This week we talk about the United States’ bar mitzvah, how we discovered Bach, the history of The Swingle Singers, the marvels of Scandinavian a cappella festivals, and older people falling in love.
Continue reading...139: The Swingle Singers, ‘On the 4th of July’ (James Taylor)
161, The Swingle Singers, ‘Sinfonia from Partita No.2 in C Minor’
The 2013 Swingle Singers are great. The 1963 Swingle Singers weren’t bad, either. (Caution: This posting contains a clip of Glenn Gould practicing which may not be suitable for younger audiences.)
Continue reading...The New A Cappella
I’ve just returned from the inspiring The Real Group Festival in Stockholm, four days of workshops, lectures, concerts and hugging, a celebration of a music shared passionately by a small but growing number of adherent fanatics worldwide — The New A Cappella. Many of the participants expressed frustration at the difficulty in explaining just what this genre is. Here’s my attempt to provide an overview.
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