Let's talk music, no genre boundaries

Did you see the Blanchard operas at the Met?

Try Jakob Obrecht and Josquin Des prez masses... Super geniuses of the highest order..."Missa super Maria Zart" with Prague madrigalist though is my treasured version because of the rythm...Missa pange lingua  but with Ensemble Clement Janequin because of the rythm ...Tallis scholars for example kill it with no rythm so well the sing and they sing well for sure ..

I am in love with Purcell Anthems... But i never retrieved the Wilcocks album i owned long ago and the actual complete Anthems version i own is  acceptable but nothing more ...

There is too much geniuses in sacred music before Bach  for only one thread...

it is not well known generally ...In fact most geniuses are not known at all ...Especially the Franco Flamish school...

@frogman 

I've never been to the Met. I pretty much only see what's put on in Los Angeles. The few times I've been to New York, my wife decides on what we see, and it's usually a popular musical. Although, I did see Twyla Tharp at the Kennedy Center in the 70s. My wife was a big fan. They danced to Supertramp and it was a fantastic show.

@audio-b-dog Twyla and David Byrne collaborated on 'The Catherine Wheel' back in '81...David didn't have much to say about it later...perhaps not a pleasant RT mix, given the personalities involved....but I'm just an 'interested absurder' of such....

This/that was back in '81, so there's a time shift involved that caused who knows what as far as we as listeners are involved....
Per Twyla, there is/was a heavy pineapple concept involved....

I like pineapples as a consumable, so my interpretation is loaded.... ;)

@toddalin 

I guess Belshazzar’s Feast is in English, but when that many voices are singing en masse, it can make it very difficult to understand

That surprises me!  At one point the baritone sings, with no accompaniment at all:

Babylon was a great city,
Her merchandise was of gold and silver,
Of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen,
Of purple, silk and scarlet,
All manner vessels of ivory,
All manner vessels of most precious wood,
Of brass, iron and marble,
Cinnamon, odours and ointments,
Of frankincense, wine and oil,
Fine flour, wheat and beasts,
Sheep, horses, chariots, slaves
And the souls of men

What John Shirley-Quirk, in particular, does with the last phase is absolutely spine-chilling.

The first performance was given in Leeds, at its Festival.  The addition of two brass bands was suggested by Sir Thomas Beecham; the bands were on hand anyway for a performance of Berlioz’s Requiem, and Beecham said to the young Walton: "As you'll never hear the thing again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?".  So he did.

An excerpt conducted by the composer was featured in Gerard Hoffnung's humorous festival of music, which sold out the Festival Hall in London in record time - about an hour.

The full orchestra was in position, and a 300 strong choir filed in behind.  Finally the composer appeared, carrying a fly swat.  On the first downbeat of the fly swat, the chorus sang "slain" to a full orchestral chord.  Then they all filed out again.