Libera (music)
From Freepedia
Libera is the third 'public' name for the boys' section of a Church of England parish church choir from South London. As the name has changes at various times during the public performance life of the choir, the name in use at the relevant time will be used in each section.
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Origins
The story really starts with the appointment of a new 18-year-old choirmaster, Robert Prizeman, to St. Philip's church in South London in 1970, where Prizeman had previously been a choirboy and later church organist. The choir was very good, but, like most small church choirs, received little public recognition. Their first appearance in the public eye came when, as the St Philip's Boys' Choir, they backed Sal Solo on his song San Damiano in 1984. This led in 1988 to the choir releasing their first album, Sing For Ever, as the St Philip's Boys' Choir. The title track for this album [ a Robert Prizeman composition ] was chosen by the BBC as the first Children in Need telethon anthem. Due to the work of the passage of time on the boys' voices, the principal soloist changed at various points during this period, as it has done since. The period when they were called the St Philip's Boys' Choir roughly equates to the 1980s. The change of name to Angel Voices came in 1990 to accompany the release of the release of their second album New Day. Both Sing For Ever and New Day are now out of print. The changes of name of the publicly performing section of St. Philip's Church choir are to show the different styles of music for new audiences.
Angel Voices
It was as Angel Voices, during most of the 1990s, that Libera came to real public prominence with three albums and regular appearances on two television shows. A major role as singers in the programmes Titchmarsh on Song, presented by Alan Titchmarsh in 1992 and Thora on the Straight and Narrow in 1993 introduced Angel Voices to a wider public. The third album, Angel Voices, was released in 1992 and re-released in 1993, containing much similar material to Sing For Ever. Further television appearances followed through the 1990s, with a second album as 'Angel Voices', Angel Voices 2 appearing in the shops in 1996. This was soon followed by an album for Christmas and, following the rather unimaginative naming that characterised this period, the new album was called Angel Voices 3.
The Latest Period
In 1998, along with a departure from fairly traditional church choir music, there was the latest change of name to Libera. Since then there have been three albums released - Libera in 1998, Luminosa in 2001 and their latest album Free in September 2004. Along with regular appearances on television, most often on Songs of Praise, they have released four videos that are often to be seen on Classic FM TV. Currently there are around 30 boys in the group, but this number changes as voices break and new members join. Although there may be up to 30 members in total, usually only about 15 appear in the videos that have been made so far. Libera have also been used as session artists on various outide projects such as film sountracks including Romeo & Juliet, Shadowlands and Hannibal and some of the members have even recorded music for a Playstation game. They have also collaborated on three albums with Aled Jones. Their latest album, Visions is due for release worldwibe by 7th November 2005.
Style
The musical and visual style of Libera has changed, along with the name, at various points during its history. The distinctive white robes now worn arrived quite soon after the change of name to Angel Voices. In the early days, standard choir robes or even normal clothes were often worn. This variety of style has continued, but the white robes have been worn more and more. The music has always been distinctive, even when based on traditional choral music; originally, the music was traditional choral music such as Amazing Grace interspersed with modern music like Orinoco Flow or You Are the New Day. Since becoming Libera, however, the style has become even more recognisable. It is mostly new composition by Robert Prizeman, who still directs the choir, but contains elements of Gregorian chant and even the music of classical composers such as Debussy, Beethoven and Pachelbel. The words are either new, as most of the album Free is, or are taken from the Latin words to Christian services, a good example of this being Vespera from Luminosa.
Libera has added drums and synthesiser and, despite the meanings of some of the songs, is very upbeat, whereas Luminosa is calmer and quieter with a much more reflective mood over all.
External Links
Libera: The official website
Libera Gateway: Further information
BCSD: Information on CDs
