Agnus Dei (SSAATTBB- Live Recording)

My short setting of the Agnus Dei that was performed about 2 months ago by the York County Choral Society. The whole piece revolves around the idea in the first measure (all the voices moving out with an inner pedal). It is essentially comprised of 3 phrases and a (sort of) coda. Most of the melodic action in the first phrase happens in the bass while the soprano steadily moves towards a high G. The final cadence is coloured with a Bb.The second phrase begins the same way as the first one, but with a little modification. The altos and tenors hold two pedal points a M2 away from each other. The sopranos take a more interesting/melodic turn, and the basses descend much more swiftly. The basses then branch in two, quickly followed by altos, tenors and sopranos- who now reach a high Ab. The ascent to this climax was too slow and static to be the final one, so after a brief two measure repose the basses and tenors re-enter in a mutated form of the original motive, quickly followed, two beats later, by altos and sopranos who once again reach the Ab but in a fraction of the time. The rest of the phrase is occupied by a movement back toward that original Cadd4 harmony found at the beginning.The coda was essentially an elongation and fugal treatment of that first idea, finally ending on that middle C that the whole piece started with.Live Recording:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QX_dcxHgWo

Agnus Dei (SSAATTBB- Live Recording)

Very nice! I like the parallel structures through the three repetitions of the verse. One thing I might explore in future projects is working a little closer with the voices as orchestration - considering the different weights and textures of divisi, soli, and other subdivisions thereof to generate a little more textural interest.

I like this, nice idea. The harmonies are interesting as well, in ms 29 the progression is interesting. I sounded more like a IV than a I.

The word tollis should be broken in syllables like tol-lis, I think

i like this

Thanks!

@Christopher- Ye, I agree with you on adding more textural contrast. Usually, I do have sections with different combinations of voices, but in this piece, I wanted an almost static/immutable feeling, and I wanted to see if I could achieve it with a big block of voices.

@jcramer- I'm glad you like it. Nice catch on tollis- I was probably in singing mode when I typed it in, and was thinking about the 'L' comming on the beginning of the second syllable. I'll correct it ASAP.

First, I'm going to say that the choir did not do your music justice - particularly the sopranos, whose excessive vibrato drowned out many of the dissonances written in that range, not to mention covering movement in other voices.

Second, I see that you've used "whitacre" as one of the tags for this piece, so I'm assuming you're aiming for his choral style? You've done a decent job, even outside of that consideration, at creating some interesting and unexpected (but still good) harmonies and progressions. Opening like you did with a unison gradually moving to a dissonance is a nice way to do it, and you treated that opening motivically as well throughout the piece.

You need to work on really understanding the voicing/orchestration, particularly the bass voices. Places like m.21 will sound incredibly muddy even sung by the best of choirs because you have a major second in the low range. When working with dissonance, it's best to build chords like a pyramid - wide spacing on the bottom, getting closer toward the top. That's not a hard and fast rule, but as with many things, it's a good guideline for where to start. Remember, breaking the rules is most effective when you know the rules. Also, I felt like many dynamic shifts were far too sudden and/or forced; in mm.23-4 you crescendo from p to ff - in one bar! You may have heard composers talk about "letting the music write itself" before, and what they're trying to say is make sure that what you're writing makes sense in the context of everything else. Let it naturally build to ff, in other words, over a longer period of time. Try to hear it in your head, and hear how long it takes for a ff to feel like it belongs in the music. This is all very esoteric of course, and you may find it less effective, but give it a try.

...particularly the sopranos, whose excessive vibrato drowned out many of the dissonances written in that range, not to mention covering movement in other voices...

When working with dissonance, it's best to build chords like a pyramid - wide spacing on the bottom, getting closer toward the top.

Congrats on getting your piece performed!

For a choir, the visualization of a pyramid is important in several ways. The pyramid is also relevant when thinking about the balance of each part. Generally, since the higher pitches of the choir are more easily audible and also since generally singers voices carry more when they are in their high range, it is best to make sure that the lower voices in each gender (alto and bass respectively) have more singers than the top parts. This also helps with tuning because generally chords are best tuned when the choir tunes to the bottom note. One example of how you could more easy facilitate this in your music (because it is something that both you and the director of the choir should be thinking about) would be giving the split in the cadence at measure 19 to the sopranos instead of the altos. I think this would have helped solve part of the problem, especially if the director of the choir had also been mindful of this.

Great to hear a recording! It is so much easier to judge music when hearing an actual performance instead of having to "fill in the gaps" of a MIDI recording. I thought the performance was quite good, even if I couldn't hear many of the clustered chord "shimmering" that I would expect looking at the score. As has already been noted, the "Whitacre-esque" technique of moving from unison/consonance to clusters/dissonance was handled with subtlety and skill, and while I find myself growing increasingly tired of that style, I thought you handled it well. I enjoy hearing anything other than Whitacre these days, so it was nice to see that technique in the hands of a different composer. Did I catch some Lauridsen-esque influence in this piece as well? Some of the step-wise motion above slowly moving 1st-inversion chords definitely echoed his "Magnum Mysterium" style. It really helped give the piece more character, I thought. // I do have to disagree with one commenter (Dev), who notes that m. 21 is going to sound "incredibly muddy". While this is partially true, I think that because it is simply the upper voices moved down an octave, the feeling and idea of that measure is captured well. I wasn't particularly aware of any distinct "muddiness" in the recording, so I wouldn't change it. (Although it might be worth moving the bass/tenor parts up an octave and allowing it to "flower" to the Ab chord in a more dramatic fashion). I also enjoyed your avoidance of pure "white note" harmony. While this is a style that I personally enjoy, I've found that wandering to different keys is necessary in order for most people (especially musicians) to enjoy a longer piece. So excellent idea there. (I really enjoyed the lovely surprise at m. 7 when you introduce the first Bb). // Some criticisms: I'd like to see more music during the "Dona nobis pacem" section. You've meditated on the first half of the text so thoroughly that the ending seems (I think) somewhat rushed when we only hear two statements of "Dona nobis pacem". The piece is so lovely, why not more here? Indeed, I think the importance of this piece of text is often overlooked: certainly this is a chance for you to really shine through a plaintive plea "give us peace!". If it were (perhaps) in minor, it could also provide a nice bit of contrast to the first half, giving the piece a nice, rounded tone. // Overall though, I think this is a lovely work, and I'm glad that you had the fortunate experience of having it performed (and getting a good recording). I imagine the singers enjoyed it as much as I did.