Boys Air Choir

It had been a while since I wrote a music related post – and yet music has a special place in my life – especially songs as magical and angelic as the ones of the Boys Air Choir. The choir itself was formed in a rather non traditional way back in 1996 . A careful selection process was launched amongst the most popular UK Cathedral and College choirs – seven vocalists were selected to be members of Boys Air Choir. In 2007 they released their first album “Requiem ” – which gained good popularity and fame especially in Japan where the Choir seemingly had a large following .  It has always been interesting to me how the people in Japan really seem to appreciate treble and classical music – more than any other nation – judging from my own observations . No wonder then why Boys Air Choir as well as many other well known choirs such as Vienna Boys Choir and Libera loved touring in Japan.

Connor Burrowes was the lead soloist in the choir. He is often referred as to the best treble soloist in recording history. Because of his unique vocal talents – a lot of the music of Boys Air Choir seems focused on his performances – which some people find annoyng – but I found rather intriguing. It all comes down to personal taste – yes some of the magic of the choir music is the blending of voices – but I have always had an affinity to solo performances and they were always the favorite parts of the concerts I have attended in person – that is why I am rather found of the way the music of Boys Air Choir is arranged .

I would like to quote Michael Grainge who in his review of ” Requiem ” – used a statement written on the fold out of the album :

“”Like crystal, shining in the sun, like tears falling from your eyes – the voice of this boy will make you believe that life is forever”

I think that the statement is a very well written description of the magic brought by the treble music performers . Again in Amazon.com , I found another interesting mentioning in the review of Michael McShurley – he states that the  musical concept of Boys Air Choir is similar to the one if Libera  : ” sacred works are given a slightly non-standard setting, but still quite acceptable to this classical listener who loves sacred music while at the same time being accessible to non-classical listeners. ” There are different views on the rightfulness of that approach – some argue that the classic music should be permormed in the way it was writen / intended  – yet I would rather support the oposite view . Now you won`t be surprised why ” Vienna Boys Choir Goes Pop ” is my favorite album of Vienna Boys Choir – even if I know that many people would say that as it clearly departs from the classical tradition – it should not even be considered treble ….to each his own.