I took an art class on beauty and proportion a few months ago and the instructor told me something that I think we all know deep down in our being but just never fully realize and articulate it. Beautiful art and architecture have HARMONIOUS proportions and symmetry all of which are present in the natural world and these harmonies are the exact same as they are in music. So essentially the great composers and authors of such great hymns like this find perfect harmonies to where everything is so aligned that we never grow tired of listening to them.
I kind of made a tradition for myself, that I would listen to this every Christmas Eve. Even when I feel like the season isn't as sparkly as I once thought it was, this is something that makes me feel grounded as it is still the same hauntingly beautiful music that touches the soul
Oh Magnum Mysterium "Oh great mystery and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new born Lord laying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ The Lord. Alleluia"
He came down from heaven and so humbled Himself as to share His bed of straw with the beasts in the manger. All done for our sake! What a God we have!!! 🙏🙏🙏
A profoundly beautiful, soulful and edifying composition. A masterpiece. As a Cambridge alumnus and former employee of King's College, it was a great privilege to attend chapel and witness this exceptional musicianship. Wishing you all a very Happy new year [2024]
In my opinion, this is one of the best choral anthems ever written. The harmonic modulations match the emotion of the words and it touches you. It always brings tears to my eyes when I hear it.
In 1972, I was a young GI stationed in Germany having just completed a degree in choral music before induction. I had the temerity to knock on Helmuth Rilling's door in Gachingen one afternoon, and he invited me in to discuss choral music with him. And he invited me to a recording session the next day. Stunning politeness, similar to what you report.
The music of this piece captures for me the great mystery of the pain, beauty, and awe that makes up the Holy Reality of the Divine--the paradoxes and contradictions that we cannot comprehend, only worship.
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord, Jesus Christ. Alleluia!
This is my especially loved part because it signifies many spiritual gains to me as a Christian from 2015 on: November, I had a vision of JESUS when I was in Essex perambulating along London St. from Purfleet-on-Thames and going about my business. It was about the soon Rapture of the Church. Will never forget the sheer beauty of JESUS. HIS brightness and serenity, looking beneath with love to me and to my brothers, a multitude. The dark bluish skies behind HIM. And this antiphon was my ever present musical backdrop.
This (a European Chamber Choir recording) is what we listened to as may Dad passed away two years ago. My sister said he waited for the tenors at the end before he took his last breath.
I love this I love my lord Jesus listen 👂 every night such a blessing especially as I’m v poorly but so grateful for our lord’s forgiveness and salvation for us his pure love may you b blessed brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus Mary from England
Returning to this presentation again this week to gain comfort that our dearest beloved Queen, is now eternally surrounded by such glorious angelic music.
I was moved to tears listening to this piece. Superb is only the adjective to describe this performance by the King's College Choir. The song is really fit for a KING.
While this masterpiece of choral music writing transcends boundaries of nation or sect, I'll enjoy a small amount of pride that its composer is an American from the Pacific Northwest. A now retired professor who taught at USC in SoCal for many decades in its music faculty.
Absolute perfection! That's all I can say. I've heard many choirs sing this song. I've sung it with the Schola choir of St. Philips Cathedral (Atlanta). This is the best interpretation I've ever heard. Beautiful Kings College Choir! Bravo!
Hi Claire! I sang it too many years ago in Scotland when I was in a choir there ... but with the Los Angeles Chorale who were touring at the time. We had a combined concert, each choir doing their own things, and then ..... this .... together. My soul remains touched to this day .... I still find myself singing it around the house... I SO miss chorale singing now I have moved to northern Portugal !
I have just heard this wonderful music on classic fm and was taken aback by the purity and serenity I felt. It is indeed a sublime piece of work and I only wished I had heard it before now. Words are not adequate to describe this music… bliss,magical,heavenly,uplifting all of these and more.
Awesome! I have a few albums by this composer, but this track...it reduces me to a heap-on-the-floor, every time - and I still feel fantastic! Just...awesome! Well done, sir!
As long as there are human beings who are able to compose music like this I will go on being sure that there is some sort of spiritual power woven into the very fabric of us and all the universe.
exactly 10 years ago, sep 16, 2010, Thursday morning, 7am, I played this piece, the band version in my high school. The moment our band finished sight read and played the music together, I felt in love with this beauty.
I've been listening to this every year for the last ten to twelve years during the holiday season. I played an instrumental version of this in high school band and fell in love with this piece.
Once a year I post this on Facebook. The first I heard it played was on Boston Public Radio (WCRB) a week or so before Christmas while driving home from work in the snow. It was years ago. When I arrived home, my four year old daughter was looking out the storm door waiting. As I pulled up she gave me a big smile as this piece was coming to its conclusion. I felt like I was timeless with the snow coming down and her smiling. This piece has to be one of the most beautiful - most majestic - pieces of music I have ever put ears to. I hope it brings some peace to anyone who takes the time to listen; peace in these chaotic horrific times we are living in. If you listen, ask yourself... "what is important"? Thank you,
ZOUNDS!!!!! Such a warm, intimate sound... heals the soul. This choir is one of the TOP vocal ensembles on the planet, and they NAILED this modern classic to the WALL. I thought the Nordic Singers did justice to it, but this is on "a whole 'nother level" as the saying goes.
I loved it right up until the last note was cut off before it finished, and of course RU-vid put an ad right there, not the fault of the uploader. Absolutely must be some moments of silence after a piece like that.
I hope you may have it... Not easy to have a choir ready to sing this difficult work when required! I have music picked out for my funeral (Bach cantata "Christ lag in Todesbanden") but don't know when the time comes if it will be possible...
lesley scarborough the Geneva Presbyterian Church choir in Laguna Hills, California sang this at my wife’s funeral in 1999. It brings tears to my eyes to listen!
This is a very spiritual piece of music but beautifully sung by the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge. What a wonderful sound the Choir make. It has a haunting quality to it but in a great way. It’s a very relaxing piece of music which is what we all need right now. Beautiful.
4:46-5:00 this young man shows us how to sing high notes, ring them, truly. just observe the jaw, forehead, eyebrows while singing and learn about resonance in singing, vowels and lyrical singing / phrasing.
O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.
The stars must have aligned at Kings in 2009. So many excellent undergraduate "choral scholars". Listen to the other uploaded videos from that year. Great stuff, but this video of the Lauridsen choral piece is special.
Wonderful, glorious, fantastic and to think that it was written by an American composer, Morten Lauridsen. Samuel Barbers "Adagio" is also on the same level and just goes to show that European composers are not the only ones that could write amazing music.
