This is the recording I keep coming back to when I want to hear this song - exquisitely sung.

I was really taken by the conductor, and felt that there was something oddly familiar about him. And as it turns out...it's Allen Hightower, who directed the Sam Houston State choir for 10 years including the very short time I was a part of it. Of course it is. Beautifully done.

Please don't ever take this down... It's the most beautiful version I've heard of this piece.

This performance is the benchmark for this piece, period. There is no other performance which outshines this one. The interpretation captures every essence of this corner stone piece.

Their Blending sets The Standard. They sing AS ONE. So POWERFUL having the men open the piece. Absolutely brilliant writing.

this choir has some of the best sopranos I've heard - they blend beautifully and have amazing control

Gave me goosebumps. THIS is choral excellence!

A simply lovely performance. Between the Lauridsen music, Jamess Agee poem and The Nordic Choir, this is just about as good as it gets.

This song brings calm & peace to one’s mind and soothes the soul…

Best version of this masterpiece I've ever heard.

I don't believe I've heard a performance of this work better done. Bravo!

The beautiful phrasing and expression is immaculately performed. This is one of my favourite songs in the contemporary choral repertoire. This performance is simply exceptional.

Thank you for a truly beautiful vocal performance. Rich warmth of tone from the whole choir even on the high notes and first class interpretation of dynamics. Wonderful!

I come back to this again and again. Balm for the soul.

Absolutely one of the most beautiful choral pieces I have never heard, or had the pleasure of singing! I LOVE this piece!

My choir teacher told us all to watch this. I'm not disappointed.

A timeless performance of a evocative composition. The choral conductor Allen Hightower demonstrated sensitive and graceful direction. The male baritone singers are outstanding.

Absolutely magical. Perfect intonation and exquisite sensitivity. Wonderful singers. Inspirational conductor and perfect accompaniment. I love the gentle swaying by the ladies.

Sublime!

The Nordic Choir and Morten Lauridsen have made Agee and his words live and thrill the soul again.

Brilliant. Let’s also credit the pianist, whose excellence adds to this moving performance of an extraordinary piece of music. It’s not an easy one to do well, with subtleties of interpretation- as well as some melodic challenges for the singers! The first two unison entrances are beautifully sung and captivate the listener. Very well directed, too.

Simply wow! One of my favorite Lauridsen pieces and perfectly performed by an extraordinary group. Finding this has provided a ray of hope in this crazy 2020 nightmare. Thank you.

This performance of Sure of This Shining Night, by MortenLauridsen, is one of the most beautiful vocal performances I have ever heard! Everything is perfect, and the musical expression is outstanding in the way these passionate, and very skilled singers, reveals the poem's mystery so real, as we were there ourselves on that special night! It is a wonderful experience to listen to and watch this devoted choir. Who is their fantastic conductor who make them sing like this? Thanks also to the pianist who follows the dynamics of the song beautifully from the beginning to the very peaceful end! 💗👏

How can you possibly hear this and not drop to your knees weeping? Allen -- great job!

Thank You to the composer and performers - this music captures such a beautiful, vulnerable faith.

Wow what a sound, especially the men! Supple and full. Really what choral singing should be. Goosebumps.

This performance is absolutely magnificent. Brilliant. So beautiful. Tears in my eyes.

We sang this back in high school. I'm surprised I remember how this sounded, along with the pitches and lyrics. Gosh, I miss those times. This song is SOOOOO beautiful. ❤️

I Adore this choir. And Morten Lauridsen’s music touches my heart. What an exquisite pairing. ♥️💞💖 I can feel them holding hands. The love and respect is palpable.

Such lovely (and rare) soaring delicate high notes are perfectly done and perfect for this song. My spine tingles and my eyes water. A master performance of this much-done piece. Thank you for sharing.

I’m in tears. Thank you for being such humble and devoted ambassadors for the beauty given to us by the divine creation. Blessed be your hearts and voices.

Best performance of this splendid piece is right here.

The pianist is also very good !

I call this song in memory of my grandma who passed away the day this video was published

You guys are simply the best. Love the tone, the blend, the technique (vocal as well as ensemble wise), the interpretation, esp when it comes to inflections. Superb. My most favorite among many that exist in You Tube. Please keep singing and sharing. God bless you all.

Thank you for this deep spiritual and healing music.

The first chord of the piano already gave me a calm feeling, I have good memories of this song

this music is the refuge of the soul, it pricks the heart like a velvet arrow. Bravo! The pianist is also excellent!

Excellent conductor, wonderful choir, very good pianist! Great rendition!

congrats to this choir and conductor for the best presentation on you tube of this gorgeous song!

What a lovely sound young voices make.

Careful articulation beautiful musical line and balemce and blend of voices together listening group peace within and without

Impeccable delivery of this piece

I weep for wonder, wandering far alone.

Wow. Actually though, that was great. Flowy, dynamic, delicate when it needed to be, strong when it needed to be---and the pitch was on. The unison at the end--perfect. That's hard to nail at pp and after that pause, but you did. Kind of makes me wish I had gone to Luther! lol

I go to St Olaf (one of Luther’s rivals) and honestly, Nordic Choir blows me away. So beautiful. Kind of wish I went to Luther instead of being an Ole sometimes! Beautiful choir and a beautiful performance

This is the most exquisite performance of the piece. So very sensitive.

Absolutely gorgeous precision, feeling, performance!

Breathtaking Choir and Conductor. So musical and profound.

this is one of my all time favorite chorale pieces and I do not believe I have ever heard a more impressive rendition - exquisite

Excellent! Thank you so much. God bless each and everyone of you.

The phrasing is magnificent! I have a soft spot for poet James Agee because I am in recovery from alcohol and alcohol probably contributed greatly to his early passing. What a great thing that his 57 words met Morten Lauridsen and his creativity. There are lots of other versions of this I love, but it can't be done better than this.

Really just stunningly beautiful. Wonderful chorus, great conductor, first class pianist. And just a beautiful composition.

Masterful accompanist.

This is the most beautyful Title i've ever listen to. What a great Choral Performance. At 2:20 I start to cry. 🙈 I really love this! German: Ich habe dieses Stück auch bereits von vielen anderen Chören gehört, aber dieser Chor singt dieses Stück mit weitem Abstand am besten. Die etwas reduzierte Geschwindigkeit bringt wesentlich mehr Gefühl hinein und die Stimmen der Sopranistinnen sind wunderschön zu hören. 🏅😊👍

Beautiful young people, you shine. Blessings.

Great balance. Definitely one of the top men's sections out there. The timbre of the tenors and basses are superb. The women round out the song nicely

For this piece, this is a performance for the ages; outstanding vocal quality, excellent pacing and inflection, intricate but with great precision, pianist catches all the emotion but does not dominate, and on and on. Choras Bel Canto of Vilnius, likely the best amateur choir in the world, the only other version on line that even comes close to this. But only close. This is 5 minutes of musical perfection. This deserves 500,000 views.

tears. such beauty

Thank you very much !!!! Great, gorgeous , beautiful !!!!

This performance is divine!

sopranos at 2:24 sound so nice. in a lot of recordings of this piece there’s kind of a lift before the word “shine” but dr. hightower clearly does not mess around. pristine. back to tell you that 2:10 is some of the most music i've ever heard some from a choir.

Utterly beautiful and touching! Thank you for sharing your music.

Brings tears to my eyes!

While looking for Barber's arrangement to practice for tomorrow I came across Lauridsen's grand one - complete with swaying sopranos! This performance is captivating.

The best recording of this piece of KZfaq. Very nice direction. Great decision-making on the dynamics. Heavenly.

Extraordinary!

Still listening to this beautiful rendition of this piece. It resonates deep in the heart. Thanks for leaving it up on KZfaq.

Allen that was beautiful. One of my favorite pieces of music. I was just searching and ran across this video, good to hear this wonderful ensemble.

Another lovely performance of a beautiful work. One of the things I like about you guys is the warm, focused and slightly dark tone, without the twang that so many (often highly regarded) US choirs unfortunately still have.

The pianist is exquisite.

The voice of God.

Sure On This Shining Night Sure on this shining night Of star made shadows round, Kindness must watch for me This side the ground. The late year lies down the north. All is healed, all is health. High summer holds the earth. Hearts all whole. Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far alone Of shadows on the stars. Author Notes The poem comes from a book by James Agee entitled "Permit Me Voyage" published 1934 by Yale University Press

Just lovely,our choir sang this a month ago.It is a nice piece of choral music.Well done.

Thank you for your message 🙏🌈💕

Absolutely beautiful!

Agree with GDArkn: this is a fabulous performance of one of the very best choral pieces out there - Amen! I had a chance to see/hear this choir in Estes Park this January. They were wonderful, particularly loved their take on the Wailin' Jennys - hoping to see that on KZfaq some time.

brilliant performance!!! and FINALLY, a choir sings the phrase sung by the men "all is health" correctly!!! That top note of "all" should be sung softly and quietly, and yet every other choir blasts right through it! I suspect this is due to Mr. Hightower's training under one of the greatest choral conductors who ever lived, the late maestro paul salamunovich. Excellent!

This performance of an absolutely gorgeous piece gives even the one by The Singers MCA conducted by Lauridsen himself a run for its money. Bravo!

This is a profound piece - beautifully sung.

Love everything about this. Watching the choir members sway together as the music takes over and moves them is beautiful. Very expressive singing, and conducting, the intonation is breathtaking, it's all there. Someone had posted saying the piano sounded funny. That's because the microphones are placed to capture the choir, and aren't close to the piano, coupled with the lid being down. Because of that, the articulation of the hammers on the strings is muffled in this recording. That didn't bother me, because of the quality of the performance. The accompanist followed Dr. Hightower flawlessly, and his dynamics were fantastic. I have several recordings of other very good choirs singing this, but this is the best I've heard. Morton Lauridsen is a genius, and his setting of the Agee poem is my favorite.

I love the beautiful dynamics throughout this gorgeous arrangement. From 2:05 - 2:20 is blissful - "High summer holds the earth, hearts are whole...."

Profoundly moving performance!

Really love it ❤️

2:10 those dynamics there omg wow

Thank you for a fine, fine performance of this moving song.

Very beatifull! The voices are clear and soft, the pianist is SIMPLY EXCEPTIONAL!

beautiful

Excellent performance- Thank you!

lovely singing really well directed - expressive clear gestures. Bravi tutti!

This is an utterly exquisite performance. Even though you recorded this some years ago, and the words sing of a summer night, it has provided a balm for a long January night as we endure the start of the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic here now in 2022. Thank you for this lovely rendition of James Agee's poetry and Morten Lauriden's music.

Perfect!!

Wow! What a performance and what a privilege to experience. I wish there was a studio recording of this even though the live recording isn't that bad. Congratulations!

My best friend Barbara was a freshman here (not in this choir) and at the same time my high school choir did this song for contest. :) so many connections. I absolutely adore this song

Bellissimo!!! Eccezionale!!!

Thank you for this great performance! :)

beautiful choir and conducting technic

stunning .. well done..

Beautifully performed by pianist, choiresters and director. Thank you for your ministry of music 🎶

Using this in class today for an analyzing assessment! 💙