h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On the subject of Spem in Allium - It's impressive enough on a normal stereo CD recording but yesterday in a Sheffield art gallery I heard it through a 40 speaker system, 1 for each of the different voices. I often find multi-media art installations leave me cold, but this one was wonderful and I'd recommend it to anyone who knows the piece and most of those who don't.
The speakers were arranged in 8 groups of 5, placed around a large room, with seating in the centre. Sitting in the middle, all the voices were coming at me from different directions and the dramatic effect when all were singing together was just astounding.
The recording included the chatter and coughs of the pre-performance minutes, a reminder of all the real people involved. I stayed to listen a second time and slowly walked around the room, listening to individual voices from each of the speakers. I was struck by how difficult this must be to sing and how tricky to conduct and keep together.
Back home, I dug out my Thomas Tallis CD and listened with a whole new perspective on the music and all the more respect for the composer and any choir performing this gorgeous piece of music.