Penultimate note leading to the end. Yes. A thousand times yes. And yes...I miss the bass to The King's Singers...unapologetically so! Just be honest and let your ears tell the truth. Stephen Connolly God bless you and to those who come after you.
Stephen Connolly is irreplaceable: his beautiful, rich, luscious tone and engaging personality and performance skills are unequaled. I miss him so much in the group.
Stephen Connoly sounds incredible in this performance. I could happily listen to him sing the whole thing solo. Was surprised by how explicitly sexual the lyrics are when translated, interesting
It's not in playback,the performance was live,but in the DVD they used the live video and the studio version of the song because the live version was full of errors.
Apart from the little slip-up, where Stephen missed a bit at 2.28.. The Kings Singers seem to be able to sing in almost any language... And they do it so well... I have listened to them over many years and their standards do not drop... Bravo chaps say I... and keep singing too... :0)x
Yes, this definitely is a highly sexually charged madrigal! Besides the fact which several other commenters mentioned that "morire" refers to "the little death", notice how Monteverdi has set the lyrics "Ai! mouth!, ai! kisses! Ai! tongue return to say ..." (or something like that) as "Ai! mouth, ai! kisses, ai! tongue. Ai! tongue return to say ..." I first heard this madrigal on an album by The New York Pro Musica Antiqua conducted by (the appropriately named) Noah Greenberg in the late '50s or early '60s. That group and really got the sexual feeling right! For one thing it was much faster. And it really emphasized the constant alternation of crescendo plus rising pitch plus increasing emotional intensity, with diminuendo plus falling pitch plus decreasing emotional intensity -- just like a sex manual diagram of the progress to orgasm! I've just started scouring RU-vid to find a similar performance, and so far I've only found performances more like this one ... including one sung very sweetly -- and very inappropriately! -- by young girls in some religious organization.
unfortunately we don't hear enough the bass part, which is beautiful to sing and to listen! One question, I sang the same aria but lyrics were different: oh jesu mea vita, what are the original lyrics?
@lesissimo Tengo la respuesta. En la actuación el Bajo se olvidó de decir "ahi lingua" (lo sé porque tengo la partitura) y fue agregado despues en la realización del DVD. En el programa de The King's Singers transmitido por TV, efectivamente el bajo dice solamente 2 "ahi lingua", se olvidó de uno (por eso se rien al final del tema XD). Al programa de TV lo tengo grabado en audio y puede comprobarse esto. Quien quiera el audio se lo mando por mail. Saludos
loro sono i migliori. però forse questo non è il repertorio più adatto a loro. rimangono cmq i migliori in assoluto. e lo dico perchè li ho visti due giorni fa dal vivo a londra
I've had a sample of this song on a schoolexam, but in that version the vocals were done by three men and two women. The guys were wearing masks. I believe it's part of an Opera-piece, not sure tho. Can anybody help me out? :)
@ik2025 Ja het werd dit jaar inderdaad ook gebruikt bij het examen kunst. :) Alleen kan ik dat filmpje dus echt nergerns vinden. En het examen kunst is echt waardeloos, dan weet je dat vast :P
This is such a prettified rendering of one of the most erotically charged pieces of music ever written. Trouble with this performance is that none of those guys had the necessary 'labia's' that is implied in this text. 'Morire' or death in Italian madrigals means orgasm.
I don't want believe, but... Is probably a playback? :S (I hope that no :S) Appart of this, wonderful... King's Singers and Monteverdi are the perfect mix.
You guys are amazing singers, but I am so disappointed with this performance. This sounds like a barbershop quintet, not Monteverdi. Do you have any idea how lush and sensitive this music is? What's the rush? Why so fast? Did you translate this? Terribly disappointing.
