I don’t know enough about singing to describe what techniques or methods I thought the musicians used, but I do know that not a single part of the entire concert was done poorly, it sounded very good.
Musical Selection 2—Vox in Rama by Giaches de Wert
I chose to include this piece because it was something I’d never heard before and also it was very pretty. This piece seems very ancient to me, which is another appealing factor to me. In this piece, the soprano voices sing the haunting melody. The altos help to move the melody along with the harmony. The lower voices create a wonderful, constant, backdrop for the evocative melody lines. This piece seems to be very layered, one line comes in strongly, and then another very soon after while the previous line was still going.
Once again, I don’t believe I know enough about singing to describe how the musicians produced the musical effects I heard, except to say I know there was some syncopation in this piece.
Musical Selection 3—Meciendo by Leanna Kirchoff
I am including this piece because it deviates from typical St. Martin’s music, especially because it is modern. This piece was also really good. It’s been awhile since the concert and I can’t find any recordings of this piece to compare unfortunately. But the things I do remember are that the song was fast, and upbeat, in a major key. The melodies were very flowing, I think. The piece also had a sort of Spanish flavor to it. This piece also had a few solos in it that were very good, with the basses singing below the soloist. It was a cool effect.
You know what I’m going to say here, right? But one thing in this piece I did notice about the singers was that they had to breathe more often, not that that makes any difference at all. I wouldn’t know.
The concert Thou Little Tiny Child was an extremely enjoyable concert, as all St. Martin’s concerts are, but I did especially enjoy this one. I really enjoyed the venue, it’s really gorgeous in there, and the singing is just fabulous. I especially enjoy all the really, really, old music, such as Vox in Rama, but Meciendo was a very interesting and good change from the usual. I believe that the concert’s general impression on me as the listener was that it made me really want to go listen to some more choral music and also it left me feeling inspired, as good concerts should.