WOW!!!!!!!!

Concerts like tonight's are the reason we don't mind giving up all our free time to sing in the choir :-)

So, tsunami appeal gig at the Bridgewater Hall. I managed to learn the Russian lyrics for the Rachmaninov on the train (I'd stuck it on the iPod and played it repeatedly in the car to and from work today, which helped a lot) but arrived at the Hall to find that most people were panicking about it. They felt a bit better about it, I think, after we rehearsed it and it was fine.

Backstage was even more crowded than usual, what with not only both choirs being there but a whole extra orchestra... I was looking forward to seeing how they fitted them all on the stage at once. Turns out I was correct in my belief that the Hallé and the BBC Phil had never played together before. So that in itself was very exciting, but the evening was amazing for so many other reasons. The hall was totally sold out, and even the returns were snapped up immediately (I know, I asked at the box office on behalf of a friend). Frustratingly there were a few empty seats despite this - I guess some people thought they'd be doing their bit for the appeal by just buying a ticket, but I wish they'd put their money in a bucket instead so some more people could've experienced tonight.

The first half was the Hallé alone. We didn't go onstage till the Youth Choir vacated the seats - it was a huge thrill walking on. (Normally when we go on, it's 5 minutes before the start of the concert; half the audience are still in the bar and the other half are chatting and not paying attention to the stage. Tonight we walked on with a full silent hall actually looking at us. BIG difference.) We sang the Brahms - which went very well - and then got to sit and watch a fabulous young Ukrainian pianist play the Rach Pag Variations. He was so theatrical about it that most of us sat there grinning gormlessly throughout :-)

After the interval the BBC Phil took the stage. It's years since I've seen them play, and it was oddly weird to sit in the choir seats looking down on an orchestra that wasn't the Hallé. They are of course both great orchestras, rightly world-renowned, but I've often heard people claim that the BBC Phil are better than the Hallé. I've always wanted to defend the Hallé (because they're MY orchestra!) but have felt unable to due to not having heard the BBC Phil recently enough to compare them. But after hearing both on the same night, I have to say I thought the Hallé just edged ahead \o/

The BBC Phil played the Ruslan and Ludmilla overture (which I know quite well) and Capriccio Espagnol (which I don't). In fact I hadn't even realised the latter was a multi-movement work - there's one tune I'd heard, but the rest was totally unfamiliar, so that was interesting. And then it was our turn again, to sing the Ave Maria a cappella. But first there was a considerable kerfuffle as the stage was rearranged to accommodate TWO large orchestras at once :-) This took a while, and when the players all came back on there were still a few empty seats - but unlike with the audience, this was a GOOD thing, as it meant that even more players would be appearing for the finale! As it was, they were extremely squashed - much more so on the cello side than the violin side, for some reason - but when they started to play, the sound was... well, "not squashed" would be putting it mildly. Wow!

Before that, though, we got our big moment - yes, we'd already sung the Brahms in the first half, but that was with the orchestra. MUCH bigger deal to sing a cappella - and, remember, from memory! And not only that - the Hallé Orchestra have heard us frequently and recently, but the BBC Phil hadn't for years (and we know they think we're rubbish, because they invite choirs from all over the place to sing with them rather than ask a choir that is based in the SAME HALL as them...) So it was kind of an extra challenge to sing well in front of them. And I think we did - they seemed impressed, at any rate :-)

After that, our participation was over, but we got to sit there and witness the bit everyone had been waiting for - both orchestras playing together. They started with several of the Enigma Variations, ending with Nimrod. We'd all been wondering who would conduct the combined orchestras - Mark Elder (Hallé prinicpal conductor) or Sir Edward Downes (BBC Phil ditto). General consensus was that Mark would certainly conduct the Enigma, as he's an Elgar specialist (he's partway through recording the entire Elgar catalogue with the Hallé) and therefore Sir Edward would conduct the finale (Jupiter from The Planets). Mark did indeed come on to conduct the Elgar, so I wasn't surprised to see that although the players were all sitting in pairs (one from each orchestra) the BBC Phil players had taken the "upper" seats (BBC Phil string players were sitting nearer to the audience, wind players sitting nearer to the centre, etc.). I figured that when the BBC Phil guy was conducting, the Hallé would have the top seats. Seemed fair enough.

Well, the sound was predictably fabulous - so rich, especially the strings. (When they got to Nimrod, a woman sitting near the choir began to sob uncontrollably - although she seemed to be smiling - and had to be hugged throughout.) But then it was the finale. Before the conductor came on, though, there was what someone described as "a bit of a do-si-do" as the entire orchestra stood up and every player swapped places with their neighbour. It was unintentionally hilarious, particularly as most people hadn't expected it :-) Then, when they were all seated, the rest of the wind and brass came on - that weren't needed in the Elgar - and filled the remaining seats. The excitement level went up a notch at this point. The example of the trumpets may illustrate why - occasionally the Hallé (and, presumably, the BBC Phil) will do a piece (usually Mahler) that requires more than three trumpets, but the extra ones would be hired specially for the occasion to supplement the three permanent trumpeters. But tonight we had six "permanent" trumpeters. It does make a difference, believe me.

And then the conductor came on, and we were all surprised (but delighted) that it was Mark again - and, needless to say, he gave an inspirational speech, and we love it when he does that :-) We love it even more when he conducts Jupiter, because he conducts the middle bit (the "I vow to thee, my country" tune) with just his eyebrows. Seriously. I'd seen him do it once before, and I have to admit I thought he was having a heart attack. (I've heard them play Jupiter loads of times, but usually from offstage where I've been standing waiting to sing in Neptune. But on this one occasion, we were out of town and the local choir was singing that bit, so we got to watch.) He conducted the rest of it as normal, but when it got to that bit he lowered his arms and shut his eyes. I thought he'd been taken ill and was amazed that the orchestra continued playing. Only when he raised his baton again at the climax did I realise it was intentional. And since then I've been dying to see him do it again!

Well, he did just the same, and it was even more impressive this time because he was risking it with an orchestra that not only had he never conducted before today, but (more crucially) hadn't played together before today. (It says a lot for the musicianship of both sets of players that it worked.) But even that wasn't the best bit. I was watching the trumpets throughout. This was because it had occurred to me, as they took their places, how impressive the sound of all six playing at once would be. (I tend to notice the trumpets more than the rest of the orchestra because I'm invariably sitting right behind them.) So I was eagerly awaiting the moment when this happened. But this had clearly been carefully planned - by a GENIUS (probably Mark, but it might not have been) - because although at any given moment four of them might be playing, it was never the same four, and the only point when all six (and, indeed, the entire orchestra) played AT THE SAME TIME was the very last line of the piece - the last six notes. And... WOW. It felt as if the sound doubled in volume. And it hadn't exactly been quiet before that! I suspect it will be a while before I hear a sound as impressive as that again.

At the end of the concert (i.e. a few seconds after this amazing outburst) there was a standing ovation. Now, we do get a few people standing from time to time - I'd estimate that on our best nights ever there've been maybe a quarter of the audience on their feet. And that's rare - it's usually a handful, if any. But tonight EVERYONE stood up. Within a minute or two. I've never experienced anything like it. And although I think it was probably mainly due to those last six bars, in which my only role was to sit there and grin, it was great to have been a part of the event as a whole :-)

NOW they tell us!

Didn't go to choir tonight - I had a ticket for United v Chelsea (great game apart from the result, but that's another story). Just before setting off for the game I opened this morning's mail and found a letter from Naomi confirming arrangements for tomorrow (tsunami gig) including the fact that we are now doing the Rachmaninov Ave Maria as well as the Brahms. Not a problem in itself. But I got a text from Alison during the game informing me that we're doing it FROM MEMORY! Great. Would've been good to know this last week. Or even IN THE LETTER THAT WAS ONLY SENT YESTERDAY. If it'd been mentioned in the letter, I could've stuck it on my iPod and learned it while queuing for a tram. As it is I don't know when I'll be able to learn it. Falling asleep now, and during the day at work isn't an option (there's never a spare minute in a special school). So on the train tomorrow is the only chance I'll have - I just hope it'll stick quickly.

"Otherwise we'll only hear the sopranos, and that can only be a bad thing..."

Alto sectional tonight. Got a lot done as usual, but it was slightly frustrating because (a) I pointed out the bar-from-By-And-By-that-everyone-is-getting-wrong to Jamie, but he didn't rehearse it, just drew people's attention to it. (I only realised tonight that there's a misprint in one of its appearances - felt a bit stupid not to have examined it more closely before, given the amount of time it's been annoying me!) So I'm pretty sure the problem will still exist next time we rehearse it. Oh well. Oh, and (b) we STILL didn't do "Go Down Moses" :-(

Many amusing moments though, although as usual you probably had to be there... The above quote is from Jamie (although I'm sure he'll deny it!) and was uttered on page 21 of "The Music Makers" (I write these things in my score so that they may amuse me for longer :p). He also invented a word - he told us to "singerate" a long F, and the scary part is that we all knew exactly what he meant...

His phrase of the night was "the loudest... you've ever sung" - on page 12 it was "the loudest Bb you've ever sung", followed by "the loudest D you've ever sung" on page 26 and "the loudest C you've ever sung" on page 23 - and there were more! Oh, and it became apparent when we got onto the Spirituals that the BFBABTEIGW isn't the only one TEIGW... the repeated phrase in "Nobody Knows" is all over the place. Not sure what everyone's singing for the 3rd note, but it's not a C!

Tsunami appeal gig update

So it seems that this concert, which was only put together last week, is completely sold out, and it sold like no other event the Bridgewater Hall has ever staged - the box office apparently had queues eight or nine deep at every window all weekend. They've sold so many tickets that they're not even having both choirs onstage throughout - the youth choir are going on first, and then processing off after singing their bit, so that the adult choir can sit in the same seats. (They do usually sell the unused choir seats for popular concerts, but they don't make the choirs share seats...)

I'm a bit disappointed with our contribution - at the request of Mark (Elder), we're doing the 4th movement of the Brahms German Requiem. The work as a whole is of course wonderful, but that is my least favourite movement from it by a long way. Oh well. (We wanted to do the Ave Maria from the Rach Vespers but Mark preferred the Brahms. Also, one or more of the Tippett spirituals would have been lovely if we'd had time to get them really good. I'd love to know how the management would've reacted to us doing "Deep River" :p ) Still, we do get to see most of the concert, including the Hallé and the BBC Phil playing together on the same stage for the first time ever (I think).

Tonight's rehearsal was fun - Jamie is back from wherever he was last week. Spent most of the time on the Elgar, again - we are all so looking forward to performing and recording this piece; it's so wonderful, yet hardly any of the choir knew it (including me). Of course there's the usual Catch 22 of recording an unfamiliar piece - of course you want a CD to listen to while you're learning it, despite knowing it's a waste of money ultimately because you're going to record the definitive version!

Also did "By and By" again - not much better than last week, and the altos are still all getting the repeated notes wrong on "I'm gonna lay down". Grrr. Hopefully tomorrow's sectional will sort that though. And I was most amused by Jamie demonstrating how he wants the word "load" to be sung. Apparently it involves an elbow movement (like Nigel's James Brown Random 9ths... long story...) and a feeling of extreme heaviness, although my amusement was mainly due to being reminded of Hoggy doing his Sam impression from ROTK ("I could 'elp you carry it, Mr Frodo! Share the looooad!")

Still no "Go Down Moses", sadly, but we did get a run through "Deep River", and we finished with one sing through of the Brahms, which will be fine. Oh, and we got unexpected expenses from the Hanley gig, and United finally beat Exeter :-)

So, this seemed like a good idea a couple of hours ago...

We had a very entertaining rehearsal tonight. Well, they're usually entertaining, but there's not always as much giggling and, well, smut as there was tonight :-)

It started during the warmup, when Maggie (vocal coach) seemed unable to say anything that didn't make everyone smirk. Of course I can't remember any of it now (well, there may have been a mention of going down on the altos and basses, but the rot had set in long before that!)

Spent most of the rehearsal on the middle bit of The Music Makers (Elgar). Some tricky stuff, but it'll be fine after a few goes at it. Nice to have quotations from Enigma and Gerontius (the piece was written in 1912, after both of those), but unfortunately the "our souls" section will never again be sung with a straight face after Fanny (standing in for Jamie) said "Now, speaking of the basses... Our Souls". It took a while before one half of the choir realised why the other half was giggling... Yes, we are easily amused :-)

Then onto a quick look at two of the Tippett spirituals (Steal Away and By and By). They're not my favourites of the five (I like Go Down Moses best, particularly after we discovered last week that the 2nd altos have several good bits that we don't have in the Child Of Our Time version) but of course all five are lovely. It was all complicated by the tiny printing and the confusion caused by the German words and alternative rhythms, and the fact that most people apparently hadn't bothered to go through and mark which line they were on, despite getting lost last week. But some progress was made, notably by the sopranos and basses, who are now actually singing the verse bits in By and By. (It took several goes before they could be heard.)

Finished with a sing-through of the Elgar with Maggie singing the alto solo part. It was great, although sadly we ran out of time and didn't get to the end. Came out to discover that United hadn't managed to beat Chelsea, but at least they hadn't embarrassed themselves as they did on Saturday. And I forget at what point in the rehearsal it occurred to me that it would be fun to have a choir blog, but it did :-)

(The choir website is here. Must update that sometime.)