Saturday, September 10, 2011

A Musical Treat from Matthew J. Curtis ...

"I have composed the Cantiones Sacrae Simplices to serve the needs of diligent choirmasters who desire liturgical motets for use at Holy Mass and at other times when a short, Latin choral work might be useful. The texts have been drawn from the Graduale Romanum. The harmonic language and general musical demands are relatively modest compared to the motets of the Cantiones Sacrae I and II collections, making Cantiones Sacrae Simplices accessible to many more choirs and vocal ensembles. Matthew Curtis' renditions have captured the spirit of my compositions in an admirable way."

The following is an example of Mr. Curtis' artistry ("Panem de Caelo"):  http://vimeo.com/28388983  -- click on it and enjoy the choral music.

It may come as a surprise to you that Mr. Curtis sings all the parts (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) himself!  The amazing character of this accomplishment is only overshadowed by the fine quality of his musical writing. Matthew Curtis has also uploaded more than 600 choral training videos to his website, ChoralTracks.com, and, if his teaching is anything like what we heard here, it is of very high quality.

3 comments:

Chris said...

Wow. Very good stuff.

Unknown said...

Exquisitely composed and performed.

I'm not sure I understand who is being quoted in the first paragraph. I assumed it was Mr. Curtis until I came to the last sentence of the paragraph, "...Matthew Curtis' renditions have captured the spririt of my compositions in an admirable way."

Whose compositions were rendered in an admirable way?

Anonymous said...

Kevin Allen is the composer.

-Peter Sovitzky