The Greatest Choral Works

Getting away from the sucky political state.....

In my lowly opinion the greatest choral music in the history of Music are as follows, running from the 14th century to the 20th century:

14th Century: The Mass d'Notre Dame by Guilliam d'Machaut
The Deller Consort does a great job with this Ars Nova masterpiece. Arguably the most spectacular of the surviving polyphonic works from the era, this Mass is an anomolly since Machaut is mostly known for his secular songs.

17th Century: The Te Deum by Marc Antoine Charpentier
This is the best example of the absolute melding of worldly power and faith. It is of an age when both kings and popes were almost charicaturishly silly. However if you can get passed the martial aspects of the music it is a pretty powerful work.

18th Century: The Messaih by G.F. Handel
What can be said other than it kicks ass, in a spiritual sense. Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music is the best at this music.

19th Century: The 9th Symphony by Mr. Beethoven
Moving and marvelous.

20th Century: The Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
Okay so this is owes a lot to the orginal manuscript of that name that dates to the 12th century but hey it is a 20th century work. Over used in movies and ripped off as much as any great work of music ever has.

Those are nice places to start. Each gives you a different experience and each takes some getting used to. For me the one that is the most removed from everyday listening is the Mass d'Notre Dame, its isorythms and early polyphonic voices make it pretty alien. Particularly if you are used to listening to Andrew Loyyd Weber or Gilbert and Sullivan. Come to think of it G&S have many good choruses too. The above works are heavy duty, but if dutifully listened to can expand ones appreciation for the marvelous nature of combined human voices and the amazing brains behind the arrangment of those voices in combination with musical instruments.