ID This Choral Piece.

November 23, 2005 4:14 AM

Can anyone identify this piece of minimalist liturgical music for violin and choir? It was heard via shortwave on Family Radio International. (Bonus points for identifying this particular recording or rendition.)
posted by mykescipark to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Start my looking for a church that has mushrooms as a sacrament.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:30 AM on November 23, 2005

You can't contact FRI?

(If you do find out, please post it here - I think it's nifty.)
posted by unixrat at 6:40 AM on November 23, 2005

I don't believe you would call that minimalist. It sounds more like traditional church music.

I would check with FRI, if you have the band and time you heard the broadcast, you should be able to pinpoint the program.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:52 AM on November 23, 2005

Yeah, not minimalist, and it doesn't sound like a violin. Not sure about the piece, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:07 AM on November 23, 2005

Ask 'em:

http://www.familyradio.com/index.htm
posted by DandyRandy at 8:46 AM on November 23, 2005

Sounds medieval to me. And it wouldn't be violin, but vielle or rebec (I nod more towards vielle). I wonder if it's some Hildegard? I have CRAPPY speakers on my iBook that blew some time ago, so I can't tell what they are singing. Maybe the text "O Gloriosa"?
posted by doublehelix at 8:59 AM on November 23, 2005

It sounded very similar to Concerts a deux violes esgales (volume 2), but with vocal accompaniment. I don't know what the piece is, but think that the above work might serve as a good starting point. If you end up unable to find the exact piece, both of the above recordings are quite similar, but lack voice.
posted by cior at 9:12 AM on November 23, 2005

The harmonies (for use of a better word) sound too early for Ste-Colombe. Within the first 10 seconds it sounds medieval. It may very well be French, but perhaps French music of the 12th or 13th century.
posted by doublehelix at 9:18 AM on November 23, 2005

If it is a violin, it could be something by the contemporary Russian composer Vladimir Martynov, who has written liturgical music for strings & choir, where the violins can sound quite like that...
posted by misteraitch at 1:23 AM on November 24, 2005

...specifically I was thinking of this CD, which I own, but had only listened to once or twice. Alas, although the sound of the sample you provide strikes me as tantalisingly similar to parts of Martynov's Stabat Mater, that isn't it.
posted by misteraitch at 4:11 AM on November 25, 2005