Further discussion of the English surtitling thing here.
I have to clean the house very urgently, before two members of the Battle Creek choir arrive tomorrow. So as usual when I have cleaning to do, I have been finding all sorts of more urgent things to do first :-) I really am about to get the hoover out, but first I thought I'd post another choral moment that I was reminded of recently.
This one is from 17th July 1999: singing the Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts in York Minster, with 2 extra choirs, 4 brass bands (in the 4 corners of the Minster) and the biggest orchestra EVER, including (I think) FIFTEEN timps. I was singing tenor on that occasion (there is no alto part in that piece, so Keith asked for volunteers who were finding the sop part painful). This turned out to have been a great decision on my part, because it meant that I got to sit at the front, right behind the timps (there were about a MILLION ladies, so they put them all at the back!), and next to the lovely Bruce, who I think had only joined the choir relatively recently (certainly I hadn't talked to him much before that day). There were several wonderful moments when all the brass and percussion played very loudly at once, but the best was the Neapolitan 6th chord in the Lacrymosa. Bruce and I both shouted "WOW!!!!" at the tops of our voices, involuntarily, IN THE ACTUAL CONCERT. It was fine - no-one could hear us :-)
Monday, June 13, 2005
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2 comments:
Speaking of tidying up, I am in mid-tidy of my small study, about one quarter the size of your lounge Jocelyn. It's taking ages, sorting out CDs, photos, concert programmes inter al. Somewhere in there are my souvenirs of a performance of the GMDM I was involved in with a choir of c. 1500 from all over the UK in the 1980s, organised by Goldsmiths' Choral Union with Brian Wright and the RPO.
I think there were 22 timps. The choir flowed over on to half the promenade area, confining the orchestra to the other half. Conductor was miles away.
I cannot tell you what it was like to hang my modest bass line on to that produced by about 400 others. There's a photo somewhere. You could run a competition to spot me - I was the one in the DJ.
Hope your guests enjoy the ambience of your wonderful hospitality.
Thank you for saying such a nice thing :-)
And, wow! 22 timps!
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