Greetings from Germany
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 12:36 pm
Warning - very long post!
Hello, I'm filiarheni, and I live in the Cologne-Bonn area. I heard about Libera’s existence by the beginning of this year and it felt like a lightning strike: When I heard the first sounds only, I was electrified, and I have been addicted to their music ever since.
At the moment I find myself still being in the "afterglow" of my first concert in Schönstatt. I’d rather seen them in England first, because it is their home country, but of course, I’m not crazy (at least this is what I hope ), I would never carelessly miss a chance like this. Besides, I simply cannot believe to be so lucky to have got to know Libera just in time before they were having their debut in Germany. Many other people have been waiting for this for years!
It was an Amazon review which led me to Libera. It was criticizing down another boys choir group and recommended more than warmly to compare them to a choir called “Libera” being a choir of really great quality in order to hear the big difference. This made me curious and I wanted to find out if she was right. On Youtube I chose some songs of which I liked the names (for example Salva Me, Adoramus, Libera, Voca Me, Time, I Am The Day, You Were There, Wings Of A Dove, Ave Maria - let's stop it here )
I don't remember which one was my very first Libera song but it definitely must have been one of the above-mentioned and I was carried away at once, during the first seconds! And I clicked on another song and one more song and this could be a beautiful song, too, and how could a song called xy sound like - and like this it went on and on, on that 8th January 2016, as I still remember.
I love a whole lot of their songs, but my top favourite is and has been and probably will forever be the terrific Voca Me. Those dissonances and their releases (right word?), the wonderful soloists there, the crystal clear singing of the “Lacrymosa”-bits and so on … I am absolutely enthusiastic about this song!
Voca Me is the undisputed favourite among favourites. Others are: Salva Me, Secret, Something Sings, Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep, How Shall I Sing That Majesty, Sancte, Sempiterna (Remix version), and I was overwhelmed that they sang it at the Schönstatt concert. But to avoid any misunderstanding: I love nearly all of what I have heard so far, and the grades between the songs are slight. Please allow me only one more remark about Sempiterna-Remix: Libera’s music on the whole is thoroughly relaxing, but there is no song tranqulizing me in a better way than this one. The entire song seems to be a one huge breathing out, which is doubtlessly supported by the wavelike movement of the melody.
Well - it is normal that there are also some other songs one does not like too much, and to make this introduction of mine complete I would like to mention them here as well. Please do not be annoyed, everybody here! The songs less popular to me are mostly when they sing extremely familiar songs like Morning Has Broken, and classical music which is originally instrumental and very well-known. These are especially Sacris Solemnis or Going Home. The Dvořák original of the latter (the complete 2nd movement of that symphony) is very special to me, touches my soul, affects my attitude towards life and is similar in its effect that the Libera music has on me, and I don't like it to be sung. I love The Fountain very much, though.
An important element in my appreciation, love and respect for this choir is, besides the pure music, the fact that the boys seem to enjoy it so much. As Liam C. said: “I love it, it’s great, I really enjoy it …” You see it in their faces, in their behaviour, in their smiles, in their laughing. They love what they do, what can be better? And: They sing in a very natural and soft manner, not in any way artificial or forced, a mere pleasure for my ears!
So there are these three things, their music itself, their way of singing and their happiness with it, which make Libera so precious to me.
The Libera generation I still feel closest to (this might change now that I saw the boys live!) is the Leiden line-up - hence Josh, Tom, Liam, Ed, Sam, and so on - because I met them that January day via most of the youtube songs above, and many of the songs I love best are sung by them.
As to the soloists, I like Ben Crawley very much, also Tom Cully (the way he sings Ave Maria (Vavilov/Caccini) takes my breath away, I find it extremely beautifully sung), Michael Horncastle, Stefan Leadbeater, Liam Connery (to few songs!). Definitely I love the fact that there are so many soloists; I love the variety of voices, and it would be boring to hear the same boy always. Now I have to study the voices which are new to me. During the concert I liked Alessandro best!
Libera music is intensely calming my soul down, it is soothing, even if a song is a more dramatic one, it makes the good days even better, and it is literally medicine in times when you do not feel good, it enriches every single day. Their songs are catchy, and so I can listen to them even when I cannot play them, and I can even choose what I’d like to hear because each song is an earworm..
I have played the Libera songs up and down since the beginning, and it doesn’t become boring to me at all.
I've always loved music, I play instruments and have sung in a choir since childhood and have a broad musical taste. But nothing like this had ever happened to me before, at least not in such a strong and persistent way, ongoing until now and hopefully for a very long time. Even if I repeat myself talking about the reasons why Libera finds directly the way to my heart and soul, I still have the feeling that I have not said enough. They are a phenomenon! I can only congratulate Robert Prizeman for being such an excellent leader of this choir, I surrender to Libera and I am not able to express how glad I am to have found them!
And now … thank you for having read this terribly overlong “speech”!
Hello, I'm filiarheni, and I live in the Cologne-Bonn area. I heard about Libera’s existence by the beginning of this year and it felt like a lightning strike: When I heard the first sounds only, I was electrified, and I have been addicted to their music ever since.
At the moment I find myself still being in the "afterglow" of my first concert in Schönstatt. I’d rather seen them in England first, because it is their home country, but of course, I’m not crazy (at least this is what I hope ), I would never carelessly miss a chance like this. Besides, I simply cannot believe to be so lucky to have got to know Libera just in time before they were having their debut in Germany. Many other people have been waiting for this for years!
It was an Amazon review which led me to Libera. It was criticizing down another boys choir group and recommended more than warmly to compare them to a choir called “Libera” being a choir of really great quality in order to hear the big difference. This made me curious and I wanted to find out if she was right. On Youtube I chose some songs of which I liked the names (for example Salva Me, Adoramus, Libera, Voca Me, Time, I Am The Day, You Were There, Wings Of A Dove, Ave Maria - let's stop it here )
I don't remember which one was my very first Libera song but it definitely must have been one of the above-mentioned and I was carried away at once, during the first seconds! And I clicked on another song and one more song and this could be a beautiful song, too, and how could a song called xy sound like - and like this it went on and on, on that 8th January 2016, as I still remember.
I love a whole lot of their songs, but my top favourite is and has been and probably will forever be the terrific Voca Me. Those dissonances and their releases (right word?), the wonderful soloists there, the crystal clear singing of the “Lacrymosa”-bits and so on … I am absolutely enthusiastic about this song!
Voca Me is the undisputed favourite among favourites. Others are: Salva Me, Secret, Something Sings, Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep, How Shall I Sing That Majesty, Sancte, Sempiterna (Remix version), and I was overwhelmed that they sang it at the Schönstatt concert. But to avoid any misunderstanding: I love nearly all of what I have heard so far, and the grades between the songs are slight. Please allow me only one more remark about Sempiterna-Remix: Libera’s music on the whole is thoroughly relaxing, but there is no song tranqulizing me in a better way than this one. The entire song seems to be a one huge breathing out, which is doubtlessly supported by the wavelike movement of the melody.
Well - it is normal that there are also some other songs one does not like too much, and to make this introduction of mine complete I would like to mention them here as well. Please do not be annoyed, everybody here! The songs less popular to me are mostly when they sing extremely familiar songs like Morning Has Broken, and classical music which is originally instrumental and very well-known. These are especially Sacris Solemnis or Going Home. The Dvořák original of the latter (the complete 2nd movement of that symphony) is very special to me, touches my soul, affects my attitude towards life and is similar in its effect that the Libera music has on me, and I don't like it to be sung. I love The Fountain very much, though.
An important element in my appreciation, love and respect for this choir is, besides the pure music, the fact that the boys seem to enjoy it so much. As Liam C. said: “I love it, it’s great, I really enjoy it …” You see it in their faces, in their behaviour, in their smiles, in their laughing. They love what they do, what can be better? And: They sing in a very natural and soft manner, not in any way artificial or forced, a mere pleasure for my ears!
So there are these three things, their music itself, their way of singing and their happiness with it, which make Libera so precious to me.
The Libera generation I still feel closest to (this might change now that I saw the boys live!) is the Leiden line-up - hence Josh, Tom, Liam, Ed, Sam, and so on - because I met them that January day via most of the youtube songs above, and many of the songs I love best are sung by them.
As to the soloists, I like Ben Crawley very much, also Tom Cully (the way he sings Ave Maria (Vavilov/Caccini) takes my breath away, I find it extremely beautifully sung), Michael Horncastle, Stefan Leadbeater, Liam Connery (to few songs!). Definitely I love the fact that there are so many soloists; I love the variety of voices, and it would be boring to hear the same boy always. Now I have to study the voices which are new to me. During the concert I liked Alessandro best!
Libera music is intensely calming my soul down, it is soothing, even if a song is a more dramatic one, it makes the good days even better, and it is literally medicine in times when you do not feel good, it enriches every single day. Their songs are catchy, and so I can listen to them even when I cannot play them, and I can even choose what I’d like to hear because each song is an earworm..
I have played the Libera songs up and down since the beginning, and it doesn’t become boring to me at all.
I've always loved music, I play instruments and have sung in a choir since childhood and have a broad musical taste. But nothing like this had ever happened to me before, at least not in such a strong and persistent way, ongoing until now and hopefully for a very long time. Even if I repeat myself talking about the reasons why Libera finds directly the way to my heart and soul, I still have the feeling that I have not said enough. They are a phenomenon! I can only congratulate Robert Prizeman for being such an excellent leader of this choir, I surrender to Libera and I am not able to express how glad I am to have found them!
And now … thank you for having read this terribly overlong “speech”!