Is there one? There should be! Remember this post about the fabulous young Russian bass soloist who was a last-minute stand-in for The Bells? Well, I watched Saturday's Prom (I've seen much more of the Proms this year than I usually do - the combination of Sky Plus and HDTV means they all get recorded automatically without me having to remember, and they look great!) and it ended with Shostakovich's 13th Symphony. I hadn't realised this involved any singing, given that we didn't sing it in our Shostakovich festival, and I thought we sang everything. But it turned out to involved a male-voice chorus and a bass soloist, and it was Mikhail! (He is obviously making a career of being a stand-in, because he wasn't the published soloist for this Prom, and he'd already been a stand-in for Prom 2.) He was as fabulous as I remembered, and the reviews were mostly great. Personally I wasn't at all impressed with the men in the choir, though - they appeared to be mumbling most of the time, although the sound was OK (not great, just OK). You know how men look when they're being forced to sing something they don't really know? In a foreign language? They looked like that. I was quite surprised when I realised that it was an actual Russian choir who could presumably speak Russian without even having to think about it!
I notice that The Bells is tonight's Prom, featuring the LPC, who sang it with us - let's see how they manage without us! Can't believe they didn't return the invitation! Let's also see if their bass soloist turns up... we may yet see Mikhail again :-)
Other news: orchestral musicians are still having problems with airline security, and sadly there seem to be a lot of stupid people who can't see why. Just read the comments on that article. Unbelievable.
And the football season is fully under way - I was at Old Trafford on Sunday and witnessed United's impressiveness at first hand. I have a season ticket for the first time ever, which I'm very excited about. I'd expected to miss a few matches due to choir, but in fact the first two matches I'll be missing will be due to weddings! The second home game of the season is on 9th September, when Meg and Tom are getting married (not to mention the Last Night of the Proms and the 24-Hour Race at West Lancashire Yacht Club!), and although I can go to the third one, the fourth is on 30th September, when Rachel and Laurie are getting married! Luckily I love weddings, so I don't mind too much having to miss football matches for them, especially when it's such lovely people :-)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
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9 comments:
i think i might make a fan club for him! i must admit I sat and watched the prom, and thought it was him, but then couldn't remember his name so wasn't entirely sure!!!!!!!!!!! Do we know what they rehearsal arrangements for proms in the park are? i've not seen it on any schedule yet? or are we just gonna turn up?????
A few years ago some of the men from the Halle choir sang the Shostakovich 13th with the Liverpool Philharmonic men. It was quite an expereince, for several reasons!
No idea about proms arrangements, but the plan was that it should need next to no rehearsal, which is the only reason we could do it. If they insist on an afternoon rehearsal, I won't be able to do the gig, so hopefully they'll be flexible!
And Terry, I think I need to know more about this experience :-)
Good-o as neither will I so hopefully we might rehearse at a different time!!!!! Shost. 13 sounds intriguing Terry!
incidentally, and i only know because I'm very bored at work, the BBC Phil did No.13 in the festival with the Huddersfield Choral Society, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, and the Bulava Chorus.... (and John Tomlinson as the Bass)
All I can say in such a public forum is that it made me appreciate how professional the Halle Choir and its administration are!
Just to say, in my current state in a hostel somewhere in Barcelona, I found the last few posts highly amusing! Also, I'm pretty sure there are details somewhere of rehearsals for the prom, but I don't have access to them at the moment!
Glad you're amused, Simon, I like to amuse people :-)
Am unimpressed if it turns out they've only told a selected few about the new rehearsal schedule though! The latest one I have doesn't mention anything about the Proms...
And Terry, I'm even more intrigued now! Looking forward to hearing the story (off the record of course) next week...
Hello Jocelyn,
Have you seen this article in yesterday's (Friday's) Times?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2336781,00.html
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