On a tree-lined parkway in St. Paul, Minn., stands the Church of the Holy Childhood. Father John Buchanan (1910-1998) founded the parish upon returning to the States after serving as a chaplain in World War II. While in the service, he met Bruce A. Larsen (1922-1996), whose dream was to create a school of singing-a Schola Cantorum. From the start, the church boasted a Boys Choir and Mens Choir. Girls and the Womens Choir were added in the '80s. By the early '90s, Mr. Larsen had passed the torch to Stephen Schmall and Robert Vickery. The small parish has contracted now, and the grade school closed in 2009. The choir still sings, but it is smaller than it was in the late '90s when there might be 80 singers at Sunday high mass.
Most of the music on this channel was recorded at Sunday high mass on cassette tapes. For a church choir, the Schola did well, and there is unique music that deserves to be heard. I hope these videos can be a monument to the vision of Fr. Buchanan and Mr. Larsen.
I add, that ,the singing of the four soloists is good , but the singing of Karen Clift is “off the charts “ really good!! Such a beautiful tone quality- a light soprano with a crystal clear”truly WELL produced tone”, such beautiful singing!!!!! Also, she was a true and genuine and honest person, bless her soul!!!!!
Our beautiful 6th grade chorus at Northside Elementary in Ann Arbor, MI sang "The Ash Grove" with harmony in thirds. Whenever I hear "Let all things now living" I reflexively think of the song from which it derives. Though many years have gone by since 1962, I remember the All City Chorus sang that tune with the beautiful descant ringing in Hill Auditorium.
Apropos the loving couple it is charming to see the opening view of two trees with that arm in arm connection. Odd but beautiful and actually just right.
Fine piece of music by Burgon! The ending is missed on this recording, something got messed up! Would have loved to hear the whole piece as Burgon wrote it and how I sang his fine piece of music! Such is life!!
Another follow up , because we performed this piece with the Puccini Mass, in which Bruce and I thought it was better that I sing the tenor solos - very beautiful but difficult and challenging music to sing for the tenor soloist!! I sang them REALLY well! Bruce was right in his inclination. It would be much more difficult to find a fine tenor ( that we could afford) then to find an organist who could play this Mass, because this Mass doesn’t rely on the organist, per se, the orchestra and chorus comprises the bulk of the music writing by Puccini! But with Puccini, he demanded the best voices and really fine singers to render his music well!! That is why this performance came to be! I would have loved to conduct Bruce’s Canticle, but for the sake of the whole team, sang the tenor solos in the Puccini Mass ( very well , by the way). I can say for absolute certain, that I would have (as the conductor) interpreted this piece written by Bruce even better than this good rendition!!!! Enough said!! It is the God’s honest TRUTH!!!!
Just so the TRUTH be known! I programmed this performance of Bruce’s fine piece , along with a lot of nudging by Bruce himself, who wanted to hear his piece performed once again, just a few years before he died!!! We made Vickery conduct this piece- he would never have programmed it- though, once we put him in a position of having to conduct it,he did a good job. Nice rendition! But I can tell you that if I was conducting Bruce’s fine piece , it would be an even better performance of his fine work!!!!!! I was always in tune in how Bruce made and created music, I have done much the same throughout my entire life!!! We were never looking for fame and glory, quite the contrary, looking to touch the souls of honest human beings listening to some of the greatest music ever created by another human being, inspiring them to higher levels , maybe, reaching a potential that they had not even envisioned!!! God does miraculous things!!! Great music and its great composers and great artists who have the guts to get out there and perform this great ( demanding , technique wise) music are among the best among us!!! Bless them!
This performance of the “beautiful “ Schubert , Ave Maria is quite in keeping with the really great renditions of Schubert’s great music over the years! In this rendition , the singer stays true and accurate to all the original rhythms in the score that Schubert wrote!!!! Enough said!
This piece was not performed frequently at HC. That is a false statement! In my some 40 years singing and conducting in that program, we maybe performed that piece four or five times at best!!! This one probably the best performance of it in all those years! Four or five times is not frequently!!!! Enough said!
Oldroyd wrote many fine sacred pieces of music!!!! After many years of performing countless great pieces of sacred music, I find this to be , simply, a great piece of sacred music! This rendition is very good. I do remember a few other performances LIVE at Mass where we rendered it even better, but most likely , recordings of those renditions are not available! Enough said!
When I first sang this piece,as a boy soprano, then a year or two later as a boy alto , I thought it was OK , but didn’t particularly like it. A few years later , when studying music at the university level, my opinion radically changed! I then found this to be a REALLY FINE piece of music, unique in its substance and creation. Many years later after teaching this fine piece to many trebles over these many years , I find it an absolutely fine piece of music!!! It is SO well written , and it demands good and solid singing to make it sound well! ( You can’t fake it, like so many of the pop type musicians do these days-so PHONY- most of what they put out is downright bad music!!!!!!! Much and most of it STOLEN ideas from others.)
I have to admit this is a very nice rendering of my piece! For reasons stated in earlier comments, it comes off , for me , a wee bit rushed tempo wise. Still a quite nice rendition of it. The 1997 version showcased on this same channel, for me, shows more of the subtle nuances of the piece and a better overall interpretation of the score I wrote! It simply has a natural flow to it , with all the natural rubatos I wrote into it! All one need to do is ignore all the LIVE at MASS sounds of the congregation going to communion etc. and actually listen to the REAL music being rendered! Then the 1997 version can be considered REALLY FINE!!!
This Agnus Dei- or rather Lamb of God, because it is in English- is a really nice setting, very expressive music by Ireland that conveys the deep spiritual meaning of the text! Laura sings beautifully on the two soprano solos! She shows here such a smooth and wonderful legato!!! Brava! Having a smooth legato and a freely released tone on the breath is about 90 percent of what it takes to be a fine singer that possesses the solid technique that is necessary to truly SING WELL the Fine and Great music composed by the many Great and Fine composers who created these beautiful works!
I second my comment here. After many years of listening to countless renditions of this fine Mendelssohn aria, some very mediocre at best, some very good, I stand by my comment, this is truly in the top ten renditions that I have ever heard!
I sang this in high school choir. I showed it to my nan and she loved it. She was a pianist and organist for our church. St. Cornelius Episcopal Church ⛪️ in dodge city Kansas ❤❤ she absolutely adored listening to me sing. She told her sister and mother I had the “voice of an angel” I was so embarrassed 😂 I sang for our church the next morning and everyone thanked me. 😮I was in awe. I really thought I messed up my notes but evidently not 😂 nana and grandaddy and my uncle were so proud of me
Also, Mary requested herself that I sing at her funeral , she made this request in the last years. before she passed over. Bless her eternal soul! Mary truly knew GOOD music , and TRUE SOLID musicians,and what they were about and if there was a truth and honesty to their music renderings! After a lifetime in this music field, Mary had a clear knowledge . I learned a lot from Mary, especially, how to see clearly, what was phony crap, ( like Trump, the biggest phony con man ever to be in any American forum, what an absolute fraud he is!) and to truly see what solid and sound musicianship was in performers and composers!!!! Enough said!
For those that are particular about listening to a recording without “extra” sounds in the actual recording they might like this one!!! It is quite nice! As it was recorded at an orchestra rehearsal, with no people in the church, there are no congregation sounds in it. The Live at Mass recording, in 1997, has all these live congregation sounds in it , but the performance of the music is TRULY BETTER!!!! I stand by my comments!!
This rendition is one that was recorded at the orchestra rehearsal before Easter Sunday. Overall, it sounds quite good , but at these orchestral rehearsals , by the true fact that I had to get through a bunch of music in a short set of time,to adapt to union rules, and do not get me wrong, I am PRO union, I tended to ( out of necessity and to be an honest and true pragmatic soul as to how to make things work out best for all those that are involved in such a meaningful venture ) hurry the tempos a bit, just to make sure we got through all the music!!!!! This performance is just about that , quite nice ,but compared to the earlier, LIVE at Mass version, in 1997, which is SO much BETTER!!!! You only need to ignore the live at Mass sounds of people going to communion to truly realize the 1997 version is REALLY GOOD! That is how the piece I wrote is supposed to sound! Interpretation and performance really good!!!! AMEN!
Diabelli’s Pastoral Mass in F , for Christmas, is arguably the greatest Christmas Mass ever penned! Such wonderful music throughout, truly exuding the Spirit of Christmas!!!!!
I must add, the Confiteor section of music just after the music you referenced, is another of my favorite parts in Diabelli’s GREAT Mass. The confiteor , is almost “ Puccini” like, beautiful legato romantic music!!! Composed many years ( ahead of its time) before Puccini wrote his wonderful music! Bravo! Diabelli! Bravo! Puccini!! I see them as like minds and souls musically, composing music that grabs the heart and soul of the listener, precisely, because the music they are writing is about just that!!! It has heart and soul!!! AMEN!
Just because something is popular doesn’t make it necessarily GOOD!!! Many pieces of music composed are REALLY good, but aren’t necessarily popular, this piece is a very fine piece,and was popular for many years, it is a fine piece of music(very well written) the fact that it is even in question as to the level of its quality as a fine piece of music shows how distorted these type themes have become!!!!!! You have literally idiots, and know nothings ,that have no knowledge and the honest true study of great music, try to tell you how😅 to think . (They do not have a clue). Wake up and smell the coffee!!!
Nice conducting by Bruce!! He let me sing it it freely , and interpret it with the knowledge that I was a fine singer who truly knew how to perform and interpret this fine piece of music!
This beautiful rendition has a wonderful spirit about it that demonstrates the true commitment to giving a great performance of this particular piece( by all the singers and instrumentalists ) that here they are rendering!
This piece is historic! Widor , and a few others , conceived of the ORGAN Symphony ( just for organ) then Guilmant, here, and Saint- Saens , in his brilliant Organ Symph. #3 , and later on J. Jongen, in his equally brilliant Symphonie Concertante for organ and orchestra truly demonstrated the incredible possibilities for this combination. There are a number of other composers who did the same, but these are the real pioneers!!! Each of them,a brilliant composer in their own right , wrote brilliant music !!!!
Church of the Holy Childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. The occasion was the 75th birthday of the founding pastor, Fr. John Buchanan. I don't know if this was Fr. B's request or if Mr. Larsen just programmed it to fit with the rest of the music in the mass.
@@schmitzd04 Thank you for the information. I haven't heard of this being used in a religious service until now although it is a very spiritual contemplative piece.
