The soloists you mention probably all render credible performances of an Ave Maria (I know I’ve heard the Groban Bach/Gounod Ave and it’s pretty good), but My current fv collection pf solo (or nearly solo *heh*) renditions is found on Placido Domingo’s Deutsch Grammophone album, Sacred Songs, and includes various Aves, including the popular Bach/Gounod as well as one by Mascagni and another by Placido Domingo Jr. (!).

Naturally, Placido’s Bach/Gounod outshines Groban’s by a bit, and I can’t imagine Celine Dion, Perry Como or Barbara Streisand even approaching as near as Groban to Placido’s performance (assuming they performed the very popular Bach/Gounod–which is the most likely possibility).

In fact, I have a vague echo of Perry Como’s voice/stylings associated with the piece…

BTW, the reason that particular piece is credited “Bach/Gounod” even though the text was written by neither and they never met (different centuries, you know ) is that Gounod took Bach’s Prelude #1 in C from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier and very, very consciously built his melody above it.

Just a lil boring “inside music” talk. *heh*

Here’s your Monday morning reading list from The Yak (featuring members of The Christmas Alliance):
Adam of Adam’s Blog has started a “Post of the Day” series.  Each one has a quote, a proverb, a scripture – and at least one so…