divisi)

New! I've now had this piece performed and recorded (live) by the Opus 7 ensemble in Seattle, Washington. You can take a listen here.

Original post below:

Hey everyone,

A while back (mid September I believe), I posted my Ave Maria choral arrangement in this forum. Now, I finally have my hands on a live recording! The piece was recorded at my school (Pacific Lutheran University) by 22 singers to whom I taught the piece over a couple of months through weekly rehearsals. I conducted them in the Composers' Forum concert last Saturday. A few notes were not quite right, but overall I'm extremely pleased with the quality of the recording! (Our school has a fantastic concert hall).

You can listen to an mp3 file here and view a PDF file of the piece here.

I would love any feedback or comments you have!

~Jason

Wow! Congratulations on the recording and excellent job on the song itself. I've got nothing bad to say, I'm VERY impressed! Amazing piece :happytears:

I have to agree - it's truly breathtaking. Thanks for the treat! :)

That, my friend, is brilliant.

[flashback to little boy] "Daddy... I wanna be just like him when I grow up!"[/flashback to little boy]

Really good, no criticism. Keep writing!

I think I already commented on the original post as to the high quality of the piece, so judging only the performance, I think you are quite accurate in your assessment. Some notes sound a bit wobbly, but overall a very satisfying performance. I especially enjoyed the texturing, but the voices also hold their own individually. Good choir :).

Wonderful. I particularly like the harmonies in the section that begins at bar 22.

For all the techinical innovations over the last 400 years, it's still bloody difficult to surpass simple, well written music for four-part choir. Incredible.

Bravo, good performance and a great peice. I cant say anything bad about the harmony and voicing for sure. The disonant parts were particularly moving and made me think of one of my favorite living composers. I do have one coment about the way you set the words though, the word "dominus" is sort of has the emphasis on the second sylable when it's usualy the first. Still, I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you all for your feedback! I'm glad that the piece was enjoyed by so many--to me, that means I did my job.

Lizard: yes, the choir did wonderful work--especially for being comprised of 22 people. Hopefully I'll be able to record future choral works with similar ensembles!

Macar: thanks for the feedback. On second thought, you're right that "dominus" has more of the stress on "nus." Hopefully it isn't jarring, though. Would that composer you were thinking of be Lauridsen or Whitacre? I definitely love both of their music, though this piece wasn't intended to be a direct imitation.

Whitacre, that is what I was thinking. The emphasis isnt jarring at all, just a little bit odd. But it certainly artisticaly justifiable. Ideal latin dosent have much sylabic emphasis anyway.

I did enjoy listening to your piece. I did like the use of your dissonances. It was a while ago that I took a listen. I couldn't leave a comment at the time so I came back to do so. I don't remember hearing any strong points of climax (at least from what I remember). Or, maybe it just didn't come across in the performance to me.

Anyway, I did enjoy your work.

I'll probably take another listen to see if my above comments were on track and maybe add more comments.

I love it.

It is absolutly beautiful!!! Congrats on the recording and the piece overall.

So beautiful. Brings goosebumps.

Amazing peice of music! Absolutely beautiful! Did you have a scene in mind when writing this?

Brilliant music and excellent performance! You are such a talanted composer!

Thank you all for your compliments and feedback! Majesty: I was aiming for the climax to be at the words "Mater Dei" at around 2:24.

IHoldThePenHaHa: I wasn't visualizing a particular scene, but I was trying to create a sense of warmth, comfort, and adoration--so I certainly had emotions in mind while I was composing the piece. Hopefully they came through!

Thank you all again :)

Unresolved sus chord in measure nine = I love you.

You're like the next Eric Whitacre I swear to God

BEAUTIFUL!!

Brought a tear to my eye. :happytears:

Absolutely beautiful music, your constantly filled, vertical setting creates this amazing feel of enormous warmth. Also the harmony combined with the different atmospheres you prescribe is great. And congratulations on getting this work performed so nicely :D.

Thanks for letting me hear this,

Niku

Sounds beautiful!!! Almost brought me to tears, thank god!!!

I do have one comment about the way you set the words though, the word "dominus" is sort of has the emphasis on the second sylable when it's usually the first. Still, I really enjoyed this one.

On second thought, you're right that "dominus" has more of the stress on "nus."

The accented syllable is always the second or third from last. The accented syllable is second from last if it contains a long vowel or diphthong OR ends in a consonant, otherwise it is the third from last syllable.

Therefore, in proper Latin, the word is pronounced doh-MEE-noos. (i is a long vowel)

If you're doing church Latin, I can't help you. :p

Church Latin is supposed to be pronounced like Italian.

But then there are times depending on the nationality of the singers you will get German-Latin, French-Latin, Russian-Latin, etc. In such cases, not all the rules for Italian sounding Church Latin will be respected.

Took another listen. And I did hear one point of climax. I personally would have liked at least another one. I did very much enjoy the still and quiet moments. :)

I have always heard, in church music, that the doh is the most stressed... therefore DOH-min-us.

I know nothing about latin, but I can say that I think it sounds better with the second syllable stressed.

Morivou is correct; "DO-mi-nus" is the generally accepted emphasis.

Thank you all again for your feedback! It brings me no small amount of satisfaction to know that my music has been enjoyed this much by all of you :)

I can't stop listening to this, it's beautiful, tear jerking emotional.