HE WENT WHERE?

Okay, so my antipathy to all things opera is well known in select circles.  I have walked out on a performance at La Scala.  Had to be restrained from leaping from the balcony in Sidney.  Steel-willed my way through L.A. productions.  I just can’t stand the screeching, artificial-sounding operatic voice.  What is not so well known is that I really like massed voices:  choruses and chorales.  I guess those are one and the same.  So, while perusing the offerings in the latest email from Goldstar, the discount-ticket broker, I stumbled upon the Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella performing “The Three Great Services,” a collection of pieces centering on the “Magnificat” from those services.  All are from the Tudor Era.  The first was by John Sheppard (c. 1515-1558), the next by Robert Parsons (c. 1530-1572), and the last by William Byrd (c. 1543-1623).  They sang today at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, six male voices and four female.  Mesmerizingly gorgeous.  Actually, I most enjoyed a fourth piece they included, Robert Wylkynson’s (c. 1475-1515) “Salve Regina” from the Eton Choirbook.  Talk about the rapture!  No cool-aid needed here. 

This is a top-rank group, which won a Grammy at the 49th edition a few years back for it’s

which you can sample here.  They were recording our performance of the Great Services, but it won’t be available for some time.  Anyhow, I’m not just a rock-n-roll or jazz guy.  I got kultcha, I tell you!  And no, I didn’t all of a sudden get religion.  I’m still a shallow guy:  I like the trappings without the message.