Libera Dreams

Tully - yes it's always fascinating looking into the background and being pleasantly surprised were the songs/hymns originated from.

Apparently the rehearsals (closed doors probably) are today and as we know the recording tomorrow. The RAH is a very busy place, the well known Last Night of the Proms is being televised there live tonight. It might be worth following another performer Mary-Jess on her Facebook https://m.facebook.com/MaryJessMusic/?refid=52 She's very excited and mentioned she will be one of the artists featured with Libera on the New Year's eve programme. She mentions she will be live streaming a few times throughout the weekend.

JimmyRiddle wrote:The RAH is a very busy place

Busy, likeky yes,
Obstructed, certainly!

There are huge works and scaffoldings around the RHA, you are not free to turn around currenlty.
When looking to the box office entrace (gate 12) at the top of the stairs, the way on the left is blocked.



I'm doing a visit tour in 15 mn ☺

TullyBascombe wrote: ↑<span title="Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:47 am">6 years ago</span> I have always thought of "How Great Thou Art" as a traditional American gospel song. After a little research I'm amazed to find that it was originally a Swedish poem, then song, translated into English by a British missionary. It didn't arrive in the US until the late 1940's.

Here's the really mind bending thing, the tune of the song in Swedish is the same tune as the Horst Wessel Lied.

It's not!

@Tully, could you please post your source next time? Was it wikipedia? I read the article and found that "O Store Gud" - which is the title of the Swedish original of "How Great Thou Art" - is supposed to be a base (not the same). Since I didn't know the Horst-Wessel-Lied, I googled it, compared the two songs and find that I can - thanks God! - disagree, and I assure that I tried to have an objective view on it.

There is definitely not enough similarity to justify the assumption that it was based upon "O Store Gud", neither in melody nor in the (honestly: banal) harmonies used. Maybe the rhythm could be called similar, but this concerns only the first part, and also, the rhythm is nothing special anyway, so how could that ever be enough to state such a claim?! There are special musical stylistic devices used for military purposes, which are normally found in this kind of songs and also in this NS song. Furthermore, there are, as I've seen now, many other songs speculated to be the origin.
https://translate.google.de/translate?s ... t=&act=url
They mention, among others, another one song, a Bavarian song from the 19th century ("Es war ein Schütz in seinen besten Jahren"). I compared it too and found (for the first part) more similarity. This does not have to be a base either, but it shows how low the risk is that it could be "O Store Gud"! There are many other more or less similar songs.

It would be a horrible connection, and I'm very relieved to say that we can certainly let go of such a theory.

This was very much off-topic now, but it was too important to just let it pass without comment.

Here's a juxtaposition of the two songs. http://www.anesi.com/east/howhorst.mid There are certainly some similarities.

john45 wrote: ↑<span title="Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:14 pm">6 years ago</span> There are certainly some similarities.

Yes, there are some similarities in the first part, but to what degree? These similarities lie in the nature of folk songs, we often have them in melodies' structure, this is no surprise and no evidence, as long as it's not the same! Listening is probably a bit deluding because of the harmonies. Comparing the melodies note for note, that theory of an origin in this very song cannot be maintained.

There is certainly not enough similarity exactly in this song, so that it's not reliable (unprofessional) or rather: even careless to draw such a far-reaching conclusion, when, at the same time, more similarities can be found to other songs. The first part of the Horst-Wessel-Lied is more like the "Es war ein Schütz", and to say that the second part is similar to "O Store Gud" is too far-fetched. So, the argumentation based upon the similarity found here is very "thin", if there is nothing else which points to the Swedish origin.

The lyrics of O Stor Gud were translated into English at two different times by two different men: E. Gustav Johnson and Stuart Hines. The translations are significantly different, the more popular of the two is Stuart Hines, it's the one made popular by Billy Graham's Crusade and The Carter family. Hines heard the song while doing missionary work in the Ukraine. The Russian version is adapted from a German hymn which in turn was translated from Swedish by a Baptist preacher in Estonia.
With regards to the melody, no one claims that Horst Wessel used the tune of O Stor Gud, but they both may have been loosely based on older German tunes. The refrain of How Great Thou Art is definitely different than that of Horst Wessel.

To summerize what was written tonight on twitter about the Songs of Praise 'Big Sing' :

Libera performed one song, by their own : 'From A Distance'.
Speculations were right for a song recent, coming from the Hope CD. And bravo Filiarheni for being the first to point 'From a Distance' being the perfect song for the event.

They were the first artists on stage, likely to be free early and go back home not too late before school tomorrow.

The song was sung twice. I have not noticed any issue on the first take, I can't say what justified to have it redone but anyway it was good for the public
Btw almost every song was sung twice.

For the second.take Aled Jones was on stage to introduce them.

They were 28 on stage, the same 26 as the US tour plus Victor and Alexandre.
At first, not easy to identify everyone, lot of new hairstyle.
They were spread a bit everywhere on the stage, all facing the public.
Merlin was at the center front, singing the solo of course.
High notes by Taichi and Leo.

The song was a bit abridged, surely to fit some TV timing constraint.
The second sentence that Merlin usually sing alone before the others join him was removed. The same near the end, a bit of solo missed.

Robert Prizeman was at the very center of the arena, conducting both the numerous musicians and the libera choir.


The song will be broadcast in the Songs of Praise of the New Year's eve, Decembre 31.

I'm glad they were allowed to sing a song of their own as an independent group.

fan_de_LoK wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:59 am">6 years ago</span> The song was sung twice. I have not noticed any issue on the first take, I can't say what justified to have it redone but anyway it was good for the public
Btw almost every song was sung twice.

For the second.take Aled Jones was on stage to introduce them.

I think every song was sung twice just in case there were minor mistakes that cannot be realized immediately, or they can just simply choose which one is better to be on TV. Libera's case is pretty much the same - or... because Aled Jones was supposed to introduce them, but he forgot about it in the first time.
*no offense, Aled Jones*

But it's good, nonetheless - you got to listen to it for the second time, and also Libera would have more time to be stuck in people's head. Sometimes one song is too fast, let alone a short version.

Thanks for the rundown FDL.

Of course you naturally want more and wish they could have performed two songs, but I'm quite happy with the song choice. It's a new one for the TV format. Slightly miffed when they cut and cannibalize a Libera song but it's to be expected for this type of program, I'm sure other artists had to have some of their songs cut as well.

All in all something very much to look forward to at years end.

Thank you, fan_de_LoK, for being our Libera journalist!

fan_de_LoK wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:59 am">6 years ago</span> The song will be broadcast in the Songs of Praise of the New Year's eve, Decembre 31.

So they announced which songs are broadcast on which date, 24th or 31st December, or was it clear that the Christmas songs are for 24th and the non-Christmas songs for the 31st (or you asked?)?

kinda_k00l wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:00 am">6 years ago</span> I think every song was sung twice just in case [...]

Correct, it's important to have a safety net and better to have a choice.

There was three different parts of the recording and it was clearly said to which broadcast each part was intended.
They also asked to remove the christmas hats when they were recording for the new year, and 'From a distance' is for the new year.

OK, so they sang "From a Distance" for New Years. Did they not sing anything for Christmas Eve?

TullyBascombe wrote:OK, so they sang "From a Distance" for New Years. Did they not sing anything for Christmas Eve?

Errrr....
let me try to remember if I have forgotten a second song that libera would have sung...

....and the answer is no

I don't want to wait until the holidays!!!! I'm spoiled by going to their concerts and I WANT MORE NOW!!!!!