So how is it that Anonymous 4 -- four voices -- sounds so much richer, fuller, and stronger than the great big choir (Cathedral Choral Society) they shared billing with? The choral group did not seem weak ... it's just that Anonymous 4 did something that made four voices sound like eight and filled the huge nave of Washington National Cathedral with reverberations. They weren't as powerful as the really low notes on the organ, but they were more than impressive.
Was this a rhetorical question, or would you actually like an answer?
When you have just one singer per part, and they are really good singers who can sing in "perfect harmony", you can get resonances that you can't get with a chorus. Sometimes when the harmony is close, you can even create the sensation of an additional voice (called the "fifth voice" in barbershop singing) which is truly orgasmic when it happens.
Yes, I really wanted an answer. Thank you. Had heard something about the effect before but had forgotten about it (never before having encountered it in person that I can recall) and had no idea it was that powerful. You gave me search keyword, so later I can Google for the mathematics/pyschoacoustics explaining the phenomenon in detail. I swear the four voices sounded like more than five ...
(no subject)
Was this a rhetorical question, or would you actually like an answer?
When you have just one singer per part, and they are really good singers who can sing in "perfect harmony", you can get resonances that you can't get with a chorus. Sometimes when the harmony is close, you can even create the sensation of an additional voice (called the "fifth voice" in barbershop singing) which is truly orgasmic when it happens.
(no subject)