A Japanese male chorus ensemble “Yutokora!!” premiered the male ensemble version of “Sweet Days” at the Tokyo Male Chorus Festival.
A lot of people doesn’t know but “Sweet Days” were originally sketched for TTBB, then later re-written for SATB. This “new” male chorus version is very different from original male chorus sketch (done in 2003). When I look at the sketch and new male version, I see how much I grew as a singer and composer. For example, F is the highest note for Tenor in the original sketch (it is same for mixed voice version). This is because when I composed the original sketch, the highest note that I could produce was F. New male chorus version goes up to B, because I can sing this note comfortably now (although it would be falsetto).
Here is the rehearsal recording of the male ensemble version by Yutokora!!.
And here is the video from premiere of mixed chorus version by the Sheldon High School Choir.
Oh, by the way, I originally wrote Sweet Days after singing Vaughn-Williams's "Sweet Day" and thinking "I should be able to write a better piece." :)
