Nimrod: Lux Aeterna
July 6, 2017 11:22 PM   Subscribe

A stunning vocal rendition of Elgar’s Nimrod. "VOCES8, considered to be one of the world’s most versatile and best-loved a cappella groups, performed ‘Nimrod: Lux Aeterna’ [YT] from the English composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations as a tribute on Armistice Day 2016."

An instrumental performance for comparison: Elgar - Nimrod Conducted by Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

More Elgar: Why does Elgar’s Cello Concerto make us cry? Cellist Steven Isserlis explains.

Elgar Cello Concerto - Steven Isserlis
posted by homunculus (13 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Very nice. Thank you!
posted by james33 at 4:37 AM on July 7, 2017 [1 favorite]


Stunning. Thanks very much.
posted by ZipRibbons at 4:57 AM on July 7, 2017


Wonderful! Words cannot express.......
posted by lungtaworld at 5:05 AM on July 7, 2017


Goosebumps.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 6:35 AM on July 7, 2017


Now that's an a capella joint I can get behind. Really fantastic.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:04 AM on July 7, 2017 [1 favorite]


Beautiful! Thank you :)
posted by eggkeeper at 7:56 AM on July 7, 2017


Oh goddamit now I'm balling like a baby..
posted by anguspodgorny at 8:23 AM on July 7, 2017


I didn't cry but ...

Nimrod (a different version, I don't know which) was the soundtrack to one my life's more mystical moments. I'd just heard that my grandfather had died. After a long illness, so it wasn't a shock, more of a relief. I was maybe twenty at the time, prone to smoking a little marijuana and laying back with the headphones on, closing my eyes ...

Which is exactly what I was doing maybe an hour after hearing about my grandfather. It was a friend's mixtape of easy-to-listen-to stuff, ambient etc, so the situation was conducive to contemplation. Nimrod came on with its complexity of up and down motion and emotion and suddenly I was seeing my grandfather. Pictures, that is. Various photos that we had around the house, coming at me in reverse chronology -- the old old man becoming an old man becoming a middle aged man and so on back to early adulthood, which is the oldest stuff we had of him. A young man smiling at the world.

But the reverse chronology continued as did the music. Teenager, boy, small child, baby (all smiling). Then just light ...

That was about thirty-five years ago. If there's a God (and I've never been fully convinced that there isn't), I'm pretty sure She's got Nimrod on the jukebox.
posted by philip-random at 10:29 AM on July 7, 2017 [4 favorites]


Frisson!
posted by Vitamaster at 2:36 PM on July 7, 2017


It is remarkable what humans are capable of, from absolute cruelty to such ethereal beauty.
posted by 4ster at 3:20 PM on July 7, 2017


That was divine. It (the YT a capella link) really deserves quality audio gear to appreciate the acoustics of the church. Exquisite.
posted by iffthen at 2:03 AM on July 8, 2017


That's an amazing story, philip-random. Thanks for sharing!
posted by homunculus at 4:01 PM on July 8, 2017




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