At various times this evening I heard some of the Beeb's celebration of Judith Weir's music (including her talking about her background). Never heard King Harald’s Saga before, and was most impressed with Elin Manahan Thomas who sang it. The Saga is described as an opera in 3 acts for solo soprano (and that's solo as in totally alone and unaccompanied), performing 11 parts. Good thing it's only 10 minutes long. Elin was fantastic, producing different tones for each character.
All the Ends of the Earth, a motet written in 1999, is influenced by the music of the 12th-century Notre Dame school. Lovely. It was written for the BBC Singers who performed it in this concert; I'd prefer some other group, because I never feel comfortable with the Singers' sound on early music or early-music-style. Of course, I'd like to sing it myself...
http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=6296
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