It is Easter. What Spiritual, Gospel, Soul, Classical Music do you listen to? What moves your soul?

Yesterday listenened via Tidal to Bach St John Passion, Karl Foster (cond) with Fritz Wunderlich. What a great recording! Unfortunately not yet available in 24 Bit, and there were quite a few 'drop outs' on Tidal. Might buy the 16 bit download, given that Amazon is quoting €83 for the CD.

Hi Paul,

the Boston Camerata has recorded several CDs featuring spiritual music, some of them in cooperation with a Shaker community. Whenever I feel the need for music of this kind, one of them does it for me (and my wife).

Yesterday I listened to Bach's Mathew Passion, John Eliot Gardners new version, through Qobuz.

After the Mass of The Easter Vigil last night, where I was Baptized, Confirmed and received my first Catholic Eucharist and Lent was over.  I came home with my wife and after everyone was fast asleep in bed I poured myself a glass of Talisker 10 year old scotch and Listened too John Butt's Handel's Messiah, disc one at 1:00 am in the morning.  I plan to listen to disc two tonight after a short stop of listening to a couple of short wave radio stations and the local AM medium wave station.  Again at 1:00am when even the mice and pugs are asleep.  In will go the CD and out will come music to gently fill our lounge/kitchen room.  Loud enough to be captivating and yet quite enough not to wake anyone.

I am looking forward to purchasing Bach's Matthew Passion.  One day soon.  David, how do you rate John's Passion please?  Something else to add to my list of CD's.  I may own 50 CD's and about as many LP's.

Hi Mulberry and Like music, David, I think we understand each other.

God Bless,

Paul.

Music that moves my soul? Well, nothing Soul, Gospel or 'Spiritual'! Church music for me has always remained just that, music in church (l'm thinking organ music captured by the church acoustics alongside the spititual content of the church and prayer within the church), which I have never played at home.

However, a fair proportion of my favourite music does 'move my soul'- which is probably why things become favourite. Trying to think of things right now, what comes to mind is Puccini or Verdi tragic operas (E.g. Turandot, La Boheme, La Traviata) and in some ways even more so would be prog rock with subjects anti-war or pondering aspects of the human condition (examples that immediately come to mind are Pink Floyd's The Wall and Final Cut, Rogr Waters' Amused to Death, Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and Script for a Jester's Tear, Twelfth Night's music when Geoff Mann was lyricist, some of the Edgar Broughton Band's music.) 

perhaps this answer isn't what you're looking for, but then although I was brought up in a religeous environment I am not religeous myself, though I can still be moved by religeous ceremonies.

I'm listening to A Voice From Heaven - British Choral Materpieces, the choir of the Kings Consort, led by Robert King. It's a lovely album, just perfect for Easter Sunday. And last night we listened to Bach's John Passion, the recording by John Eliot Gardiner. I prefer the Matthew, which seems to have more 'good tunes' if that can be applied to Bach.... I'm not religious myself, but went to a religious school, where we had Compline by candlelight in the chapel, so choral music is somehow in my bones. I can happily listen to Biber one minute and The Clash the next. 

Paul,

Congratulations! That was a big day indeed. I never thought about 'rating' Bach passions, and it seems that there are doubts over the provenance of the St. Luke and St . Mark. 

As to 'soul moving' music,in the sense in which you seem to be asking, try the Von Karajan Haydn 'Creation', (24 bit if you can), but, equally , Buffy St. Marie's "My country 'it's of thy people you're dying" can do the trick too. 

In a way, I envy you the tiny collection which you have so far. There is so much music that you have yet to encounter for the first time, and with Tidal or Spotify, the opportinity is better than ever before, although I regret the passing of the record shop and the excitement of seeking, finding, buying and carrying the purchase home for a first listen.

Paul, congratulations on your day! Although a non-Christian, I recognise the importance of the day, and am delighted for you.

I do find the St Matthew Passion incredibly spiritually uplifting, despite not being a believer. As others have said above, also non-religious music, Richard Thompson's Meet on the Ledge, and the Kinks's  Days both move me with their humane acceptance of mortality. Arvo Part's "holy minimalism" is incredibly moving for me, Tabula Rasa raises my soul every time I listen to it.

"When I asked him if he intended his performances to reflect a kind of devotion, he hesitated before he answered. “Does artistic dedication begin to touch on religious devotion?” he said. “I start with artistic dedication. I know that if the spirit is on you it will touch on to the other human receptors. But I dare not begin from the other side. It’s like pronouncing the holy name—you don’t do it. But if you are lucky, and you are graced, and the audience is in a particular salutary condition, then these deeper responses will be produced.”

http://www.newyorker.com/magaz...ohen-makes-it-darker

Eoink posted:

Paul, congratulations on your day! Although a non-Christian, I recognise the importance of the day, and am delighted for you.

I do find the St Matthew Passion incredibly spiritually uplifting, despite not being a believer. As others have said above, also non-religious music, Richard Thompson's Meet on the Ledge, and the Kinks's  Days both move me with their humane acceptance of mortality. Arvo Part's "holy minimalism" is incredibly moving for me, Tabula Rasa raises my soul every time I listen to it.

Eoink,  'Meet on the ledge' and 'Days' have been two of my favourites for as long as they were released, which is nearly 50 years ago. Guaranteed soul movers, in the right circumstances.

As I posted in " What are you listening ...",:

Bach : St Mathew Passion and St John Passion

I had both  in CD  by The Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists & John Eliot Gardiner, but I couldn't find the CD of the first one, so I replaced it by Ton Koopman's version streamed from Tidal.

G'day Mangmonkey, it took me a while to read your link.  It was interesting.  I knew nothing about Leonard Cohen. except the recent news on TV following his death.  This link showed a side that few probably knew.

Paul.

Gigantor posted:

G'day Mangmonkey, it took me a while to read your link.  It was interesting.  I knew nothing about Leonard Cohen. except the recent news on TV following his death.  This link showed a side that few probably knew.

Paul.

Buongiorno MangoMonkey :-)

Yes, a very inspiring article on a poet, songwriter and singer that  I love so much.

Thanks for sharing.

Stefano

Easter, spiritual, this says Parsifal to me, the third act is set on Good Friday.

There are many fine recordings, Solti & Karajan for a start, but I think my favourite is Kubelik.

I too like Wagner.  I do have a plan one day to sit down and listen to the Ring.  Maybe when the adult children move out : )  They are good kids.  But they live in the fridge and we have an open plan kitchen lounge room where the stereo is.

On a side note I am exploring with the "Advanced Search" settings on Decca Classics website.  It came up with two selections and I wondered what forum members thought of this album.  Bach, Mass in B minor  http://www.deccaclassics.com/au/cat/4155142

If the filters do work it might help my selection when purchasing albums from overseas to Australia.

Warm regards,

Paul.

With regards to Wagner, Parsifal.  I came up with these:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/a..._rec&ADD_OTHER=1

Would any of these be suitable please?

Just testing out at the search engine on their, Decca Classics website.

Paul.

And also this one:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/au/cat/4775445

Paul.

I know the Gardiner Mass in B Minor, a fantastic performa.ce. As you'll spot from the similarity of the covers, it's a similar period to the Passions, I have the Mass and the Matthew/John on vinyl from the original publishing, even though I listen to the Harnoncourt St Matthew more frequently, the Gardiner still gets a spin.

Gigantor posted:

With regards to Wagner, Parsifal.  I came up with these:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/a..._rec&ADD_OTHER=1

Would any of these be suitable please?

Just testing out at the search engine on their, Decca Classics website.

Paul.

Of these, I have only heard the Karajan, which would be a strong recommendation, it has the wonderful Kurt Moll singing Gurnemanz, who I was fortunate to hear sing this role a couple of times at Covent Garden back in the 1980's.
The Christian Thielemann set looks interesting, although I have never been overly impressed by Placido Domingo in Wagner roles, but who knows Parsifal may suit him, I may download a few tracks to see.

Gigantor posted:

And also this one:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/au/cat/4775445

Paul.

I'm not so sure about this one, I prefer whole operas to excerpts, and I notice that the 'Good Friday Spell' from Parsifal on the second cd is a version without the vocals, as far as I know a practice only ever enforced on Wagner.

Thank you Morton, I have emailed the link of the Karajan to myself for future reference.

Warm regards,

Paul.

Gigantor posted:

I too like Wagner.  I do have a plan one day to sit down and listen to the Ring.  Maybe when the adult children move out : )  They are good kids.  But they live in the fridge and we have an open plan kitchen lounge room where the stereo is.

On a side note I am exploring with the "Advanced Search" settings on Decca Classics website.  It came up with two selections and I wondered what forum members thought of this album.  Bach, Mass in B minor  http://www.deccaclassics.com/au/cat/4155142

If the filters do work it might help my selection when purchasing albums from overseas to Australia.

Warm regards,

Paul.

This CD is one of the first I bought in the mid 80s. My opinion has a positive bias bcause I like bach/gardiner very much. I have the mass,  the passions, some cantatas, the motets, ....., by him. Very good and clear sound quality. Some pieces with amazing energy.

Gigantor posted:

 

...

What moves your soul?

 

...

All music does not move my soul.

How is that for a politically incorrect start?  But for some unexplainable reason some music grabs me in an unreal way and I simply follow it.  It may be a surprise to some but the genre does not matter to me.  I can list songs/pieces from any genre that have an equal effect on me.  Basically, if all the elements of quality are their AND it is interpreted/played correctly - it just works.  Change one thing and the effect is ruined and you would have a hard sell to get me back.

As my fate has it though classical music is what I spend most of my time with mainly because their is so much to work with here.  Top 10, 20 , 30 or whatever never usually appeals to me.  Finding rare gems though does and typically this means I look for and cherish rare gems that contain some unspeakable beauty in a language that has no equivalent words.  Great music moves my soul.

Life is short.   As I age, I find I have less and less tolerance for anything that does not add value to my life.  There is a fine line though of remaining comfortable with things that are known to you and venturing out and having the patience to give new music a chance.  Much of the music I cherish today could have been considered a write-off in my life decades ago.  I guess what I am saying is that we are on a journey and we do change or evolve over time if you work at it.  What works for me doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you or vice versa.  My core values may be there all along but I move through life changing from eating pablum to grown up food eventually.  At least I hope that this is the case.

Also, what tends to connect me more than anything else to music is the connection to playing the music on an instrument.  In my case it is the piano.  If I hear something that I like and then work on this music at the piano my love and connection to it grows exponentially.  This obviously is not possible for everything but might explain my connections to transcriptions.

Here is a piano transcription of a selection from a Bach Cantata #127 "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott."  Had I not heard this transcription, I would probably not have been as attracted to this piece as the typical interpretation is quite a bit faster.   What Walter Rummel did though was find the soul of this piece and he did this by slowing it down.  It suddenly becomes personal.  This is not a piece to listen to at the racetrack or on the subway racing to work.  Find your favourite quite secluded spot, sit there for an hour and think about nothing and then put on the headphones and disappear in the music.

Finally, I should say that a good sign that a piece of music moves your soul is that it effects you emotionally.  In my case, I am drawn to reflective, deep, melancholy, sad music (written in a minor key).  Others would naturally be drawn to the opposite or something happy, for instance.  Each of us is different.  Find what you like by being true to yourself.

J.S. Bach | Walter Rummel: transcription of the aria "Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen", Jonathan Plowright (piano) (Part 1 & 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQbFgKoE03Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEf8f_0ATFI