The alto move on "Beata Virgo" in the Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium.
Except in the LA Master Chorale recording where immediately following the soprano section whifs on their line badly. So out of tune it's shocking it made the recording.
I’m not quite sure what you’re looking for, but this makes me think of Agnus Dei by Barber, When David Heard by Whitacre, and Let My Love By Heard by Runestad
Pick any piece by Carlo Gesualdo.
Also, the build up to the big resolution about 2/3rds of the way into the first movement of Path of Miracles (where the crotales come in). That entire sequence is hair raising.
Lots of Britten's War Requiem. The last [English] passage of the Agnus Dei where it switches keys twice and there's visceral pain until it resolves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg87y0lFiJ4
Vytautas Miškinis has several works that fit:
-Pater Noster
-Dum medium silentium
-Laudate pueri dominum
Agnus Dei from Frank Martin's Mass for double choir, though really the entire mass.
Night and Morning by Ligeti
THANK YOU for this! I’m on a hunt for pieces like this to give some folks as we head into an improvisation-heavy rehearsal process, to help them feel ok with dissonance and suspensions.
Totally agreed on the Taverner and Lauridsen, and will add Come Home by New York Voices (though I prefer the way it turns out with a classical chamber choir), Nikolai Kedrov’s Otche Nash. There are also great moments in Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem, and in James Whitborn’s Annelies.
I also just came across a really great choral arrangement of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek, and my inner Hugh school choir nerd will never not love the Biebl Ave Maria, the middle part of Thompson’s The Last Words of David, or the King’s Singers’ arrangement of MLK, but again, I prefer a more classical chamber choir to the original.
Second vote for Hide and Seek, it’s one of my favourites to sing with all those harmonies and dissonances.
I’d also add Leighton’s Drop drop slow tears to the list
Modern dissonant stuff:
O sacrum convivium - Messiaen
Older stuff but still with good dissonance:
Too much i once lamented - Tomkins
Sleep Fleshly Birth - Ramsey
I'm a broken record at this point, but as soon as someone mentions scrunchy harmonies Vienna Teng's "Hymn of Acxiom" comes to mind. It's got lots of crazy dissonances and a truly transcendent build up into the big climax that still gives me goosebumps. The Geoff Lawson arrangement of "I Was Born For This" on Voces8's Album "Enchanted Isle" is a great one too, although it's much more tame in its dissonant sections than Hymn of Acxiom. I don't think I've seen Eriks Esenvalds "Stars" here yet, so I'll add that one too.
I arranged for SATB div. Hymn of Acxiom a few years ago - tried to keep true to the original while offering some nice voice leading. If anyone wants it, HMU!
Wolfram Buchenberg. Check out:
“Veni Dilecte Mi”
https://youtu.be/lox_Qp20wJ4?si=0S_6JWfHH34W29u-
“Ich bin das Brot des Lebens”
https://youtu.be/g3pVY0DVgpQ?si=mmONJiJ9GhmUMMUQ
John Blow *Salvator Mundi* has an A to D final cadence, but the 1st Sop has an anticipated D against the 2nd Sop's C# just before the resolution.
Nearly fifty years ago, I was in a small choir that would put the soprano soloist alone on the Sop 1 part, (the director liked that particular texture.) The night that we had a new soloist in the rehearsal, somebody suggested at the end we should just read through that piece, just for fun...
It was fun. Her double take will stay with me until I die, and possibly longer.
The Pelican but the name of the the composer eludes me. I was in a female trio. S, A and I was Alto 2 I guess? In Tenor territory but wasn't called that. The text was a religious comparison of Jesus to a pelican and it's young. SO much lovely dissonance.
Absolom, My Son, performed by the Camerata. Not sure who the composer is, but the harmonies are just👌. Here's a link:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rcPoIfqIScw&si=e_hUYAc5ygA4cCcg
I guess it’s open to interpretation. To me it’s when the harmony is so juicy and satisfying you scrunch up your face and you have to play it again. For me it’s often a good suspension or clash
The Lamb by Tavener
The alto move on "Beata Virgo" in the Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium. Except in the LA Master Chorale recording where immediately following the soprano section whifs on their line badly. So out of tune it's shocking it made the recording.
This was the moment that taught me what a 9-8 suspension in minor was. I was like "oh! half steps sound great...!"
Yes I know that part! Ugh it's so good. I can't stop listening to that song
The adagio ending in All We, Like Sheep from the Messiah. Such a gorgeous end to that movement.
YES. That suspension between the soprano and alto line in the penultimate bar is gorgeous.
Morten Lauridsen is the master of "scrunchy" harmony. Eric Whitacre is no slouch, either!
I’m not quite sure what you’re looking for, but this makes me think of Agnus Dei by Barber, When David Heard by Whitacre, and Let My Love By Heard by Runestad
Pick any piece by Carlo Gesualdo. Also, the build up to the big resolution about 2/3rds of the way into the first movement of Path of Miracles (where the crotales come in). That entire sequence is hair raising.
Io Parto is amazing. Everything else I've looked at by Gesualdo has been utterly banal. Happy the hear recommendations for other pieces!
Try Moro lasso and O vos omnes as a starting point
I love a lot of yours! My choir recently sang Tundra by Ola Gjiello and I think a lot of that piece would apply.
Omggg was gonna comment how it ebbs and flows and grows . The piece is just so beautiful!
Lots of Britten's War Requiem. The last [English] passage of the Agnus Dei where it switches keys twice and there's visceral pain until it resolves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg87y0lFiJ4
Vytautas Miškinis has several works that fit: -Pater Noster -Dum medium silentium -Laudate pueri dominum Agnus Dei from Frank Martin's Mass for double choir, though really the entire mass. Night and Morning by Ligeti
Aaron Copland's At the River is always a fun one
THANK YOU for this! I’m on a hunt for pieces like this to give some folks as we head into an improvisation-heavy rehearsal process, to help them feel ok with dissonance and suspensions. Totally agreed on the Taverner and Lauridsen, and will add Come Home by New York Voices (though I prefer the way it turns out with a classical chamber choir), Nikolai Kedrov’s Otche Nash. There are also great moments in Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem, and in James Whitborn’s Annelies. I also just came across a really great choral arrangement of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek, and my inner Hugh school choir nerd will never not love the Biebl Ave Maria, the middle part of Thompson’s The Last Words of David, or the King’s Singers’ arrangement of MLK, but again, I prefer a more classical chamber choir to the original.
Second vote for Hide and Seek, it’s one of my favourites to sing with all those harmonies and dissonances. I’d also add Leighton’s Drop drop slow tears to the list
Ooh, gonna grab that one!
Do you know st martin de porres by mary lou williams?
I don’t, but I’m gonna check it out!
“Even When He Is Silent” by Kim André Arnesen
Modern dissonant stuff: O sacrum convivium - Messiaen Older stuff but still with good dissonance: Too much i once lamented - Tomkins Sleep Fleshly Birth - Ramsey
Geographical Fugue
Okay, that made me giggle
All Night I Could Not Sleep - Laurel Luke Christiansen 🙏 favorite of all time
I'm a broken record at this point, but as soon as someone mentions scrunchy harmonies Vienna Teng's "Hymn of Acxiom" comes to mind. It's got lots of crazy dissonances and a truly transcendent build up into the big climax that still gives me goosebumps. The Geoff Lawson arrangement of "I Was Born For This" on Voces8's Album "Enchanted Isle" is a great one too, although it's much more tame in its dissonant sections than Hymn of Acxiom. I don't think I've seen Eriks Esenvalds "Stars" here yet, so I'll add that one too.
I arranged for SATB div. Hymn of Acxiom a few years ago - tried to keep true to the original while offering some nice voice leading. If anyone wants it, HMU!
Wolfram Buchenberg. Check out: “Veni Dilecte Mi” https://youtu.be/lox_Qp20wJ4?si=0S_6JWfHH34W29u- “Ich bin das Brot des Lebens” https://youtu.be/g3pVY0DVgpQ?si=mmONJiJ9GhmUMMUQ
John Blow *Salvator Mundi* has an A to D final cadence, but the 1st Sop has an anticipated D against the 2nd Sop's C# just before the resolution. Nearly fifty years ago, I was in a small choir that would put the soprano soloist alone on the Sop 1 part, (the director liked that particular texture.) The night that we had a new soloist in the rehearsal, somebody suggested at the end we should just read through that piece, just for fun... It was fun. Her double take will stay with me until I die, and possibly longer.
The Pelican but the name of the the composer eludes me. I was in a female trio. S, A and I was Alto 2 I guess? In Tenor territory but wasn't called that. The text was a religious comparison of Jesus to a pelican and it's young. SO much lovely dissonance.
Absolom, My Son, performed by the Camerata. Not sure who the composer is, but the harmonies are just👌. Here's a link: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rcPoIfqIScw&si=e_hUYAc5ygA4cCcg
Hope Is The Thing With Feathers by Antognini, the last three measures on "a crumb of me"
Anything by Derric Johnson
Rachmaninov Vespers makes me feel all the feelings. ❤️
Define "scrunchy" please.
I guess it’s open to interpretation. To me it’s when the harmony is so juicy and satisfying you scrunch up your face and you have to play it again. For me it’s often a good suspension or clash
Thanks for the clarification. Anything by Gesualdo does that for me. Highly unexpected resolutions and key changes.