Laughing
The internationally acclaimed Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, turns to the lighter side of a cappella singing across jazz, madrigal and spiritual repertoire.
Ben Oakland composer
Anders Edenroth composer
Calvin Carter composer
James Hudson composer
Quincy Jones composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams composer
Josquin des Prez composer
Henry Leslie composer
Robert Lucas Pearsall composer
Joseph Barnby composer
Friedrich Glück composer
Franz Abt composer
William H. Monk composer
George Herbert songwriter
William Shakespeare songwriter
Robert Herrick songwriter
Francis Beaumont songwriter
Alfred, Lord Tennyson songwriter
Karl Eichendorff songwriter
Johann Georg Ludwig Hesekiel songwriter
Henry F. Lyte songwriter
The Manhattan Transfer arranger
Kirby Shaw arranger
Lachlan Mackenzie-Spencer arranger
Alexander L'Estrange arranger
King's Singers arranger
Harry Frommermann arranger
Moses Hogan arranger
Vaughan McAlley arranger
The programme opens with cool close-harmony favourites, then moves through Vaughan Williams’s Elizabethan part-songs, early French and Josquin settings, Victorian madrigals and German part-songs, before closing on Moses Hogan spirituals and a hymn arrangement.
Much of the music has been sung in concert and at after-concert gatherings, where choirs meet to sing and enjoy the humour as much as the craft.
Singing can be a serious business. Indeed a great deal of effort goes into striving for perfection in the performance of all classical music. There is however a lighter side to all this. We trust that you laughed with us on I Can Tell the World, and now we want you to laugh with us again; well, at least smile a lot. If you don’t laugh with the comrades on track 14 you surely need to lighten up.
Many of these pieces have been sung in concert or at parties after concerts. Especially in Germany where we have been hosted many times; choirs love to get together to sing and to laugh. So laugh away, smile at the madrigals and perhaps even feel a little sad with Vaughan Williams and William Shakespeare.
Reviews
Highlights include the jazzy Java Jive, a delicious version of Goodnight Sweetheart (1950s doo wop hit for the Spaniels) … This is a highly enjoyable album by a virtuoso choir in marvellous form.
…sung a cappella with considerable choral virtuosity, but also a light and musical touch. Singing is and always has been a simple but key human pleasure, and this collection across eight centuries of songs popular in their time will indeed make you smile
the choir handles close harmony singing effortlessly … I think it’s an excellent presentation by the Ormond Choir … certainly it performs well
Artists
The Choir of Ormond College
The Choir of Ormond College has, since its founding in 1982 under Douglas Lawrence, become the first Australian choir to earn ongoing international recognition for its concert and recorded work.
Douglas Lawrence
Melbourne organist Douglas Lawrence is Director of Music at The Scots' Church and Teacher of the Organ at the University of Melbourne. He founded the Choir of Ormond College and directed it from 1982 to 2006.
Audio previews
Tracks
- Java Jive Milton Drake Ben Oakland Arr: The Manhattan Transfer Kirby Shaw 2:31
- Chili Con Carne Anders Edenroth 4:21
- Goodnight Sweetheart Calvin Carter James Hudson Arr: Lachlan Mackenzie-Spencer 2:26
- Soul Bossa Nova (theme from ‘Austin Powers’) Quincy Jones Arr: Alexander L'Estrange 2:46
- A Sweet Day or Virtue Ralph Vaughan Williams George Herbert 2:26
- The Willow Song Ralph Vaughan Williams William Shakespeare 2:12
- O Mistress Mine Ralph Vaughan Williams William Shakespeare 1:19
- Dame Vailans (anon 14th century French) 1:56
- Allegez moi Josquin des Prez 1:56
- Charm Me Asleep Henry Leslie Robert Herrick Arr: King's Singers 2:44
- Lay a Garland Robert Lucas Pearsall Francis Beaumont 2:26
- Sweet and Low Joseph Barnby Alfred, Lord Tennyson 2:48
- In einem kühlen Grunde Friedrich Glück Karl Eichendorff Arr: Harry Frommermann 2:41
- Laughing (Lachen) Franz Abt Johann Georg Ludwig Hesekiel 1:35
- Didn’t my Lord Deliver Daniel? (Spiritual) Arr: Moses Hogan 3:05
- I Want Jesus To Walk With Me (Spiritual) Arr: Moses Hogan 3:32
- Calvary (Spiritual) Arr: Vaughan McAlley 2:59
- Abide With Me William H. Monk Henry F. Lyte Arr: Moses Hogan 3:37
- My Soul’s been Anchored in the Lord (Spiritual) Arr: Moses Hogan 3:29
Performers
- The Choir of Ormond College
- Douglas Lawrence · director
Composers
Josquin des Prez
Josquin des Prez shaped Renaissance vocal polyphony into something keenly expressive: independent voices that imitate, answer and lock around the text. Masses, motets and chansons still sound alive in the throat.
George Herbert
George Herbert’s sacred lyrics speak with plain force and metaphysical wit to the soul’s traffic with God. Shaped as altars and wings on the page, they have drawn composers for centuries and still ring out as hymns and art songs of rare intimacy.
Vaughan McAlley
Vaughan McAlley is a composer and arranger, alto and tenor, a capable flautist and French horn player, and the recording engineer behind countless Move releases.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare's sonnets and the songs embedded in his plays remain living lyric for composers. On these recordings his words surface in art song, lieder and choral settings that still carry love, wit, jealousy and foolery.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) was an English composer of nine symphonies, operas, ballets, and a large body of choral and vocal music. Drawing on Tudor polyphony and English folk-song, he helped free British music from its nineteenth-century German models.
King's Singers
The King's Singers is a British a cappella vocal ensemble. Their name recalls King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars in 1968.
Joseph Barnby
Joseph Barnby (1838–1896) was an English composer and conductor. His hymn tunes, anthems and partsongs include the enduring lullaby Sweet and Low.
Moses Hogan
Moses Hogan (1957–2003) was an American composer, arranger and conductor best known for his settings of African-American spirituals. His choral arrangements remain central to the concert repertoire.
Lachlan Mackenzie-Spencer
Lachlan Mackenzie-Spencer is an arranger and performer. His arrangement of the doo-wop standard Goodnight Sweetheart appears on a light-hearted a cappella collection.
Robert Lucas Pearsall
Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795–1856) was an English composer chiefly of vocal music. His elaborate arrangement of In dulci jubilo and the richly harmonic part-song Lay a garland remain staples of the choral repertoire.
Kirby Shaw
Kirby Shaw is a choral arranger whose gospel-tinged settings of spirituals and popular songs sit firmly in the a cappella repertoire.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was an English poet and Poet Laureate whose verse has long been set to music. His lyrics remain among the most frequently chosen texts in the English art-song and choral repertory.
Contributors
Photography
Howard Birnstihl
Howard Birnstihl is a photographer whose cover, exterior and general photography appears across many Move Records releases from the late 1970s into the 2000s.
Where to listen
Laughing is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Laughing is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3306
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 50 minutes 49 seconds
- Recording Engineer
- Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley - Credit
- Howard Birnstihl
- Release date
- 6 Dec 2006
- Musical work
copyright - © 2006 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2006 Move Records
- Category
- Choral
- Genres
- Choral & Sacred, Vocal & Opera
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574330625
Related recordings
The Choir of Ormond College Live
A live retrospective for the Choir of Ormond College’s twenty-first year, gathering concert recordings from 1985 to 2000 under Douglas Lawrence, from Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Fauré’s Requiem to Bach, Palestrina, Poulenc and lively encores.
Beatus Vir
Recorded live on their 1999 European tour, the Choir of Ormond College under Douglas Lawrence presents small-scale sacred works in up to eight parts by Palestrina, Gesualdo, Handl, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Stanford and Rheinberger.
Music from Heaven
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, in a highly acclaimed programme of unaccompanied sacred works by Allegri, Byrd, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and J.S. Bach.
I Can Tell The World
Saucy Purcell rounds, madrigals, drinking songs, spirituals and English folk settings from one of Australia's finest choirs, directed by Douglas Lawrence.