Who performed Ave Maria in the West Wing?

[maikai]

In the episode “THE CRACKPOTS AND THESE WOMEN” Josh is listening to the Ave Maria. Does anyone know which version it is? The only information I cold find is that whatever version it is, it’s on the The Ave Maria album.

[rowrrbazzle]

According to this thread on alt.tv.the-west-wing:

This was Schubert’s “Ave Maria” performed by Barbara Bonney…

It’s on these CD’s (try Amazon.com):

-Schubert: Lieder / Barbara Bonney, Geoffrey Parsons
-Ave Maria - The Myth of Mary (Bernstein)

So that specific performance isn’t on the “Ave Maria Album” you linked to.

[maikai]

Thanks for the link. The West Wing Continuity Guide is the website I used. Someone should scold them for having the wrong information.

[HazelNutCoffee]

I know this is an ancient thread, but I just want to state for the record that it isn’t Barbara Bonney singing that version on The West Wing. The closest match I can get is the Trinity College version. Nothing else is even remotely similar.

[PatronAnejo]

@HazelNutCoffee

I know this is an ancient thread, but I just want to state for the record that it isn’t Barbara Bonney singing that version on The West Wing. The closest match I can get is the Trinity College version. Nothing else is even remotely similar.

Composed by Franz Schubert, the Ave Maria (“Ellens Gesang III”, D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6, 1825) from the West Wing episode The Crackpots and These Women is performed by soprano Fiona Jessica Wilson with the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge (March 15, 1993 - March 17, 1993).

Born in London into a family of musicians, Fiona began her musical studies on the cello…and won a choral scholarship to Cambridge where she read French and German. Whilst there she made several recordings with Trinity College Choir and toured Europe, the USA and Asia. At this time she recorded Schubert’s Ave Maria to critical acclaim, which was subsequently put on a Classic FM compilation CD, as well as being used on TV series such as E.R. and West Wing.

Two albums contain the track in question: Miserere - Choral Favourites, and Allegri - Miserere. Both albums seemingly contain performances from the same recording session—while the track listings are nearly identical, the run times for each track are somewhat less so.

To confuse things a bit, both albums also contain performances by Andrea Cockerton of an entirely different Ave Maria (CG86a), written by Charles Gounod to be superimposed over Prelude and Fugue in C major (BWV 846) by Johann Sebastian Bach)