Morten Lauridsen, Lux Æterna, complete version

[@dond5536]

I am 82 and sang tenor in the choir of an Episcopal Church for 32 years. I will be finding out much sooner than most of you as to the music that will be sung when we go home to meet God. I have sung everything from the music of Palestrina to Ola Gjeilo. The music of Morten Lauridsen has a special place in my heart, especially "ETERNAL LIGHT". My God Bless Us all.

[@NantucketPictures]

Beautiful words sir. God bless you.

[@edwardreid9433]

I hope you are still enjoying this beautiful music Don.

[@dond5536]

@@edwardreid9433 I am now 83 Edward and work 5 days a week, by choice. I am still listing to this and other great music in my office also. God bless you!

[@royalpurple7]

God bless you and Happy New Year 🙏❤

[@DonAllenDe]

@@royalpurple7 God's Blessings be upon you also. Hopefully 2022 will be a better year for us all.

[@maijahbrand2576]

I am a 16 year old girl who will be traveling to New York with my high school choir to perform this is Carnegie Hall, my instructor requested that we listen to the piece over break to help us get accustomed to it, I’m not one for slow music but this is gorgeous and I’m so excited for this experience, New York here we come!!!

[@channelname8892]

How'd it go?

[@maijahbrand2576]

@@channelname8892 It was an absolutely amazing experience, I was a little disappointed by the quality of some the other choirs that joined us but the entire experience and the performance were amazing, I’m a senior now and that will forever be one of my favorite lifetime memories and my absolute favorite high school one

[@channelname8892]

That's great!!@@maijahbrand2576

[@Talkingcrowlikething29]

I sang this at Carnegie Hall with my high school choir in 2010! One of the greatest experiences of my life.

[@varasuetamminga9519]

I read once that Schubert had a dream after the young daughter of a friend had died that he stood and watched a circle of men walking around her tomb listening to music. Finally they let him into the circle and he could hear the music too. You really have to wonder if some people literally hear angels? This music makes you think that much inspiration is quite real. I think of Beethoven in that terrible silence of deafness actually hearing another source of sound. Did he also hear the 9th symphony and not just compose it? You just have to wonder when music like the music of the spheres is handed to humans to sing. I am a cancer patient. My greatest healing I think comes from music and especially choral music. I have sung it all my life. What a joy now to hold it in my heart, to let it hold me until fear and grief and ignorance dissolves. Thank you Morten wherever you are.

[@ElrondPA]

+Vara Sue Tamminga I have no doubt that Beethoven could hear the 9th; I'm only an ordinary singer, and I can often hear melodies that I'm sight-reading if they're not too complex. I'm sure a musical genius like Beethoven could hear the full orchestra, including the timbres of the different instruments, as he was writing the music.

[@evansquilt]

+ElrondPA - Beethoven reportedly could hear the music in his mind even if he couldn't hear it with his ears. He couldn't hear the applause, though, and I always tear up at the story of how one of the soloists for the world premiere of the Ninth had to turn him around so he could see the audience on its feet, roaring and clapping and cheering. Supposedly he burst into tears, and who can blame him?

[@johnfu3850]

i often have dreams in which I would hear different pieces of music that I have never heard before. too bad I can't write them down and then i will forget them. some of them actually sounds wonderful.

[@johnfu3850]

i often have dreams in which I would hear different pieces of music that I have never heard before. too bad I can't write them down and then i will forget them. some of them actually sounds wonderful.

[@johnfu3850]

i often have dreams in which I would hear different pieces of music that I have never heard before. too bad I can't write them down and then i will forget them. some of them actually sounds wonderful.

[@abigailhamiltonactor]

I just turned 80, and decided, long ago, that when MY time comes, this music will heal the souls of those left behind, and they will feel the love I bore for all of them, and be happy my memory!

[@Gazjh1973]

That made me cry. Nice

[@EduardoOmShanti108]

This is the best recording of this modern masterpiece. Got my copy autographed by Paul Salamunovich too. It’s very soothing anytime but especially for grief.

[@tonychalupnik]

The hand of God reaches down from heaven's beatific vision, touches the hand of Morten Lauridsen as he composes this magnificent piece of music. Flawless performance by a troupe of chorale performers vocalizing as angels from the heavenly realm in perfect harmony. Tears of Joy listening to God's perfection embodied in music. Harmonic order and resolution. Bravo!

[@novellagilbert6122]

The first time I heard this piece was in the car on the radio. I pulled off the road into a parking area and just sat and listened with closed eyes., so transported was I to another realm. When the piece came to an end it was difficult to return the real world.

[@garethashford3980]

I too heard it on my car radio . I too had to pull over and listen , it has so touched me that my outlook of life , since being diagnosed with cancer , has changed , I feel at peace ready to face whatever is my destiny .

[@jackiewillingham5305]

I felt the same thing.....I can relate......it felt kind of depressing.....

[@mwf3179]

Yes...heard it on the car radio.....I had to pull off the road....it was the most beautiful, most sublime piece I ever had the good fortune to experience. Brought tears to my eyes.

[@Bgraytful]

Yes, I too first heard it on a car radio and had to pull over and listen to the end. I knew I did not know the composer but of one thing I was sure, it HAD to be Paul Salamunovich conducting - only he could get that kind of choral sound. I was right AND he brought us this piece through Morten Lauridsen - what a wonderful duo!

[@adriennepender673]

This was exactly my experience. I had to pull over, I could not believe these sounds were real and I could not concentrate on driving. It's absolutely glorious.

[@gibsongirl2100]

I remember the first time I ever heard this, I was driving home in the early evening and listening to KUSC. At some point during this piece, I realized I was crying - I actually pulled over, watched the sun set and listened to the end. I wasn't even embarrassed at the tears. Such soul-filling beauty!

[@chuckbarnes2718]

I have had a very similar experience with a number of pieces by Laura Richardson. Much of it makes me criters of joy.....

[@duncanidaho2097]

I, too, first heard this on KUSC at twilight one evening. It pierced my heart and brought tears.

[@charlesmoore1762]

@@gibsongirl2100 So interesting that you had that experience!! Let me tell you something that may “blow your mind.” The Music Program Director of Huntingdon College in Montgomery Alabama was driving home from a trip to Florida when he heard the Los Angeles Master Chorale presentation on his radio. He, like you, pulled off the road and listened to the whole thing. (That’s an excellent performance, by the way.) When he got to work a day or so later, he ordered the choral scores, organ accompaniment, and conductor’s score and decided to make that our Spring Semester choir project. The following summer, a group of us took it to U.K. and performed at Southwark, Bath, Coventry, Ely, Canterbury, and at least one other place. I was sixty or sixty-one singing with a bunch of twenty year olds and it was one of the highlights of my life. But it all started just as with you - stopped alongside a highway, mesmerized by music surely sent down from heaven!

[@oucutie1]

Whitacre, Lauridsen and Rutter et al, an elevation in choral music.........to another world....and another time.

[@LinetPurcell]

I was fortunate enough to take part in a rehearsal of this amazing piece on the day after receiving good news following a mammogram. The music uplifted my already grateful soul and the whole rehearsal was as a heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving on my part. . We are blessed to be able to sing this wonderful piece.

[@davidm8320]

As I get older (in my mid 40s), I find myself more and more leaving behind music that merely excites me or inspires aggressiveness (much of rock n' roll, for example). Instead, I yearn after music that elevates my soul and brings joy and peace to my heart. Lauridsen's music does that for me.

[@8888ronaldo8888]

Well sir, I am much older and I can tell you that this joy and peace is made to last. And if you say that Lauridsen's music does it for you, be aware that it really is your eternal soul celebrating its origine and destination.

[@Embosan]

How beautifully put. Thank you.

[@maggiesatterfield2402]

I am 57 and I also find myself drawing more joy and peace from such exquisite pieces of music as this. Though I still enjoy the music of my youth, I find it does not satisfy my spirit any longer. This wonderful music does!

[@oucutie1]

David M Me too!!

[@yvonnetaylor1353]

Absolutely David M.

[@ani3487]

Morten Lauridsen's music is so beautiful, touching my soul. It causes me to weep with beauty of the experience. Transcendent!

[@HawneyChile]

I lost both of my grandparents last August - 8 days apart. This work gives me great comfort in the knowledge that they are free from suffering and are with God. I simply cannot imagine the overwhelming feeling of Peace they are feeling right now - their 100-year-old bodies transformed to eternal ones - the music they are hearing - the sights that they are seeing...I was so blessed to have had them until I was 55 years old. But the double-edged sword is that there is a hole in my life that isn't fillable until I see them again. I miss them every single day - and will until I, too, close my eyes in death. May Light Perpetual Shine on them. May they Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory. May it be so. Soli Deo Gloria. Amen.

[@MartayPartay101]

Got to sing this piece in my college choir, as well as meet Mr. Lauridsen. One of my favorite choir memories. He talked about his mother inspiring him to compose this piece and it was very touching.

[@SarumChoirmaster]

By God's grace, gift and favor, I am a classical musician, composer, teacher, violist and an Anglican choirmaster - organist. I am also a Christian mystic. I hear pieces like this all the time; in my head, heart, mind and soul. I talk to God daily and many have been the times that I am simply overwhelmed. Its not big grandiose things that overwhelm, but rather the simplest of little, sweet and ever so tenderly soft things. For its in the still small voice that the fullness of LOVE is given to us - freely and unconditionally. If only we would pass along to everyone, that gift of LOVE, IN THE SILENCE OF A KISS, THE WARNTH OF AN EMBRACE, AND THE SACRIFICE OF LIFE. Music IS the language of heaven and we have only to humble ourselves, bow our hearts and listen. God bless you all and may the Light of His peace shine on and radiate from you eternally.

[@desa415]

Beautiful.

[@millertheory7935]

What do you mean by Christian mystic?

[@lisamays6496]

Amen. TY

[@brotherhoodfilms2291]

Beautifully stated! Happy Easter!

[@maitri1429]

I had not cried in 3 years despite significant losses. When singing this piece our director said, "This breaks my heart a little bit" about the O Nata Lux. Listening to this recording I was finally able to cry. Very few things in this world are so beautiful they hurt. Thank you, Lauridsen.

[@lisacountiss5488]

Bless you, dear!

[@ElBacalaoMedia]

Only someone with great depth, spirituality, and goodness can write something like this. Morten Lauridsen isn't just a composer. He is a link to that other side which our eyes cannot appreciate just yet.

[@lazyscorsese6653]

Spencer Bean Seems to me to be the only evidence we need for the existence of kind, loving humans. After all, mankind created God in his own image...

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

So true, Ugarte211, it takes me to places of total peace and oneness spiritually. Thanks to God.

[@carolinewithers531]

Beautifully stated.

[@eden9465]

I was able to sing this in New York with choirs from all over the country, and I have to say-one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

[@maijahbrand2576]

I will be doing that this school year with my high school choir, I am beyond excited!

[@NonInflatable]

God bless Morten Lauridsen for lifting our souls with his glorious music. I heard his "O magnum mysterium" for the first time this evening on Classic FM and was transfixed, Glory, Glory, Glory. Thanks Morten

[@deafanddestructiononthepis3149]

people who put adverts in the middle of masterpieces are just killin me over here. You're killin me Smalls!

[@Jason-cz3bv]

Fart

[@6millionLiesRememberHolodomor]

Use Brave for web browsing, it includes integrated adblock so you'll never get your youtubing disturbed ever again.

[@aaronashcraft8016]

My wife died of breast cancer in 1999. The choir at Geneva Presbyterian Church, Laguna Hill, CA sang Lux Aeterna at her funeral. I hope when I pass away that a choir will send me to heaven with this beautiful music.

[@lisacountiss5488]

Aaron Ashcraft If our desires are truly prayers, I sincerely believe that this will indeed be the case. God bless you, sir!

[@EricHebert1964]

Aaron, I am sorry for you loss. I am sure she rode the wings of these exquisite voices to her place in heaven.

[@ulrichgray5497]

Prebystatian are not Chtistian, and there is no salvation outside of the one true Church in Christ, which is the traditional Catholic Church. I pray you save your soul before you pass, Aaron.

[@MsBluevan]

I can only hope that the one true Son of God, Jesus Christ, will give you grace for the lack of grace that you extended to Aaron. No empathy on his loss, just a scolding for not being Catholic.

[@scottguido8323]

As a devout Catholic my response to you, Ulrich Gray 5497 is SHAME ON YOU!​ Your comment is anti Christian, period!@ulrichgray5497

[@debinewirth1323]

My chorale had the extreme privilege of performing this amazingly beautiful work throughout Italy in 2011. It still resonates in my heart as one of the most impactful musical works I've ever performed. You cannot help but feel like you are surrounded by angels when you are in the midst of it all.

[@wheatberry]

I sang this in an 80 person chorus, + orchestra, this past weekend. What an absolutely unforgettable experience ! Endlessly beautiful !

[@PeaceDayCortez]

Touches something deeply unexplainable in a hauntingly beautiful way. As if something lost is found and you’re left in wonderment

[@nicedoggie1]

As an architect and astronomer, I occasionally play this when up late drawing or doing variable star astronomical observing. It never fails to inspire a moment, leaning back, of expansive reflections. In particular the movement at 15:08. It's absolutely halting...many times I've welled up. Thank you to all those who created such beauty for the rest of the human race to relish.

[@206dvr]

A couple of times in my life I have had dreams so unbearably beautiful that I woke weeping. The Introitus takes me there.

[@lauryn_jc]

I sang this with my choir and three others at Carnegie Hall back in May. I still get emotional listening to this.

[@gregfrederick4198]

I sang this piece in Carnegie Hall my senior year of high school. it was a once in a lifetime experience and I was filled with so much emotion the entire time.

[@petroglyphix]

+Greg Frederick dude, like 6 years ago? I sang this at Carnegie Hall as well. Changed my life.

[@beccahostilo07]

+Greg Frederick I sang this in Carnegie as well. January of 2010. Religious experience.

[@cepheraft]

Yo, I was there too. Sean was your conductor right?

[@melmckinney9539]

Me too! I was there

[@Mo-wx2ql]

Greg Frederick well I’m singing this song at Carnegie hall in February too and I don’t understand what’s going on it seems as if it’s going to take forever to learn this song😂

[@jackiewillingham5305]

I thought that the most beautiful video I have ever watched......it felt like we all were being taken a ride though the universe on our way to heaven......I loved it.......

[@Rayman2457]

I love listening to this around Christmas.

[@spencerhayes9356]

I sang this two years ago with my college choir and orchestra. It is always the piece I need to listen to be productive or get in the right headspace for anything. The third movement will always be my favorite.

[@Kyndallbyndall1998]

I sang this at Carnegie hall with my school and other choirs and I have to say it is the most beautiful piece I have ever sang and it was one of the best experiences of my life so far.

[@JosiahProvan]

I have not heard every song written for choir ever. But I have heard enough to say that this is one of the most beautiful pieces of choral music ever written. Someone has described this piece as the sound of heaven and I could not agree more. When I meet my Lord and savior face to face I hope Lauridsen's Lux Æterna greets me.

[@aaronashcraft8016]

Josiah Provan My wife died in 1999. At the funeral, the Geneva Presbyterian Church choir in Laguna Hills, CA sang Lux Aeterna! It was a heartbreaking day for our family, but the music was precious. I have suggested to my children that at my funeral, it would be fantastic if our choir at St. Margaret’s could sing it in celebration of the blessings I have had in my life!

[@MaestrasSpriggs]

@@aaronashcraft8016 I am sorry to hear about your wife, but I agree that this is one of the pieces I would want at my funeral (along with Rachmaninoff's Vespers 5th movement (Now Let Thy Servant Depart...Simeon).

[@mariajosem1860]

This is simply mind blowing. It takes me to another place. It is mesmerising, it is so beautiful.

[@davidrose5293]

Damn, if this isn't the most beautiful piece of music I've EVER heard!! Actually heard it for the first time a couple years ago, and fell in love with it - the passion behind it is indescribable! Was just listening to it with my earbuds, and got chills big time during the course of the performance. What a thrill it would be to see it performed live...

[@altoegovcl]

I played in this performance. Rest in Peace maestro Salamunovich.

[@karyngoff20]

+altoegovcl Thank you for being part of a work that has touched me at a level beyond words. I am grateful to you and everyone else who was a part of this recording.

[@ReplayCovers]

Woa, I just wanna say thanks... No more needed to be said

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

I think Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre have the ability to write choral music that makes the listener feel like the door to heaven has been left ajar, and we get to sample the glories of someday for just a little while.

[@JohnS0603]

Thank you and your colleagues for what is a very amazing, inspiring, energizing, heart-warming performance! You were privileged indeed to have been a part of it...

[@elizadevries6347]

cannot imagine the glorious feeling of that participation

[@gerirude7053]

This sound is truly ethereal...and takes us truly beyond where we have been used to being transported. Lauridsen's harmonies must be a foretaste of what we will experience in the life awaiting us. How reverent...how peaceful...how beautiful!!! Praise God that this has graced my present life!! Geraldine Ardissone Rudee....December 2017

[@jamescreighton4912]

I performed in this chorus in college fall of 2014 at UNM with my friend...and Morten Lauridsen helped direct it. I was quite impressed with our chorus made up off people who could sing and gave their free time to perform this and so was he. It was such an amazing experience! Never forgetting that night on the stage! Not ever! The emotions, the thrill, the sheer beauty of this piece! Words failed me...so just let the music speak for itself.

[@jamescreighton4912]

Jeffrey Myers Yep, that's the place. I am not a music major but I know it has a great program there. Plus, it's got a great climate as a bonus! I would consider!

[@JohnS0603]

James Creighton, you were richly blessed to have that experience. Of all the performances of this work on KZbin, which one or ones do you see at the top of your list? Cheers.

[@SMElder-iy6fl]

At Popejoy?

[@betsysentigar2364]

Stunningly gorgeous music. I've sung sacred choral music for almost 60 years and would give anything to be in a group perfomring this. Can you just imagine being in an IMAX theatre in total surround sound and imagery...transforming indeed. This is so heavenly.....

[@irmawehle7430]

www.berkshirechoral.org/sing-with-us/sing-in-richmond/the-program/

[@proctorjohn]

When my times comes, I hope this is music that greats me.

[@guychristophercarter845]

Thanh’s for posting this. I have loved this piece for many years. It helped me through my daughter’s death.

[@rye_bread1830]

My college choir and orchestra just finished performing this work this past weekend and of all the beautiful pieces we've done over the past 4 years, this was one of my favorites. Gonna miss performing this.

[@irmawehle7430]

Ryan, sing it this summer! www.berkshirechoral.org/sing-with-us/sing-in-richmond/the-program/

[@kiltlvr]

I have been using your upload of Lux Aeterna every night for weeks now to help me quiet my mind before going to bed. I don’t pray much anymore and, in many ways, have lost my faith. Too much cruelty and ugliness in this world has shaken me, but this music transcends all.

[@alisonmix2630]

I've been enjoying this transcendent and profoundly inspirational work for years now. I am ever thankful that a friend had an extra ticket to hear the LA Master Chorale at the Overture Center in Madison, WI when they sang this heaven-sent piece along with many others. It stirs my soul and touches nameless places that only spirit on the wind can reach.

[@xaphyreansar6996]

My very first encounter with Morten Lauridsen was "Les Chansons des Roses", I happened to be listening to my favorite Aria "The Flower Duet" by Delibes and the Chansons followed it.... (oh I'm having goosebumps right now listening to this piece as write this comment) I was transported as many of you here have said, to what Heaven must surely feel and sound like. I have since become an enduring fan of Mr. Lauridsen's works. Thank you for sharing this magnificent piece.

[@TheMinisigi]

I had never heard of Morten Lauridsen when I heard this piece by chance at a concert in Prague - and was blown away by it!. Hearing it again here it is even better than I remembered - an utterly glorious piece in all its changing moods. As someone else has posted here 'this is what heaven sounds like.' What more need be said?

[@MichaelWallMusic]

I don't know what Heaven is like, but I imagine it sounds like this. Thank you, Maestro Lauridsen, for this beautiful piece.

[@pmajudge]

STUNNING MUSIC !!! THANKS MORTEN LAURIDSEN. FROM U.K. (2022).

[@tygerstar35]

Glorious piece of music, beautifully performed. When I hear Morten, I often feel, "This is what heaven sounds like. This is how angels sing". And you can quote me!

[@debinewirth1323]

I know exactly how you feel. Every time I've sung this it moves me more than anything else I've ever sung...and hearing it performed like this invokes tears. Simply awe-inspiring...and when you perform it in a beautifully resonant church...no words.

[@Ravenelvenlady]

I certainly will quote you on that. Thank you for the permission, because you sum up my feelings exactly.

[@UndefinedJB-ui7qr]

Heard this piece live about 10 days after my father's death. It was as if all of my deceased relatives, especially my dad, were assuring me of heaven and to have hope. It was a great blessing! And still is, I will have the memory forever. Thank you, Mr. Lauridsen

[@StevenJacksonMusic]

@@UndefinedJB-ui7qr How beautiful you've brought me to tears.

[@cellogirl11rw55]

I have actually seen Lauridsen perform this piece in person. Truly amazing guy.

[@davefrederick5067]

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sing this while on a tour of Italy with newVoices chorus, along with the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus in July 2015. A glorious experience!

[@marthablakely8130]

I’m looking forward to singing this beautiful work with BCI and Tom Hall in Richmond, VA this summer. The music just brings tears to my eyes!

[@sbryant1031]

I heard this on the radio while driving home a few weeks after 9/11. This music was a ray of hope during a very dark and terrible time.

[@ronprince2917]

Exquisite - the opening measures are sublime!

[@esnstrider46]

As a native Los Angeleno and now living in the Seattle area, I miss KUSC fm and the beautiful music of The Los Angeles Master Chorale. I was fortunate to see and hear the LA master chorale with Maestro Salamunovich conducting

[@lisamays6496]

I count my time singing with Paul Salamunovich as holy time. Holy joy, which I pray he is living now in heaven.

[@katherenreizel4972]

Heaven sounds like this...this has changed my life forever. I have been looking for music like this for so long..I heard it in the car Sunday morning. I cried all the way to my event.

[@angipang]

+Katheren Reizel Check out someone Lauridsen has inspired named Eric Whitacre.

[@roxannegordon6162]

Just imagine Katheren........that the choir of Angels mentioned in the Bible far surpass this gorgeous piece. What a great reward we have to look forward to.

[@patriciaryan9830]

Roxanne Gordon nn

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

Yes, Katheren, I believe you!

[@Doug19752533]

you would like the Requiem by Steve Dobrogosz then. the 2nd mvt "Hostias" where the tenors start singing "Sanctus" is absolutely ethereal. also listen to "Requiem for the living" by Dan Forrest Both these works are on the same level as this gorgeous piece.

[@JohnS0603]

15m09s... grand. Soaring, gloriously uplifting. -- I wrote the above statement in Aug2017. Since then, I have heard all the performances of Lux Aeterna on KZbin. IMO, this performance is the definitive one. Every measure by itself is choral, orchestral, and recording perfection.

[@JohnProthero]

Like you I feel this is the definitive one, but mostly due to the fact that Lauridsen wrote it with the LAMC under Salamunovich in mind. He knew that Salamunovich would be sensitive to the chant-like quality and phrasing.

[@slothostpUL]

As a singer and accompanist with a largely unremembered group called The Norman Luboff Choir, I love what this music stirred in me. Thank you., Maestro,

[@dond5536]

For any of you who want to hear some wonderful harmonies then find recording of the Norman Luboff Choir. You will be in for quite an experience. Trust an old man.

[@Gwenrevere]

I remember!

[@moniqueabner2895]

Beautiful. C’est magnifique

[@jksteven1]

I keep coming back to this. I am addicted to its depth and profundity. Like a Bruckner symphony it transports beyond the firmament, time and space. Incredible piece of music!

[@davidhoadley39]

I've lost count how many times I've listened to this. What an awesome composition and performance. Still gives me chills. Ah, to be able to create such amazing musicality like this is a long-time dream.

[@anne-mariezellschwerin4447]

I'm with you, Jk. I come back weekly to listen to this transporting music. It is other-worldly.

[@brotherhoodfilms2291]

Addicted to beauty and profundity...same!

[@MinusPi-p9c]

Just performed this with the man himself in the audience. Truly wonderful.

[@Miguel53de]

At the festival in Ottawa?

[@MinusPi-p9c]

Miguel53de Nope, Arizona, US.

[@Miguel53de]

Ok, would have been funny. I was as a volonteer at the concert in Ottawa and met him, too. All the best from Canada.

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

What a kick, eh??? He is a very humble legend in choral music.

[@raylahpillarstephenschermi2635]

I live in Phoenix and had not heard about this performance. Can you give more details? Morten Lauridsen is returning to Phoenix for the Sing Phoenix! Choral Festival October 18-20, 2018, if you are interested in singing for him again.

[@vickymlnn]

A few years ago I sang this with a wonderful choir. It still gives me goose bumps.

[@mysteriousmemethief]

00:00 Requiem Æternam 6:31 In te Domine Speravi 10:20 O Nata Lux 15:09 Veni, Sancte Spiritus 17:30 Agnus Dei

[@royalpurple7]

Thank you Thomas for this video. I heard this music yesterday on the radio KUSC. It touched my soul. Happy New Year!

[@lisacountiss5488]

I am back at the same beach, St. Augustine, preparing to go watch the sunrise over the same dune over walk, as it's ascent into the clouds is accompanied by Lauridsen's musical sunrises and waltz with the Holy Spirit. Movement 4, Veni Sanctus Spiritus. Three years later, this has become a ritual of worship of our Creator!

[@louygirl7]

I'm performing this with my university orchestra and the choir there on Sunday and my favorite part about this piece (other than the emotion it evokes in my soul) is the low parts in the low instruments like cello and bass. As a cellist it's extremely fun to play the low parts of the harmonies

[@benkelly1845]

This is most definitely the best piece ever. A thing of beauty. Well done Mr Lauridsen. Sang it in the Brandenburg choral festival in January, first time I had heard of Lauridsen, now he is my favourite ever composer!

[@deusdark1]

I've had the pleasure of singing in a performance of this with the Maestro. Requiescat in pace, Mr. Salamunovich (as I first knew him)

[@Beethovens.Heritage]

Fantastic music, wonderfully beautiful performance.... Comforting in times of deep sorrow....

[@NathanielByers]

No words. As a music music composition major in college, I can only hope to write something even remotely comparable to this absolute masterpiece.

[@opensecret51]

Thanks so much for this very special celestial journey !

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

Referring to your comment on Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. I think that at times with certain composers and their music we are present or we walk by and in some way the doorway to heaven is ajar and we can hear and feel all that wonderful-ness and let it fill us up. I think Morten Lauridsen is one of those composers to whom the door is open as he meditates and composes for us.

[@1viva]

My favorite groups of all time: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. They still are!. But at 63, If I had to choose only one, it would be this monumental work by Maestro Morten Lauridsen. His music "has it all... says it all!". It elevates my soul, inner self, persona, my core, my being...as it removes the shield that blinds us from reconnecting with whom we really are as humans in our short passage on this earth, like the zillions of stars that cannot be seen during the day as we are too engaged in taking care of our earthy bodies.

[@rebeccakapsis4757]

Saw the Beatles, Was a friend of Led Zeppelin when in the music business, saw The Stones, and love Pink Floyd. I feel God when I listen to Morten Lauridsen.

[@benkelly1845]

Performed this piece in Brandenburg choral festival, gorgeous piece, favourite ever

[@colo888jo]

I really can't believe anyone could possibly give this a thumbs down. REALLY??? I have no words that can describe how I feel about this piece. Total, exquisite beauty comes close...how can you find words that capture the Divine so amazingly?

[@battlespace13]

I agree with you, but look at the 1,800+ thumbs up vs the 60 down votes. That's a 30:1 ratio. We're too apt to overlook the overwhelming positives in this world and focus on the few naysayers. Ignore them and don't let them distract you from this inspirational music. : )

[@VTECsqznN2O]

Could be the multiple adds imbedded in the video. Thumbs down isn't always for the content.

[@Lisa-s4p]

​@@battlespace13 Agreed!

[@normanbriscoe8261]

Hauntingly beautiful, thank you.

[@davidlin6583]

Glorious. God’s voice expressed in music.

[@davidsullivan102]

The most beautiful Chorale piece of music ever! Really enjoyed the "out of this world" images as well. More, more, more. Thanks much!

[@danielappleton5693]

I can imagine this song radiating beyond our little planet, going through our solar system, then between the stars. Some extra - terrestrial civilization might think it's Earth's anthem.

[@ryker8338]

who knows, you might be right.

[@vodajcek]

God, I hope you're right.

[@MEXICOENVERDEYAZUL]

Hope so!!!!!!!and that those lesining are peacefull

[@jeanbush8791]

Well then, here's a lovely little piece for you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoaydZltiN1od8k

[@martinepes1134]

Mais quelle splendeur ! Lauridsen, vraiment... il est magique. Je ne me lasse pas d'écouter ses oeuvres.

[@billymccoy9008]

As a UCLA graduate, I was never inclined to give USC any props. Morton Lauridsen's association with USC changes that immediately and forever.

[@NantucketPictures]

I hear you....haaaaa

[@OlDoinyo]

In all the (non-commercial-popular) music composed in the late 20th century, with its fascinations with serialism, dissonance, amelodicism, and other academic esotericism, it is all too rare to stumble on something like this. It is hard to believe that this is modern music! Like Pyotr Goncharov, he has kept the old idioms alive.

[@horationelson57]

OlDoinyo Indeed. Your remark stole my thunder. It's grand to know there are still a few souls left who can appreciate Beauty. Cheers

[@horationelson57]

Well said indeed! Cheers

[@toddhamo4763]

+1926 October Interesting. Thanks for your post.

[@toddhamo4763]

+OlDoinyo Interesting musical terminology you introduce there. (and perhaps Minimalism can be included in that group.)

[@vitaliphotos]

you're quite mellifluously skilled at obfuscating mundane commentary with superfluous, sesquipedalian terminology! But under the many syllables hides a comment void of actual meaning

[@BartholomewUpart]

This is so amazing! Absolutely surreal, and the rising intensity, gives us a reflection of our souls' longing for unity with God. I feel that all composers have their songs in which they battle against or for the deep meaning of human existence; that we aren't a clump of cells, but humans with souls who are on their universal journey toward "Eternal Light" with God Almighty.

[@insanecrazy2487]

I sung this last year in Duke chapel with durham chorus council and it was amazing

[@Steve-in-the-uk]

Stunning, beautiful, perfection, love. As a confirmed atheist, I think this is just sublime. It reaches the depths of my being like Mahler's 8th, Vaughan Williams' Toward an Unknown Region etc To live in this moment in time with the wonders of the universe more open to us than ever before, I am a lucky man. Music of the Universe, forever.................

[@NeilEClark]

...as another confirmed atheist, I, too, find this (and most of Lauridsen's works) sublime and Profoundly moving. We need not be catholic...or religious...to embrace - and be immersed in the understated beauties of voice and music blended so exquisitely in choral works like "Lux Aeterna", and "O, Magnum Mysterium"...

[@Steve-in-the-uk]

@@NeilEClark I so agree with you Neil.

[@markbell9973]

As a so-called "believer," I'm not sure I have ever allowed myself the kind of detachment necessary to put what I *1 part hope *1 part see *1 part know *1 part feel *1 part doubt into any kind of decently transferable "witness." But here it is, in your comment. It's the same, literally universal light (or, Light) and the same breath (pneuma) for you, for me and for every homo sapiens--woman and man. That essay up there about "the whole being composed of 5 parts" makes you and me meet on the same ground. Our positions are the same. Mediated by skillfully composed music. Mark (from rural AZ)

[@RevelationTestament]

I pity the fools who down-voted this piece. It is beautiful. However, I am saddened that I don't believe I have ever heard this piece until now.

[@NathanielByers]

Heavenly, heavenly music!

[@maryrosekent8223]

I started singing choral music when I was 23 and did so until I was 57, when a medical condition affected my voice and I had to drop out. After a couple of years, I finally regained my voice and returned to sing again. The time off had shrunk my range and I was made S2 after having sung nothing but S1 for all those years and I ended up dropping out partly because of that and partly because of a new interest that often came in conflict with rehearsals (I always chose rehearsals, but I wasn't always happy about it in these instances), and I have to say that listening to this is the first time in the three years since I left the San Francisco Choral Society that I'm really sorry I didn't stick it out while I expanded my range to its former glory. It's sad to think I'll never perform this piece again; to me it recalls and epitomizes the deep connection I felt to my soul and to those singing around me.

[@Elbertml]

+Mary Rose Kent That you have performed it even once is already an achievement which the majority of us envy, for we are naturally unable. Cherish the memory, but don't hold back on your future for what you are unable to do now. Life has a way of being ever dynamic, and we live by walking in step with it; not holding on to the past but growing from it and experiencing new chapters every season. I hope you may find solace and peace in this.

[@patriciaryan9830]

Mary Rose Kent q

[@brianbaumgarn5795]

I just picked up the trumpet again, after 17 years, at 67. It is challenging, but music is worth it, yes??

[@irmawehle7430]

Mary Rose, have you resumed singing? Lux Aeterna in Richmond, VA, July 2019. www.berkshirechoral.org/sing-with-us/sing-in-richmond/the-program/

[@bssnplayer]

We're doing this in March. A member of our choir is singing in this recording--Paul Salamunovich's daughter-in-law.

[@jksteven1]

Wow! What a stunningly beautiful piece! Thank you for uploading this work!

[@teelurizzo8542]

This is incredible. ...Bach w/ touches of Impressionism and Modern composers?!?....very melodic, yet the voice leading takes the piece into some beautiful, unexpected and even startling colours...never heard anything quite like this.

When I began to listen this wonderful "Requiem" I felt the same atmosphere than in the Requiem og Fauré or Duruflé : peaceful, hopeful, but in fact, it is very different, including the classical music, the atmosphere of the anglican cathedrals and the contemporary film music, all that elevated at a higher place : you can guess the heavenly Jerusalem close to you !

[@maggiesatterfield2402]

This is so beautiful and peaceful. I love it.

[@guilhermebarido1140]

Just beautiful.

[@pathfinderrob]

Music for Theosis. A mystic-composer drawing us towards his own musical-truth. I can only agree with what others have already said. Sheer genius!

[@mattbernabe]

The ending of the film 'Angels and Demons.' One of my top favorite moments from the movie is at the very end, when the curtains open and Pope Luke steps and reveals himself as the new Pope to the crowd of people, then the choir and music sets in. A beautiful and chilling moment. You just get a good vibe from it. I love it.

[@elcompalex31]

mattbernabe Same here 😁

[@briangenova1]

Same choir director: the unequalled Paul Salamunovich.

[@NeilEClark]

...as (another) confirmed atheist, I, too, find NO barriers to finding this (and any of Lauridsen's works) Sublime and Profoundly moving. We need not be catholic...or religious...to embrace - and be immersed in the understated beauties of voice and music blended so exquisitely in choral works like "Lux Aeterna", and "O, Magnum Mysterium"...

[@haleighthompson3410]

I sang this as a part of a lovely choir in Carnegie Hall and wow. The memories from listening to this are truly magical

[@neal6912]

So sorry to see this beautiful performance ruined by the ads.

[@MichaelStillwater]

'Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen' (2012), deemed 'a heartening rarity' by Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal, received four Best Documentary awards. If you are moved by Lauridsen's music, view the film or trailer online at thegreatsong.net/portfolio_page/shining-night/ (Film by Michael Stillwater, co-produced by Doris Laesser Stillwater, for Song Without Borders.)

[@debkakes]

Lauridsen will be our "artist in residence" in two weeks, and we are performing this, among other things. Such a glorious, deceptively difficult piece.

[@ChollieD]

It's those a capella sections that you gotta work on again and again.