My lovely sister rang up a little over half an hour ago, and said not much more than " Turn on Radio 4 now!" and rang off.
The programme she was urging me to listen to was Soul Music, repeated from last Tuesday, when it had also escaped my notice, about Tallis's Spem in Alium.
This time I didn't need the onions to make me cry; the death row lawyer speaking about how he listened to it over and over in his motel room on a case in Alabama, and Michael Morpurgo's description of the Tallis Singers performing it at Ted Hughes' funeral, did the job very well. I would happily give up seeing any number of wonders of the world and travel to exotic locations to see and hear it once performed for real.
If you didn't hear the programme, click on the link above for to do so, if it's the only Listen Again you do this week, do it!
THE FRIDAY FUNNIES
10 hours ago
14 comments:
Just a moment ago - it must have been a repeat - I heard the Tallis Singers at Ted Hughes's funeral! Breathtakingly beautiful.
Oh, wow, amazing... I accidentally fell in love with a man because he introduced me to all things Tallis and Allegri's Miserere...
Am going to get up in the dark and listen to that early tomorrow; some things are just too heavenly to do with other people about.
Sadly, the love affair didn't last with the man, in case you were wondering... terrible sinuses... oh! the sniffing. Unbearable :(
Oh dear, that was me, deleting my post full of typos before suddenly coming over all anonymous.
Time for a drink, obviously!
Joe - wasn't it?
Spiral, you are clearly a woman after my own heart in more ways than one!
I heard it - one of the joys of being off sick - and thought of you. I had not heard S in A before, and was awed by its all-consuming revolving glory.
Oh, that is wonderful. I imagine being in the center of that would be much like being in the center of a Sacred Harp singing.
Beautiful!
i love a cappella music and i agree that it would be wonderful to hear this live.
A few months ago i learned of Eric Whitacer a contemporary composer whose a cappella music gives me some of the same experience listening to Tallis has.
Thanks for bringing this by us today!
Delighted you took me up on it!
Thank you so much for this link. It's wonderful. I love SinA and Tallis.
Thankyou for mentioning this.
Wonderful.
MUCH improvement on peeling omions!!
I love it when folk ring up and tell you about lovely things...it shows you're: a) in their thoughts and b) that they understand JUST WHAT you appreciate..
25 years ago a friend of mine updated his hi-fi gear to something classier, all brushed aluminium with speakers the size of telephone kiosks. A pair of enormous Sennheiser headphones came with the set-up & these John placed on my head one evening. "Listen to this", he said & sat back to watch. It was Spem In Alium & I've never really recovered from the experience of having it directly injected into my brain. An exercise to be undertaken with care & in the company of trusted friends!
Agreed about Eric Whitacre, Zephyr.
What a gratifying set of responses, thanks all so much. Ripples outward...
Late I know, but the ripples came to Australia at 10pm. So, I sat and listened and what glory, what glory. Thankyou Lucy.
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