VOCES8 REACTION: Allegri's Miserere | Pro Singer Reacts

[@nickhiggsthesinger]

May It be (LOTR) - VOCES8 reaction: kzbin.info/www/bejne/boqll2h6oqqEj5Isi=fpHbrj8idvKQh_i2

[@gabrijellukenda1315]

Thank you again for reviewing Voces8, absolutely my favourite group of all time. No unnecessary forte, just ease and musicality in all voices.

[@gabrijellukenda1315]

As a tenor, I really love how Blake and Euan don't force the sound, they just let it flow and this is exactly what we want.

[@RobCauser]

What a pleasure it is to see someone of your generation openly express their emotions from music. Your analysis is always so inspiring and spot on. Voces8 is in a class by themselves and I’m stunned by their incredible purity and artistry. Another phenomenal performance!

[@markroberts6322]

Divine. Absolute perfection. I believe this piece and performance come as close to Allegri's heavenly choir as you can get on this finite planet.

[@richardtodd7295]

This is the best analysis of a very complex piece that I have heard and seen. I graduated with a degree in vocal music and conducting in 1966,and then life ended my quest for a life devoted to choral music. In my old age, I'm 80, I seek true reactions and analysis to the music I love. I agree that Voces8 is the best. The amount of work it takes for them to do what they do is beyond comprehension. If you study the workshops the provide as well as their commentary, you can glimpse a partial picture of what it takes. One thing you didn't mention is that Voces8 tuning of chords is not according to the Well Tempered scale. They adjust the pitch so slightly that all you hear is is a perfect sound. Thank you Nick Higgs for sharing your knowledge.

[@johnfenton3699]

Kudos as well to Barnaby Smith, the musical director and counter-tenor. Without a doubt, the perfection of Voces8's work is in no small part down to his persistence and attention to detail.

[@isaiahbaggett5014]

I agree - Voces 8 is top tier. The sopranist makes it seem effortless. Thanks for posting!

[@ordinarryalien]

Oh, I love this, especially this version.

[@JesseMose]

Absolutely incredible! I love both your analysis and Allegri’s “Miserere”.

[@ianwalker4628]

I love how your (visible) reactions to this recording are completely visceral ... It's designed to bypass thought and go for the heart which, to me, it does - every . single . time. Thank you too for the clear analysis of the various techniques / effects within the piece.

[@keithbryan4968]

Your comments are so insightful. You gave me an even greater admiration of Voces8

[@danielcummins5092]

Those overtones, though!! When they hold out those perfectly tuned chords - sheesh!

[@SCVocalStudentReacts]

Beautiful reaction to a stunning performance of a magnificent piece.

[@jakobboomgaarden1672]

I have said it before and I'm gonna say it again: If you ever get the chance to listen to them in concert, DO NOT HESITATE, DO NOT THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE! I had the privilege to listen to this incredible sound, an out of this world experience.

[@roysrosenthal]

Thank you so much for this video. VOCES8 sang a concert at my Church in February and during their rehearsal, they worked on the Allegri. It was other worldly! Cheers to them and to you. ❤

[@luisfrometa3170]

Nick: you are such an inspiring musician and teacher. Real pleasure meeting you. Luis/Venezuela

[@javierlifa1679]

Thank you for dignifying our muscular reactions to this superb show of musicality and musical spirit. Voces8 has certainly raised the bar across the world and your comments also put you aside of mainstream, never-satisfied musical critique. Cheers from Buenos Aires!

[@trevzy91]

Enjoyed how you highlighted the music, paired with the score it was lovely to experience this again and hear some new things!

[@Immortal-q2l]

This is my favourite piece of music of all time. Reminds me of my time at Catholic school, going to the Brompton Oratory Church in London for mass during Christmas and Easter

[@ianthompson5746]

Really nice to see someone else enjoy Voces8 ! Did you know they perform beautiful Bach pieces as well ? Speaking Bach, have you ever heard of The Netherlands Bach Society ?, they certainly are world standard with their productions ! especially their Contata's !!

[@mfosiecki]

Indeed...society does need this music, Nick! For an amateur chorale singer like me, your way of illuminating all the grace and precision in these recordings is invaluable. You bring us all at least a little closer to fulfilling that need.

[@Secret_Agent_Mark]

Voces8, Tenebrae, the King's Singers, Apollo 5... it doesn't get much better than those groups. They all come from a country that is the very core of choral music. They ARE the very core.

[@totoro123]

I’m not a religious person, but I certainly appreciate how it has inspired this music that seems to transcend time and space.

[@laerwen]

This might be my very favorite version of this piece. I've heard it more with a solo treble voice - but I think I might prefer this. This piece for me is about the recognition of one's flawed humanity, and asking a loving deity to be forgiven for very human mistakes. A deeply felt, sincere contrition for wrongdoing. And ultimately, the peace that comes with the faith that this wrongdoing is forgiven. The purity of the tuning and tonality of each note really adds to the feeling of deep sincerity. That high C is like the clearest day atop a very high mountain where the sky is blue and there is abundant sunlight, fresh air. The resplendent light of such a location. And the freedom that relief from burdens carried brings. Superb video breaking this one down - great listening to how certain parts really stand out in very exposed ways quite intentionally. That everything has shape and for a reason, at that. Hard to disturb the silence after that no matter how many times you hear it! :D

[@MitochondrialSteve]

this is how i first came across u last year when i saw u do the single person choir app vid of this, which is one of my fave all time pieces. so happy to see u cover this version. thank u!!!!

[@jr2470]

This is one of my favorite pieces and was the start of my love of renasannce mucis.

[@paolageraci]

This is a masterpiece!!!!😮❤

[@kinga_fc6196]

That's truth, Voces8's performance of Allegri's Miserere is the best all over the world.

[@carizoism]

Oh, how I love your videos!!!

[@gregrowlands9632]

Thank you for this

[@gregrowlands9632]

A stunning piece of music

[@viking_skywalker]

if i wanne base myself - i listen to that !!

[@phwbooth]

The Agnus Dei in Bach's Mass in B Minor, if sung as well, can be as beautiful.

[@laerwen]

I adore that mass to bits - I hope he will at least explore that one if not others.

[@paulhooton6261]

I'm so grateful that after I got to about age 30, I stopped thinking that anything, other than pop music, was rubbish and opened my mind to accept any music, no matter how old the music is or what genre. My only criteria now is simply that I like it. I've obviously heard this many times, often used in films and TV dramas but hearing the whole thing here was truly magical.

[@hien_dau]

Best analyzation ever.

[@nickhiggsthesinger]

Thank you 🥹

[@stevegandy4203]

Like you , the first time I heard this piece, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I never had heard anything so beautiful and transcendent. Those harmonies, suspensions and exquisite intertwining of textures is perfectly written for the text and the acoustics of a cathedral. It reassures me to see so many of you appreciating it. I wonder if you know the context. This is the Latin translation of Psalm 51 in the Old Testament of the Bible. It was written by David, the revered king of Israel who prepared the plans for the temple in Jerusalem which would be built by his son, Solomon. The Scriptures state that God considered him “a man after his own heart”. Yet at the height of his power and fame he spotted the beautiful Bathsheba bathing on her roof. He forced her to have sex with him, while her husband, Uriah, a loyal soldier in David’s army, was fighting in the war against Israel’s enemies. When Bathsheba informed David she was pregnant by him, David panicked and ordered his General to put Uriah at the front lines of the battle so he would be killed. Later on, Nathan the prophet, confronted David, telling him a parable that revealed that God knew what he had done. David was overwhelmed with shame and grief, and then wrote this Psalm. You can read the entire story in the book of 1 Kings. Knowing this story helps you understand that this piece is a perfect expression of repentance.

[@abs0lutelyn0t]

Voces8 does Miserere best. I've never heard a more beautiful version. 😊😇

[@josu1961]

You should react to MIserere by James MacMillan, such a beatiful piece.

[@ckverghese19]

Love to feel it

[@wendyterpstra6854]

NEVER apologize for your music choices and love~ Never! Every note bunch-combo of any type of music, has meaning and purpose even if it's just to make one laugh or run covering their ears! Just because a person is classically trained doesn't mean it's ridiculous or weird!! There are scientific studies that document the vibrational effect on our brains and it's power (to heal/hurt) I know you know this, but you alluded to your car ride listening preferences as "ew-ish" Just N O P E ! Besides .... this one... THIS one ... reaches out to the HOLY! Not a single human being on earth can truly hear this piece without knowing something of that in their soul- NO MATTER their belief or non belief grounding!

[@jeremychoo934]

The Picardy third at the final cadence was historically a common device and it could even have been a musica ficta where the third of the minor chord would played/sung as sharpened even if not indicated in the score.

[@laurinbartel640]

love from Germany

[@Gabriele-wolfsong]

Have you guys listened to Eastern European choirs? They can definitely compete.

[@nickhiggsthesinger]

Any recommendations for me?

[@allisonkarnoff5135]

You didn’t talk at all about the overtones and harmonics! They are almost overpowering because of how true and clean they each sing with NO VIBRATO! Vibrato covers a multitude of tuning sins. That’s what is also amazing about their vowels. An Eeeeeee vowel is much easier to tune in straight tone than an ahhh vowel. So moving between those vowels without losing any tuning is so difficult. When I sang this piece, that was the challenge. It’s just so so so easy to go flat. There were times where we “cheated” and started the piece a 1/2 step higher. For some reason we found we didn’t go flat as much as we did when starting in the original key.

[@nenechonlisboa4127]

Thank for your content that's always very interesting. And, Lord, how handsome you are ! :)

[@nickhiggsthesinger]

What should I record next?! Comment below

[@mmsminimalmusic3110]

Thomas Tallis´s "Spem in alium" would be a nice complement.

[@gervaischouinard9809]

With The Tallis Scholars, for me the best of the best version of Spem in alium!

[@joppi07]

Voces8 + Ringmasters Shall We Gather at the River!

[@javierlifa1679]

The Love Duet in Madame Butterfly perhaps?

[@MrDenertog]

please react to Voces8 rendition of The Deer's Cry

[@leitmotif4me]

Agree Voces8 are superb! They gave me a frisson too.Could you review Kathleen Battle 'Et incarnatus est' by Mozart?

[@uikonimi]

You should react to Break In by Halestorm featuring Amy Lee. A beautiful masterpiece by two rock/metal legends

[@chriswhealy4170]

Also, please watch this video about how we arrived at the version of the Miserere that we currently have today That amazing high C is the result of a transcription error - but its an error everyone is happy about! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmfLdWuPqbRofqs

[@Immortal-q2l]

Please react to King's College Faure Pie Jesu and Agnus Dei. It's the Kings College (Cambridge) Chapel Choir from a 1987 BBC tv broadcast (which you might find will be of a slightly better quality video feed)

[@Immortal-q2l]

Has the original text been found or would we have never heard it had Mozart not transcribed it? My favourite version is the King's College Choir version. The 80s/90s one from the uk BBC tv production

[@Immortal-q2l]

P.s. this is my favourite piece of music of all time. Reminds me of my time at Catholic school, going to the Brompton Oratory Church in London for mass during Christmas and Easter

[@trentmckenzie1697]

Us Basses have to follow the Tenors on the intonation and not overrun them. That is how we avoid the pitch issues on less linear pieces.

[@ufayad]

Hi, Early Music masters here. Fun fact-the famous high C was never in the original Vatican version of the music. A transcription error made in the 1840’s publication by priest Pietro Alfieri changed the pitch of the solo choir up a fourth. The resulting key change, from G minor to C minor, is absolutely not historically accurate for the time. It’s an error for sure, albeit one that is so striking that one almost doesn’t mind. :)

[@chriswhealy4170]

My wife and I heard Voces8 last week in Malvern, UK. What fantastic skill and vocal blending! Shame that Malvern Theatre has such poor acoustics for this type of music - no reverb whatsoever - but anyway, after the concert, they all came into the lobby of the theatre to chat to everyone. Not are they arguably the finest singing group around the moment, they are really nice, approachable and down-to-earth people too!

[@phwbooth]

Almost orgasmic, Mr Nick.

[@amdgbvmh7661]

+Did you say "sneak a breath?!"....SACRILEGE!

[@davids6898]

That unison portion is exactly like the nuns at the beginning of the Sound of Music. Plagiarist!😉

[@kamatsu8]

it's a gregorian psalmtone, specifically tone ii. It existed long before both the Sound of Music and Allegri.

[@thomasmuller1634]

please more Choir reactions! What about kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmSQp6Jon8yVbqs ?

[@donepearce]

Every time I hear this I am reminded about how much production has been heaped on it since Mozart first wrote it out having heard it in the cathedral. I prefer the original, much stripped down version to this syrupy chocolate box confection. And that high C needs to be sung by a treble, not a soprano.

[@yonellestrada2462]

I have a question for you!

[@trentmckenzie1697]

I'm confused by this reaction as Andrea has sung this as the penultimate soprano for more than 20 years and the confusion on how she and the others are able to blend and produce this performance. This is the most recent version from Voces8 with the newest Bass, but there is no waver in the split (choral) parts in tone. There is a conductor and it is memorized. All groups at this level follow a queue. But there are none that are as good as this.

[@thethikboy]

I like it better with boy trebles.

[@Snapdragon0593]

VOCES8 is such a great group and this rendition is so beautiful! But for this specific piece I like the Tenebrae Choir version better

[@paulybarr]

They're pretty clearly lip- synching to their own recording, as is customary with most music videos of any genre. But they are absolutely splendid.

[@johnmorris4034]

In your dreams. Some members of Voces8 are friends of a friend of mine. They don’t lip synch. If you think they are it’s a fault with KZbin.