# Vocalizations of classical orchestrations and concertos



## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

Why is this not a thing?

I would love it so much if a conductor for example made Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 into vocals only. Or Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto E minor Op. 64.
Or other concertos/symphonies by other composers.

Even if an amateur YouTuber did it. (Or if the composer Bear McCreary did it. He's not amateur but his very active on YouTube)

I can't find anything.

Some of you might think this as "blasphemy". But music does always get retouched by composers(eg. Franz Liszt).


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I don't know if the issue is blasphemy, but that it would be a lot of effort for possibly no payoff. Something that is playable on the piano might be impossible to sing. I suppose the easiest way would be to try it with digital voices. 

The results might be "unidiomatic," as they say.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Neither concerto, nor symphony, but an orchestral work arranged for choir: Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his Adagio for Strings (1936).


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Be careful what you ask for. The results can be pretty cheesy.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I remembered I had a CD of these, and after some searching I found it.

View attachment 70310


View attachment 70311


It also includes Mahler's adagietto from his 5th.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)




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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I just listened to something a couple of days ago that might be what you mean, OP:

Jonathan Harvey : Speakings


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

Weston said:


> Be careful what you ask for. The results can be pretty cheesy.


That is exactly what I would wish there was more of. And maybe harder stuff(just using more voices).

@Art Rock That's great too.

@DiesIraeCX That's too unserious.


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2015)

Interestingly, I found the ******* Tenors' rendition of Beethoven more appealing than the rendition of Bolero.


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## MeJoho (Feb 14, 2012)

nathanb said:


> Interestingly, I found the ******* Tenors' rendition of Beethoven more appealing than the rendition of Bolero.


Sure, they were good, but it seemed like a comedy show, and only 3 voices.

Bolero isn't the most interesting piece. Probably one of the worst and most popular pieces by Ravel, but nonetheless it was very true to it's original form.


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## Guest (Jun 2, 2015)

The Swingle Singers put out several albums of such stuff. I have "A Capella Amadeus" and "Jazz Sebastian Bach".


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Many years ago I went a novelty act by a quartet of kazoo players, who finished the concert with a kazoo rendition of "The Stars and Stripes Forever," during which an attractive woman who had stood in the background as window dressing suddenly launched into a coloratura rendition of the piccolo obbligato in the last stanza and brought down the house.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

MarkW said:


> Many years ago I went a novelty act by a quartet of kazoo players, who finished the concert with a kazoo rendition of "The Stars and Stripes Forever," during which an attractive woman who had stood in the background as window dressing suddenly launched into a coloratura rendition of the piccolo obbligato in the last stanza and brought down the house.


Could be the justly famous "The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra"!






/ptr


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

ptr said:


> Could be the justly famous "The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra"!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They called themselves "The Kaminsky Kazoo Quartet"(this was around 1970), and I sort of think they came from the Eastman School.


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