[choral music score] The Silver Swan - Orlando Gibbons

The Cambridge Singers

[@DanFiebiger]

Such a stunningly gorgeous piece, and such a profound message at the end, that applies now in modern times as much (or more) than in Gibbon's time. "More Geese than Swans now live, more fools than wise!"

[@ruemitchell72]

The men on AMC’s The Terror sang this after their captain was killed. It was so hauntingly beautiful I had to find out more about it. Thank you.

[@davidkranenburg6853]

I have stuck in my head because of how beautiful this is!

[@ethangibbons1707]

Orlando Gibbons was the furthest back that I could go on my family tree. Yes my surname is Gibbons

[@nihil000nihil]

beautiful, thanks for posting!

[@lucycecil5682]

fuckin slaps dude

[@jasonbraun]

The Terror sent me here.

[@carterjeremy89]

Same.. Such a haunting yet beautiful tune

[@tysonhuntley9387]

I am now part of dat notfication squad

[@trje246]

does anyone know of a video/audio reading of the poem (that isn't in this choral format)? i recall Mike Rowe reciting it on an episode of Dirty Jobs, sadly unsure of which one.

[@bluesap7318]

Who is The Terror? I’m just curious, and probably wouldn’t comment if I didn’t read those comments!

[@tobyoneil1969]

Blue Sap a fucking fantastic horror show from AMC. The books excellent as well but the song doesnt appear in the book.

[@KickyFut]

They're singing this in a different key than what's written... Right? I'm not matching up.

[@neft16]

Yes, they are a singing a semitone above what is written.

[@clivepearce941]

Ah , might explain why the sop was so overpowering. Well spotted.

[@CornishCommando]

Its a semitone up..........

[@sfisher71]

I had the same thought. I performed this 30+ years ago and... tend to remember notes correctly.

[@viledinnist2643]

@JB89 It's quite disturbing to hear something written in F major being sung in F sharp major when you'd more expect it to be in E major with historic pitch. It's interesting that that trick of singing something a semitone up or down actually works, though I very much doubt in this case it would be needed. I did it once with our choir in France after I got fed up with them ending up a semitone flat every time they sang one particular song. Sadly that put the piano part I was playing in a horrible key, but the choir master was happy, and was amazed it worked perfectly. Interestingly enough there is a school of thought that all mammals are born with a type of perfect pitch which is lost by most humans because we don't really need it or use it, unless like me you are exposed to lots of music when very young. I have perfect pitch. If you consider that all young mammals need to recognise the sound of their mother's voice, sich as a lamb knowing it's mum's bleat from hundreds of others, it makes sense. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1323575/Babies-tune-into-the-art-of-talking-with-gift-of-perfect-pitch.html

[@bonbon2225]

The tempo is way too slow but it sounds nice I guess

[@tbridge001]

+Jaime f Gibran This slow tempo is beautiful and allows the lovely lines to blend with spine-tingling crunchy chords - but it's quite a lot slower than usual, and for me, too, it doesn't really work. A faster tempo allows those same lines to move and create a lovely shimmer. This may be directed by John Rutter, but with all due respect, he maybe isn't always right!

[@matthewhuntley5583]

This is the pace we sang the piece in my madrigal group in high school, 1989, and won command performance from the CMEA for it. It remains (to me) the most beautiful vocal arrangement I have ever heard.

[@catherinehall7347]

Hmmm interesting, tomorrow i'm going to be auditioning for the madrigal group at my high school. And I have to sing this for my audition, and it's just about the most beautiful piece I have ever sang.

[@bryan9501]

I like the tempo at 1.25x

[@clivepearce941]

Slightly softer more balanced sound would be better. Soprano dominated.