Great choral moments, part 3

Not done one of these for a while, so I figured I'd throw one in!

Before I do, a couple of other things:

I've just updated the online schedule. (Link deliberately not provided, email me if you have lost it.) (That's "lost the link", not "lost it" in general :p ) Lots of changes, so please take note. (Quite a few football clashes not mentioned on the printed schedule.)

Jackie H points out that The Bells "was featured on CD Review on Radio 3 this morning. You'll be able to hear it on Listen Again. There will be a complete performance tomorrow on The Cowan collection at around 11.20 am tomorrow."

Graham E alerts us to this concert in Mellor next Monday, featuring Mark Elder and Hallé players. He adds: "I fail to understand why these concerts are not mentioned at choir, or for that matter why the choir seem never to be invited to make a contribution!"

I was telling people a few weeks ago about a blog post I'd read that talked about "Bo Skovhus, the strapping Danish baritone with the cheekbones that could cut glass" and ends "Well, it can't be porn-star-lookin' Danes every night..." (The guy in question ended up not actually singing in the Prom in question - didn't catch the reason why, but I watched the whole thing, thinking "He's not good looking at all!", before they mentioned that he'd been replaced!) I mention it here only to provide the link, because I couldn't remember his name when I was telling Gill about him.

And finally, the Great Choral Moment. It's the Aida intro.

A few years ago, we sang a large chunk of Aida at the Proms, preceded by a performance in Manchester. But it was the Manchester gig that had the great moment. Let me explain why.

Just before the Grand March, there was a bit where half the choir had to sing offstage. In London this was impractical, so they did it from their seats. But in Manchester they sang from the choir assembly area, with the result that they had to come back onstage for the next bit. It was agreed that because the intro to the Grand March is so long, they could come back on while it was playing rather than having to stop the show to get them in place. And this was the great moment. You see, that intro is so fabulous anyway - it starts with the trumpets, and we had a load of offstage trumpets standing right behind us for added effect. Then it builds up and up in intensity, and this is heightened by the fact that you know that on the next page the choir enters on a wonderfully loud and full E flat major chord. I've sung this chorus many times, but this occasion was better than all of them combined... and the reason is that THIS time, the intense anticipation during the intro was multiplied due to the fact that half the choir was pouring back into the hall during it, so the feeling of "at the end of this intro, we're going to sing a huge impressive chord" became "at the end of this intro, TWICE AS MANY OF US are going to sing a huge impressive chord!"

Maybe it's just me, but the memory of how I felt during that page, that night, still sends shivers down my spine :-)