I. Introitus II. InTe, Domine, Speravi III. O Nata Lux IV. Veni, Sancte Spiritus V. Agnus Dei - Lux Aeterna Vocaal ensemble Cantando (choir) , La Passione (orchestra), Luc Anthonis (Conductor)
If I were to lose any of my senses, I would easily choose to lose sight first. For without hearing, I could never hear anything in the world as beautiful as this.
@Jeff Weber A wise choice. I once took an education class about disabililties and learned that the loss of hearing is far more isolating than the loss of sight.
I sang this in choir, and let me tell you I’m very grateful for this video cuz it is one of the only videos that accurately captures the beauty of this piece
This is a good one. However, since it was written for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and for the Conductor Paul Salamunovich, I consider that one to be the definitive performance.
@@donaldmalin1686 as someone just now learning about the piece, and looking on RU-vid specifically for recordings with clear distinguishable lyrics, I found this to be the best so far
this is song pulls literally every single one of my heart strings. i sang this with mine and 5 other choirs at Carnegie Hall two years ago and was on the verge of tears the whole time.
I was driving when I heard this for the first time. I had to pull over when Veni, Sancte Spiritus started because I was crying so hard. A choir that can do that for me...well....I'm in utter awe.
Once when I was much younger during a camping trip I recall several friends and I lying under the night stars listening to Bruckner's 8th Symphony. I must do this again with Lux Aeterna. What a profound experience! Yes...hypnotizing!
@@edaddis5069 'myself' is probably the most appropriate substitution. And Bruckners 8th a most amazing and inspirational work, I probably have listened 200 times, extraordinary experience every exposure. And we must not leave out Mahler's 8th also, a towering work, the 'symphony of a thousand' I have heard on so many occasions.
I'm sure I'd be getting lumps in my throat and chills up and down my arms if I were to hear it live! Just the absolute best blending of voices and instruments - not enough words to describe the beauty of the piece.
I first gave this to my mother. My copy cracked and broke during a move from California too Chicago. My mother died and I didn't think that I would ever hear this again. I can not describe this.
I find inner peace every time I listen to Morten's work. As with Eric Whitacre's music everytime I hear this I feel like the doorway to heaven is open and we can hear what paradise will be like.
In 1995 I was walking with him and one of his students at USC. I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD JUST LISTENED TO HIS FRENCH MOTETES AND THEY REMINDED ME OF THE MUSIC OF Maurice Durufle. Morton was pleased and said. "Oh I hoped for that. Thank you so much" he seemed extatic with gladness to hear that.
I have always considered the Los Angeles Master Chorale to be the Standard for this piece.After all he teaches in LA st USC but this performance leaves me embarrassed and speechless. I cannot believe what I have heard. I didn't that this piece be improved on in performance. I'm so stunned and impressed. I have never been in heaven for three hours before but this performance put me there. Thank you so much.
Proud to say Mr. Lauridsen is a Pacific NW composer. His music has been a great comfort. When my mother, a teacher in the Theology Dept at Seattle University, was forced into retirement after developing early onset Alzheimers, I setup a multi-loop music player of Lux Aeterna and other works. She truly loved listening to Lauridsen. I know the music gave her great joy in many stages of her final journey for which I am eternally grateful to the composer and performance artists.
To Mark Early . . . What a devoted and remarkably loving son you were and still are, Mr. Early! May God richly bless you for your kindness to your beloved mother. And as so many speak here of the tears this music brings, the joy that was mine reading of the depth of your kindness as your mom approached the end of her journey, brought tears of JOY trickling down my cheeks. I am also blessed to have two sons who remind me of you and your mother, who was indeed blessed by her loving son. God sees and He never fails to reward such extraordinary kindness. May you live daily with His abundant blessings!
Brings tears to my eyes. Movies can't do that to me anymore. I never thought modern music (this century) could do that to me either. Thank you.from the bottom of my heart.
This is my absolute favorite choir piece. Since I've sang it, every time I listen to it I remember being in the middle of the choir singing it. I just love this piece, for me it's the most gorgeous and epic piece I've heard, especially when your singing it. I could listen to it forever and never get bored. For me this piece is so beautiful that I literally can not come up with enough good words to describe it. I get the chills every time i hear it. I absolutely love this piece! this is one of the best performances of it that I have heard.
My lovely wife of 34 years died in 1999. At her request, the choir at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California sang Lux Aeterna at her funeral. There was not a dry eye in the entire congregation! Listening to this wonderful video brings back many precious memories!
A life in choral music and I did't know this work existed or its composer. I thought it was another of Eric Whitacre's works. Polyphony has done this and so has the Los Angeles Master Chior. It seems Lux Aeternae is its own genre. This is exquisite and yes, its from Antwerp. Has anyone heard Eric Whitacre's "Lux Arumque"? He and his Virtual Choir performed this at Eric's TED. This some of the toughest choral music to sing there is. Thank you all who made it possible.
I would have said that Lauridsen is the heir apparent to Britten and Vaughan Williams. But after hearing Lux Aeterna I say he has birthed his own magnificent genre for the New Age.
I absolutely agree. The first time I listened to it I remarked to my friend who was with me that I had never heard this music-not this piece-rather, these sonorities, this power, this sound. I sang for the maestro Salamunovich for three years in college and NOTHING we did ever reached this for me.
I must say that this recording far surpasses that by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, because the sound of the latter has a ruinous reverberation that obliterates most of the detail. I knew from a performance by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir that the choral writing was exquisite, and this recording lets us hear everything clearly. What beauty!
The LA Master Chorale had better talent. The recording was done digitally so the original can always be remixed to lower the levels of the hall mics used in the performance space. The other inaugural performance was in Portland Oregon in the Spring of 1997, with (arguably) superb talent-- I recommend tracking that down.
Heard this (or at least most of it) for the first time on a public classical radio station - somewhat fuzzy due to less than ideal reception - thank God the station has a playlist so I could get the name of the piece and see if it's on RU-vid, and sure enough, it is! LOVE these types if choral pieces - VERY moving and beautiful! Makes the hairs on your arm raise just a little!
This music is so very very beautiful and comforting but the commercials interrupting the concert are jarring, they would NEVER entice me to buy their product as I try to shut them off asap.
I quite like John Rutter. He's certainly written some pretty pieces and is immensely popular, of course. However, in terms of musical quality and interest, Lauridsen (and other composers like Eric Whiteacre) are just on another planet compared to Rutter.
Samuel Lickiss I agree. Extraordinarily beautiful and sublime. We sang this at Christmas two years ago and I still go back periodically to hear this wonderful performance.
This is a superb performance, but I cannot fathom how those stupid ads can just so thoughtlessly interrupt this beautiful piece with their crap advertising.
Hi Mathew, I am part of a large civic chorus in Gainesville Florida( audition only) and we are will be singing this most sacred and gorgeous piece at 2 venues. Feburary 16-17 Matthew Gross
ann wood I am assuming that was Feb. 16-17 2014; I sure wish it was 2015, as I am planning to be in the area. Do you know of any other upcoming performances, preferably in the Southeast U.S. or Mid-Atlantic?
Lisa Countiss The Sarasota Ballet is staging Will Tuckett's ballet set to Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna this weekend (Nov. 21st and 22nd, 2014) at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota, FL. The music will be live, performed by the Sarasota Orchestra and Key Chorale.
Vocaal ensemble Cantando (choir) , La Passione (orchestra), Luc Anthonis (Conductor). Both choir and orchestra are from Belgium. Thanks for the nice reaction!
I loved it also, but I thought the O Nata Lux was a bit too fast. This is one of the best performances I've seen. I had the privilege of performing this piece in Canterbury Cathedral with my college choir. Needless to say, I had such a hard time trying not to cry...it was so surreal. Plus, the work is so exquisite, I cried during most rehearsals too! This work did (and does) something profound to me. Thanks for posting.
Would anyone know why the horns are sitting with Horn 2 on the left of Horn 1? It's usually the other way around. Are they listening to intonation from the lower end up for this piece?
That is where horns sit with a mostly string Orchestra and they as a whole are way in front of the arch. Horns need to have something to bounce the sound back since their bells face the rear. There is a whole altar and singers and a well placed railing which is not solid. (Horn player here)
@@jefferyrowley8873 Thanks for your reply. I play horn and have played with many types of orchestras but have never seen horn 1 to the right of horn 2. I played this piece a year ago and if I remember correctly, the conductor said Lauridsen's note was to have the horns in that non-traditional set up but we didn't like it so we sat with horn 1 to the left of horn 2 in the traditional way. But as we got into the rehearsals I felt like horn 2 probably should have been on the other side as recommended because that part and the trombone part should have been working together. Lots of crunchy chords in this piece! In this video horn 2 is sitting next to the trombone, which I think does make the best sense for this piece.
Beautiful sound! Can anyone explain why the Latin pronunciation is so different to what I’m accustomed to? Mainly the varying pronunciation of the vowel “e”
@@pascoitefics5806 The Made Without Hands icon means so much to me. And the high altar. For some groups, the church or cathedral sings along as an additional voice. Maybe that happened here. It happened when Tenebrae sang the Miserere at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul in Philadelphia. Nobody in the audience even breathed. We were all stunned into immobility by the beauty.
Beautiful version. However the bass section needed to be more confident when they started phrases. They seemed unsure then go flat because they're not confident and also makes it sound like a mistake that they're singing. Then the rest of the choir come in and it's fine, but some more work on the bass section's confidence would have made this a 10/10 performance.
+William Ford maybe Morten Lauridsen wanted a quality of sound only the cello can provide. Yes the range looks apt for the viola but a cello has a different timbre in very high positions.
Our choir toured this work in Italy, and I also found it a bit disconcerting...but, hey, you do what your director asks for. It is a simply stunning work to perform. I could do this once a month for the rest of my life and be in heaven.
