Altos - the secret ingredient

Poor altos, squashed between those diva sopranos and belting tenors, what hope is there for them?

"...for lots of choral pieces, many people would have a hard time picking out the alto. Sometimes, I'm shocked to hear a recording of a piece for which I've memorized the alto part, and I can't pick out the line. Yet if the altos were missing, the piece would feel wrong and empty. Often, the alto line is magical, just below consciousness. The alto line is texture, changing light, tension, weather."

Read more from Anna George Meeks' An Alto's Eye View of Choral Music