Yesterday I visited Salisbury Cathedral and saw an installation placed in
the cloisters.  This consisted of 40 speakers, on stands about 4 feet high,
arranged in 8 groups of 5 all facing into a central space, which broadcast
from time to time a recording of 'Spem in Alium'.  The singers had been
recorded with one microphone each, Swingle-style, so one voice emerged from
each speaker.

This fascinated passers-by, who wandered up and down among the speakers
while the music was playing.  My husband was rather more interested than
I was; the effect to me was very similar to that of taking part in a
performance of _Spem_ (which I've done three times, though not recently)
and hearing the other voices in the different choirs.  I'm always
disconcerted by being addressed by a speaker when the source of the
amplified sound is not obviously in the same direction as the speaker,
which can make services in churches with badly installed amplification
(such as Exeter Cathedral) a bit of an ordeal.

I don't know whether any other listmembers saw/heard the installation (it
may have gone now, I think, but was there for several weeks).  It was the
only choral music I got to hear, since as usual when I visit Salisbury I
picked the one day in the month when there isn't a sung service there.

Virginia Knight
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Personal homepage: http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~ggvhk/virginia.html