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I think it is just some very young and slightly over-enthusiastic tenors. Teenage tenors can tend to have difficult in control in the upper register and can sometimes have a timbre that sounds a bit like a very robust low alto.

Because they can?

It is divine. Divinity cannot be explained. We are transported to a different realm in sound, space and time. The divine and the infinite we cannot comprehend. It is outside of our finite understanding. This anthem is beyond inspired. Maybe the Almighty had a hand of protection for this one anthem given the fate of almost all of Gardiner's works. For fifty-plus years and I continue to be transported into a realm from the ordinary and into the divine.

@@keiththompson9575 I'm glad you love it as much as I. So mystical. Such longing for the inexplicable.

@@harryhagan5937 Hi Harry: You may have already heard this observation so forgive me if it isn't original. It has been described as "sublime monotony" given the D-pedal point to which the entire structure is tied. It provides a solid foundation. Gardiner has employed a firm discipline--a characteristic also found in Olivier Messiaen's works. Gardiner has confined himself to a very limited framework on which to build. In Olivier Messiaen's "The Language of my Music" he stated that he found far greater freedom when composing within confined harmonic limits and how it unleashed a freedom for creativity. The same is true for J. S. Bach where numeric values provided a framework for his creativity. The other equally important element: a visceral reaction born of an intense emotion when something in a piece of music stirs us, boring a hole through our solar plexus. It can't be explained because it is based upon the emotional happening in the moment. Now we return to the "it can't be explained".....

Jesus Christ

Thank you for your comments. Please allow me to defend myself. The beginning of the third verse IS arguably the climax-a recapitulation comes as a total surprise after the second verse, and the juxtaposition between the two is intentionally pronounced. It is a moment of total ecstasy. J

@@cavilleharrison No interpretation needs defence as interpretation is artistic expression. :) It is a good performance, just a little different from the tradition associated with that composition. :)