Help me find more loud, bombastic choral music.

October 15, 2007 2:12 PM

Help me find more loud, bombastic choral music.

I've been listening to more and more classical music lately, and I find myself really enjoying the sweeping, dramatic choral pieces. To give a better idea of what I am talking about, two of my recent favorites are:

- Mozart's Requiem, particularly Kyrie, Dies Rae, and Domine Jesu;
- Bach's Mass in B Minor, especially Kyrie, Christe, and Cum Sancto Spiritu.

So I am basically looking for classical compositions that feature a large chorus, are not slow and melancholy (though it's fine if some tracks are), and are at least similar to the tracks I mentioned above. Thanks, MeFi!

posted by Pontius Pilate to media & arts (30 comments total)

Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights
posted by fire&wings at 2:15 PM on October 15, 2007

Carmina Burana comes to mind right off - do you know it?
posted by clavicle at 2:15 PM on October 15, 2007

Well, opera is chock full of bombastic choral music! You can usually find collections of operatic choruses without having to know which operas to look for.
posted by MrFongGoesToLunch at 2:16 PM on October 15, 2007

Perhaps a little too obvious, but there's always Orff's Carmina Burana. I'm also a big fan of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, if you don't mind a more modern vein.
posted by Johnny Assay at 2:16 PM on October 15, 2007

Oh, and how could I forget: for choral bombast, you can't beat Shostakovich's The Execution of Stepan Razin.
posted by Johnny Assay at 2:17 PM on October 15, 2007

Yup, already have Carmina Burana - should have listed that as well.

Oh, and yeah - it doesn't necessarily need to be circa Mozart / Bach / etc. More modern is fine as well.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 2:25 PM on October 15, 2007

Similar.
posted by rob511 at 2:27 PM on October 15, 2007

If you're liking the Mass in B minor, be sure to check out the Passions too - St John is my personal favourite. If you have the patience there's a whole raft of wonderful masses by Bach, Haydn & Mozart too work your way through. Join a library and get some box sets and and see which you like.

Also the Haydn Creation (that first chorus - Im Anfange schuf Gott Himmel und Erde - is utterly marvelous).

A bit of Bruckner would probably fit the bill too - Mass in E minor (especially the credo)? Or Rossini's Petite Messe Solonnelle?

A couple of obvious choices to fit the 'large chorus' bill would also be the final movements of Beethoven IX and Mahler II (neither easy listening by any stretch, but immensely rewarding.

Alternatively, if liturgical isn't your thing: Russian's definitely the way to go for dramatic choral music - how about Rachmaninov's The Bells?
posted by dogsbody at 2:33 PM on October 15, 2007

Well, opera is chock full of bombastic choral music

Verdi! Verdi is your man. Triumphal March ("Gloria all'Egitto") from Aida, "Spuntato Ecco il Di" from Don Carlos, Anvil Chorus (Vedi! Le fosche notturne") from Il Trovatore, and many many more.

Other non-Verdi ideas:
"Guerra! Guerra!" from Bellini's Norma. Ancient Britons sing mightily about going to war.

"Gloire immortelle de nos aieux," known as the Soldiers' Chorus, from Gounod's Faust. If the words "My uncle roasted a kangaroo" mean anything to you, this is where that tune is from. "Vin ou bière," the village drinking song from Act I, is also good.

There's a big chorus in Act I of Turandot where the crowd anticipate the execution of one of Princess Turandot's failed suitors. Not surprisingly, they're pretty enthusiastic about it. I think it starts "Gira la cote." There's a slow bit in the middle where they await the rising of the moon, and then at the end they're so impressed by his youth and beauty that they beg for mercy for him... which, of course, is not forthcoming.

And one non-opera bit thrown in for good measure:

Beethoven, Symphony no. 9, Movement 4. This is the stuff.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:38 PM on October 15, 2007

Mozart - Mass No. 18 in C minor (K. 427)

Brahms - A German Requiem (Eine deutsches Requiem)

Verdi - Requiem

Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:48 PM on October 15, 2007

Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky
posted by imposster at 3:13 PM on October 15, 2007

add the Slave's Chorus from Nabucco... va pensiero
posted by Wilder at 3:16 PM on October 15, 2007

Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 10
posted by imposster at 3:23 PM on October 15, 2007

This is probably a little off of what you're requesting, and most tracks on this album are definitely on the melancholy / contemplation side, but check out Huelgas Ensemble's Utopia Triumphans album for the track Qui Habitat composed by Josquin Desprez. It's worth it just for these five minutes of building ecstasy. I'll hook you up with an mp3 if you so desire, email is in the profile.
posted by jchgf at 4:27 PM on October 15, 2007

Shostakovich's 13th symphony.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 4:43 PM on October 15, 2007

The Rachmaninoff Vespers
posted by jquinby at 4:50 PM on October 15, 2007

Sorry, I hit send a minute too early. The Vespers isn't bombastic, but I think it's beautifully dramatic, and made more so because it's for an unaccompanied chorus.

Samples at the Amazon link above.

But you must think in Russian!
posted by jquinby at 4:59 PM on October 15, 2007

Seconding Mahler's 2nd and Mozart's Requiem. Also try some Russian a cappella works.
posted by Ohdemah at 5:13 PM on October 15, 2007

Excellent and varied responses, as always - thanks so much, guys!

(Oh, and I am fluent in Russian, so I'll definitely be checking those suggestions out - if you guys have more of them, feel free to chime in.)
posted by Pontius Pilate at 5:24 PM on October 15, 2007

Beethoven, the Hallelujah from Mount of Olives

A couple of Handel Hallelujahs, too. The obvious one is the one from the Messiah, of course. But there's another one. It's from...Judas Maccabaeus?

Jubilant Song by Norman Dello Joio. Bombastic.

You should give Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb a listen. I don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for, but if you haven't heard it, you should. Give it a few minutes, the first part is slow. It might fit. It's totally wacked out.

The first and third movements of John Rutter's Gloria.

Man, I wish I had my old choir folder. I used to sing this type of stuff all the freaking time. There's so much I can't remember, or worse, stuff I remember, but not well enough to find the real names of them online.
posted by lampoil at 6:19 PM on October 15, 2007

Almost anything choral from anything Final Fantasy is, by default, bombastic.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:34 PM on October 15, 2007

It really doesn't get much more bombastic than Mahler's 8th Symphony.

I'd call it "my favorite piece of music, ever" but that doesn't quite cover it for me, for intensely personal reasons.

It needs to be played loud, so make sure your neighbors aren't home!
posted by dnash at 6:39 PM on October 15, 2007

(Oh, re: Mahler 8 I should have elaborated a tad... though it's a "symphony" it's almost entirely sung. The first part, about 20 minutes long, is almost entirely full chorus with a few soloists, and is very loud and energetic. The second part is a sort of operatic setting of the final scene of Goethe's "Faust, part II" - it starts with a quiet orchestral interlude but from there it's a roughly 45 minute rising crescendo of solos and choruses.)
posted by dnash at 6:42 PM on October 15, 2007

Off the top of my head:
If you're listening to Orff, also check out the Catulli Carmina
Haydn, Mass in Time of War
Handel - I'm not up on the details, but he wrote gobs and gobs of oratorios. There have to be some pretty jubilant tracks.
How about Monteverdi? Not the a cappella works, but something like the Vespers.
Heinrich Schutz - he's got plenty of music for choir and brass ensemble, some of it gorgeously triumphant. Try "Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt."
See if you can find Ginastera's Lamentations of Jeremiah.
posted by bassjump at 7:11 PM on October 15, 2007

Seconding Verdi's Requiem and Stravinski's symphony of Psalms. Also check out Bruckner's fantastic Te Deum.
posted by musicinmybrain at 7:22 PM on October 15, 2007

Ah! How could I forget? Don't miss Zoltán Kodaly's Psalmus hungaricus, op. 13. I'm pretty sure it's exactly what you're looking for.
posted by musicinmybrain at 7:24 PM on October 15, 2007

bassjump -- you're right about Handel. There is so much stuff! Also if you like Handel, you might like Purcell.

For Halloween, try any choral music by Penderecki. Loud, bombastic, and scary!

But nothing beats Carmina Burana.
posted by strangeguitars at 7:42 PM on October 15, 2007

It's probably not what you are looking for but Miserere by Allegri is by a long way my favourite choral piece.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:39 AM on October 16, 2007

Something a little newer: Navras by Juno Reactor (on their album Labyrinth, as well as The Matrix Revolutions soundtrack). Not dissimilar to O Fortuna from Carmina Burana.
posted by manyon at 11:20 PM on October 16, 2007

Handel's Coronation Anthems of King George II, especially Zadok the Priest.
posted by nekton at 10:20 AM on October 23, 2007