Ave Marias

I don't know if it is customary to bring together in choral music these pieces in one concert. But, what an idea. This is my first time hearing these together. What a treat. What an idea.

Bruckner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbHKnUhdv8g
Perhaps angels sound like the singers in this. At times the angels here are so soft. Other times they are so loud. 3:04 on Utube. Maybe it is my Utube listening that goes from so soft to so loud. But, what of that.

Lauridsen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVj9iXQ3eQI&feature=related
As with all these pieces, this is beautiful with the bass taking the cake at many parts. Well, actually the sopranos also take the cake. Everything in between takes it also. This is so beautifully written and what a crescendo. 7:56 on Utube.

Beibel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVBsNUXg_YM
This one is clean and unique. You can sing along. 7:39 on Utube.
Wish it was longer. Has a beautiful solo part. Don't want it to end but the ending is good too.

Rachmaninoff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2H7R3Fmd6Q
Perhaps I listen to this too intently. It gives me a headache instead of a feeling of peace. Maybe I am trying too hard to understand the words. But, actually, of course it is a wonderful piece. 2:40 on Utube when sung by some. 4:57 when sung by the Russians in one Utube version. There is lots of la la la in this. The basses are written to be wonderful in this.

Compare and contrast -
The first one is from Russia and transcends if you know what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2H7R3Fmd6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8DGwKjeyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8-qQPc1j7A

BOGORODITSE DEVO, raduisya, Blagodatnaya Mariye, Gospod s Toboyu.
Blagoslovenna Ty v zhenakh, i blagosloven plod chreva Tvoyego,
yako Spasa rodila esi dush nashikh.

REJOICE O VIRGIN Theotokos, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou has borne the Saviour of our souls.

Stravinsky:
The Latin is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kjqO8b1ik
Igor, my Igor. What will you do with this? I understand you did an Old Church Slavonic version and a Latin version. Sacha will have to tell us which she will sing.

Here is some copying from the Internet. I'll investigate more once I learn which Sacha is singing.

Stravinsky's Slavonic Ave Maria is one I consider to be the most beautiful. It's Stravinsky's forth composition of a sacred text. There are several reasons for the Slavonic text setting, but the most simple is that Stravinsky said his prayers in Slavonic as a child. If you've never heard this piece, I recommend you do so. Its simple Phrygian setting (a mode of music or a diatonic scale) is hauntingly peaceful. The first half of the work is set to text, while the second half is a hummed repeat of the first without any pauses (that's the part that makes my heart melt). I sang this piece nearly five years ago, and have since then, grown to love it more and more.

What is Stravinsky going to do with this? Humph! 1:47 minutes on Utube.
The Ave Maria of 1934 for a cappella mixed choir was Stravinsky's fourth setting of a sacred text. He chose to set the text in Slavonic instead of Latin of Russian for several reasons. First, he was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, which proscribed Latin. Second, when he said his nightly prayers as a small child in St. Petersburg, he said them in Slavonic. As he later admitted in his Expositions and Developments, "I do not know how to say it in Russian." He set the Slavonic text for a cappella mixed choir because the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the use of any instruments in the church. As a result of this, and because as he said "I can endure unaccompanied singing in only the most harmonically primitive music," Stravinsky's setting of the Ave Maria is in an extremely simple Phrygian setting. His earlier settings of the Pater Noster (1926) was as simple, but his setting of the Credo (1932) was even more severe, being composed almost as plainchant with fauxbourdon. Because the chorus was accompanied, however, Stravinsky's setting of three psalms in his Symphony of Psalms of 1930 reverts to a more contrapuntal treatment of the voices.

In March 1949, Stravinsky adapted the Ave Maria for a Latin setting which resulted in several changes. First, the work was substantially lengthened from 20 to 35 bars. Second a number of small adjustments were make to the music to fit the different text. Third, Stravinsky added a final "Amen." ~ All Music Guide