Cantamus

[gerrit]

Hi All,

I seem to recall that some people here have expressed their appreciation fo the British Girls Choir Cantamus.

I have up till now collected three videos featuring this choir, the most recent one from the New Year's Eve Songs of Praise Big Sing.

I hope you enoy these:

The Rose
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/therose.wmv

Bridge Over Troubled Waters
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/bridge.wmv

Fix You
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/fixyou.wmv

Gerrit

[comet]

Thanks for this Gerrit,

With all the celebrations On new years eve I missed these.

How unusual Fix You in this context is.
This is great !
Thanks again for the time and trouble you take to post these for us.

comet

[roger]

Hi Gerrit,

Many thanks for sharing the fine videos of Cantamus. Giving them a little prominence on this forum is long overdue.

I particularly liked 'The Rose', possibly because it was the first of the three that I watched. Although they performed 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' very well, it is not the sort of song that sits comfortably with me when it is sung by any sort of choir. I guess I know the original too well! 'Fix You' was totally unfamiliar to me and so I thoroughly enjoyed that too.

This was a nice reminder of the time when I saw Cantamus perform a couple of songs at the Classic Response concert in the Royal Albert Hall on 15th April last year. Here is an extract from the programme which gives a little information (very little, actually) about the choir:

I think I can count 37 of them. I'm sure in the videos they numbered at least 46. Why I can't just enjoy watching it and stop counting them, I will never know!

Roger

[gerrit]

Hi Roger,

Hehe, as Cantamus exists sinc the 1960's, there's bound to be some diference of opinion as to the number of members of this choir . Fix You was broadcast on Songs of Praise on New Years Eve - and I think it is a beautiful song.

Gerrit

[nicola]

Wow, you know, I was thinking of making a thread for them just this morning but I thought to myself 'Nah, no one's heard of them'.

I absolutely love this choir and have seen them live. I adore their two albums and they sung a whole cd composed by none other than Sarah Class (I'm sure you recognise that name!)

I made a post about them (partly) about a month ago here:
hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic2&action=display&thread=1159214253

[gerrit]

Hi Nicola,

Thanks - I knew that recently there had been a message related to Cantamus, but I couldn't find it back. It was yours that I had been thinking of!

I think Fix You is an absolutely sensational song!

Gerrit

[nicola]

I wrote this about 'Fix you' on Last.Fm. Sorry about the hinted language, you can say what you want in your journals!

I have written loads about them all over the internet, as you cannot believe how enthusiastic I am about them, but I can't be bothered to go round and hunt them all down! It was under the title 'Songs that pack a punch'. You can see the whole article here: www.last.fm/user/CareALotsClouds/journal/2006/12/1/280173/
There is a 'part two'. Hayley isn't listed yet but I will put her on my next one with 'Never Saw Blue'. If you do read them, I have a particular way of writing (think Julie Burchill), you have been pre-warned!

Cantamus – Fix You
You know, I really hate Coldplay. They are such boring ****** who are completely overrated. They obviously write brilliant songs (such as this one) but something is lost in the transition. I mean, can you name one exciting song of theirs? The vocalist sounds like a choir boy who doesn't quite understand that his voice is breaking. It annoys me when people ignorantly criticise artists who cover songs. It's foolish. Being an artist is not just about writing the songs. There is as much talent in arrangement and interpretation as there is in writing a fully original song. So, here is this boring song. And here is this world class winning choir champions: Cantamus. A choir of 40 girls between the ages of 14-20. The song is simply accompanied by piano and a bit of guitar at the end. The rest is up to the girls. Transition between rock ballad to choral arrangement is astounding. The song sounds twenty times better and the emotion is increased most noticably. The climax of the song hardly ever fails to moist my eyes up at least a little. This interpretation puts the song on a whole new level.

[Raymond]

Thank you for the video, Gerrit. I remembered reading Nicola's post which said they have an album which is composed by Sarah Class. After reading it, I listened to some samples on the internet. I found that I liked their voice, so I went to HMV to find their CD. I couldn't find the one composed by Sarah Class, but I found 'Cantamus' which has'fix you', 'universal song' etc... on it. I love it very much and listen to it quite often. I would like to find Nicola's post and reply to it, but I couldn't find it before. Thank you for mentioning such an excellent choir, Nicola.

Raymond

[mariannek]

gerrit said:

Hi All,

I seem to recall that some people here have expressed their appreciation fo the British Girls Choir Cantamus.

I have up till now collected three videos featuring this choir, the most recent one from the New Year's Eve Songs of Praise Big Sing.

I hope you enoy these:

The Rose
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/therose.wmv

Bridge Over Troubled Waters
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/bridge.wmv

Fix You
www.classicalrelatedperformances.com/cantamus/fixyou.wmv

Gerrit

Hi Geritt,

Thank you so much for those Cantamus clips...that is sooo beautiful !!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

I for one have never heard of them before!!!

Could you recommend a CD of theirs ?? Please !!!

Love Marianne

[nicola]

Hey Marianne.

They only have two albums (they have more, but they're private releases and you can purchase them on their website).

Both of the two albums they have are vital! Their self titled album 'Cantamus' is the easiest CD to get which has covers of popular songs. It has some great tracks on it like 'Fix You', 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'Stay Another Day'. But the album composed by Sarah Class is stunning! It's called Aurora. I brought it randomly some years back because of the beautiful cover. Best impulse buy, ever.

You can find them here:
www.amazon.co.uk/Aurora-Sarah-Class/dp/B00005ASWQ/sr=8-2/qid=1167822092/ref=pd_ka_2/202-1834778-0671055?ie=UTF8&s=music (Aurora)

www.amazon.co.uk/Cantamus-Simon-Johnson/dp/B000BM7TYC/sr=8-1/qid=1167822119/ref=pd_ka_1/202-1834778-0671055?ie=UTF8&s=music (Cantamus)

On the second page there is an option to buy both albums together. I couldn't tell you which is better than the other, they are both so different and brilliant! Read rthe rave reviews whilst you're there.

'Fix You' is one of the best songs, but to pieces from 'Aurora' are stunning. They are tracks one and two 'Aurora' and 'Summer Song'.

Man... now I have to listen to it again!

[Joe]

A few years ago, I wanted to find information about Cantamus but couldn't find much. Cantamus are a very large group and that put me off slightly. I love their sound and the rich blend of all of the girls' voices.

Thanks for the videos Gerrit, and to Roger for the photo.

Joe