The Swingle Singers

Swingle Singers是1963年由美国钢琴家及作曲家Ward Swingle成立的合唱团体，自从成军以来已获得五座葛莱美奖，是Acappella（无伴奏清唱）这种音乐类型的长青团体，音乐风格囊括古典、爵士、民谣、流行等等，在六○年代深获大众欢迎，成为许多后继合唱团体模仿的对象。Swingle Singers的拿手好戏，便是将原本只用来演奏的器乐曲目，如“大黄蜂的飞行”、“一八一二序曲”、“G弦之歌”等等，改编成纯人声的合唱，以多层次的嗓音模拟出整个交响乐团般的音效，甚至可以用女中音表现出萨克斯风的音色，用男低音代替原本属于大提琴的声部，将人声的表现力发挥到淋漓尽致的地步，使乐迷听得大呼过瘾之余，不得不赞叹“人声才是最好的乐器”。因此，Swingle Singers多年来除了致力于演唱技巧的开拓，更不断尝试在各种类型的音乐中挖掘更多的可能性，现代作曲家Berio和义大利作曲家Azio Corghi都曾经特地为Swingle Singers量身打造谱写歌剧。在欧洲举办的国际重唱大赛，为了向Swingle Singers的创办人Ward Swingle致敬，更设立了以他为名的奖项，作为人声合唱领域的最高荣誉，足见Swingle Singers这个团体无可取代的地位。 Swingle Singers 在历史上分为2个阶段，1963-1973称为法国组合，1973年法国组合解散，同年Ward Swingle在英国重组Swingle Singers，一直沿袭至今称为英国组合。
by John Bush
A French vocal group famed for tackling all manner of classical material (baroque, fugues, madrigals, orchestral overtures) and switching them to an a cappella swing setting, the Swingle Singers was formed in Paris during the early '60s by American expatriate Ward Swingle. By the time of their 1963 album debut, the group comprised eight voices -- Swingle, Christiane Legrand (sister of Michel), Jean-Claude Briodin, Anne Germain, Claude Germaine, Jean Cussac, Claudine Meunier and Jeanette Baucomont. That album, Jazz Sebastian Bach (titled Bach's Greatest Hits in America), earned the group a Grammy award and almost made the Top Ten.
The novelty inherent in an eight-voice scatting choir resulted in dozens of television and radio appearances around the world during the mid-'60s. Somehow the group also managed to record follow-up LPs Going Baroque in 1964 and Anyone for Mozart? one year later. Both were Grammy winners as well -- though Best Performance by a Chorus definitely wasn't the most competitive category at the awards ceremony. In an era when vocal choruses increasingly slipped down the easy-listening slope however, the Swingle Singers moved in precisely the opposite direction. In 1969, a subsidiary group called Swingles II premiered Sinfonia, a composition by the avant-garde composer Lucianio Berio that also utilized the New York Philharmonic.
After a move to England in 1973, Ward Swingle recruited a new Swingle Singers and changed musical direction, incorporating material from the avant-garde as well as the Renaissance era and jazz. Swingle himself retired from active performance in 1984, but continued on as music director. The group continued to tour the world into the '90s, performing operas by Azio Corghi and Berio, appearing in compositions with ballet companies, and holding various classes and workshops as well.