Babel loves a cappella too. If he could sing he'd form his own group of one, become his own audience, and glowingly review the event for friends.
Tonight he's going to hear the ultimate a cappella piece:
"SPEM IN ALIUM" by Thomas Tallis ( 1505-1585 ).
Metropolitan United Church ( 56 Queen East ).
Tickets available at the door $30.
This is the music that Janet Cardiff used in her "40-Part Motet" at the Power Plant last year. She set up 40 speakers around the gallery, each transmitting a different voice in this beautiful piece. It is not a chorus - each voice sings a different part, creating a sea of sound that moves around the listener in waves. Music as visual art. It was originally performed in an octagonal hall by eight choirs each of five voices, lined around the perimiter of the space. The ultimate surround sound experience.
Here's a description:
"As the piece begins, the first 20 parts enter one after the other, each beginning with a similar sounding theme, in a gradually thickening texture which grows audibly. As the 20 voices finish their first theme, the remaining 20 respond with a different figure, again with the voices following one after the other. When the last of these voices has entered, Tallis displays a subtle sense of humour - having reached the fortieth bar, he brings in the full choir of 40 voices."
And tonight it is live.
Tra-la!
