"It's on the edge of what's legal. We should do it sometime!"

This referred to a Schoenberg a cappella piece, Friede auf Erden, which Jamie told us about on Wednesday while going through the German pronunciation for Komm Jesu Komm. I'd never heard of it, but was interested enough to go in search of a recording: here's an mp3 for anyone else who wants to hear it. (It's not very tuneful!)

Talking of mp3s, I did post some for the Bach and Rachmaninov a couple of posts ago, but in light of the discussion about the many radically different versions of the Vespers, you may be interested to know that the one I posted is by a Russian choir, from this album. I bought it a few years ago, and chose it because it's the version recommended by the Rough Guide to Classical Music.

(EDIT: Talking of Russian things, I've belatedly remembered that someone emailed me and asked me to publicise a concert in Northenden on Thursday, by a group of Russian singers. Details here.)

And here are two more mp3s (I do spoil you!): Pearsall's Lay a Garland (which we're not singing, but Jamie mentioned it last week); and Tavener's Svyati, which we are singing, not only in the a cappella gigs but also in the newly-added late night gig at the RNCM as part of the Cello Festival. (And Yo-Yo Ma is in fact in the same concert as us, albeit slightly earlier - and since he's being presented with an award immediately before our bit, I imagine we WILL see him!) (In fact, the list of artists appearing is very impressive. And we're on it!)

I have to admit that my main excitement about seeing Yo-Yo Ma is the fact that he played a central role in my favourite ever episode of The West Wing. I think I will have to rewatch my DVDs in preparation!

Thanks, by the way, to those people who offered me recordings of Svyati and Lay a Garland. And to those who offered recordings of the Bach and Rachmaninov, having not noticed that I'd already put them online! Svyati looks as if it might be entertaining, if a bit too long (especially for the 3rd and 4th bass parts - good luck, guys!) - I love stuff that splits us into millions of parts, and this has every section in 3 parts and the basses in 4. Whee!

I only had a couple more Jamieisms from Wednesday:

"Let's just do the first phrase to a tractor." (the was the chorale at the end of the Bach, which is extremely amusing when sung to silly noises...)

"My spirit's ready for action upstairs. ... Not THAT sort of action!" (this was also during the chorale, when he was telling us what it all meant, but reckoned without our dirty minds!)

(We had an impressive-looking visitor at the rehearsal, by the way, and for those who missed it, it was Andrew Wailes from Melbourne.)

No Jamie next week - don't know where he is - so we'll see Fanny for the first time this year. And coincidentally, the Question Time Opera thing, which several of us sang in thanks to Fanny's invite, now has a broadcast date - it'll be on BBC2 at 10pm on Sunday 11th March. (We also recorded a bit of the soundtrack for the first episode of the series, that's on tomorrow (25th Feb), but you'll only hear us rather than see us on that. Oh, and that's the bit that involved the sopranos being asked to take a quaver out of their bitch!) There's now an official BBC web page about the series, which includes a link to a video feature which features many clips from all the episodes, including ours.

And finally, for those who don't already know: I am really, really, REALLY looking forward to the a cappella gig on 30th March, because 4 hours earlier I will have ceased to be a teacher. FOREVER. Yay! (I can safely say this now because I have officially resigned.)

So, if anyone needs someone to do anything musical (for that's what I'd love to do)... please let me know!

Before I forget....

1. My online choir schedule has now been updated with today's new info. (A gig at 10.30 p.m.! How exciting!)

2. I was about to say that Jamie's Oxford Blues Service is being repeated on Sunday, but I've now realised that it's actually a new thing - an Oxford Blues Matins service, live on Radio 4 at 8.10 a.m.

3. If you can get the Sci-Fi Channel, you MUST watch Heroes, which starts at 10pm on Monday. I've seen 15 episodes of it and it's REALLY good.

"Make more mistakes. Bach's dead. He's not gonna mind."

What a good idea, to put sight-reading hints on the choir website! Wish someone had thought of that before...

(Jamie was giving tips on how to sight-read tonight, and at one point suggested that someone should write them all down and put them on the website for reference. I couldn't decide whether to be smug because I'd already done it, or upset because no-one seemed to know I'd done it! Oh well.)

First post-Mozart rehearsal, and we started on stuff for the a cappella concerts (note to those who can't remember the spelling of that - "two words, two Ps, two Ls"). The Music Makers will form the second half, with Maggie doing the solo and the lovely Jonathan being the orchestra. Also on the programme will be one of Rachmaninov's Vespers, again with a Maggie solo, and my favourite Bach motet, Komm Jesu Komm. I've done that before, but it was a very long time ago - it was the first thing I sang with the Manchester Cathedral Cantata Choir under Stuart Beer, and I can't remember when that was, but it was at least 15 years ago.

Here are some mp3s:

Bach - Komm Jesus Komm, part 1
Bach - Komm Jesus Komm, part 2
Bach - Komm Jesus Komm, part 3
Bach - Komm Jesus Komm, part 4
Rachmaninov - Vespers, no. 2

(I'm assuming everyone has the definitive recording of The Music Makers and therefore won't need mp3s of that!)

Not many Jamieisms (although I liked the one in the title of this post). He did have us doing an amusing warmup which involved the choir split into two halves and then individual pairs, singing "nooey nooey nooey nooey nee" (half a beat apart from each other). Oh, and there was "I'm doing it so loud that the bell's ringing every time but no-one's listening!" (this followed an impression of "the man with the hammer at the fair, and the little thing that gets hit all day", and referred to his downbeats!)

I almost forgot to mention that we spent the whole rehearsal learning Komm Jesu Komm, and it was fabulous, and choir 2 was CLEARLY vastly superior to choir 1 (in terms of sight-reading and following the beat and ACTUALLY COMING IN), yet Jamie failed to acknowledge this fact! We were outraged!

P.S. They're making a Messiah musical!

Spee reet een eet!

JAMIE: Are you still saying 'spiritu'? I don't recommend it. It sounds dull. Say 'spee ree too'.

CHOIR: Spee ree too.

JAMIE: Yes! That's so much better. It's actually got spirit in it.

CHOIR: Spee reet een eet!

---

This was the most amusing moment from a REALLY long and tiring - but good - day today. It was the Mozart C minor mass gig with Mark. We were there at 11.30 a.m. this morning, having also rehearsed last night. And of course we had the piano rehearsal with Mark on Wednesday. And I haven't blogged about any of them, due to various nightmarish non-choir-related reasons that I can't go into here - at least, not yet - but those who don't know may be able to guess if they notice that my profile has changed ever so slightly... Sorry, anyway. I should be asleep now but several people asked me today what had happened to the blog, so I thought I'd better at least post the accumulated Jamieisms and Markisms!

The concert went really well, by the way. We got Petrushka in the first half - not really my cup of tea - and then the stage was totally rearranged for the Mozart. (Mark, ever innovative, had the woodwind right at the front, i.e. in front of the strings. Never seen that before!) The soloists were all fabulous, particularly Susan Gritton. (Although we almost scared her away with our tractors... she arrived in the choir assembly area just as we started warming up, and seemed quite startled!) And I must admit I hardly spotted any mistakes from the choir. The 1st altos got their F# right in the middle of Qui Tollis for possibly the first time ever, although the C-G-Eb-Bb bar in the Credo was still a disaster area for the altos as a whole (very few people got the G) and a scary number of people were still double-dotting in the Gratias - I say 'scary' because of the number of times this was mentioned and practised. But apart from these two aspects, I think everything was pretty good. (Well, apart from the alto seating plan, which has been riddled with mistakes for ages now - every time a new one is produced, we have to amend it by swapping seats with each other so that the firsts are actually all sitting with firsts and the seconds are all with seconds. There are quite a few people who have given up hope of ever being put in the right place. At least everyone was ON the plan today, though, which is a big improvement on the last few rehearsals, so maybe there's hope yet!)

Anyway, a few more quotes from the last week:

Jamie: My favourite joke just happens to involve pandas. (Dr Liz went to find out what this joke was, and it was so rubbish I can't even remember!)

Mark: Ma-éstro! (suggesting that this was a word that we might like to practise in addition to 'Deo'!)

Mark: "Sancto-sss - it's a Spanish word originally. ... I'm lying."

A tenor came in early at one point.... Jamie: "Nice!" (nodding a la Fast Show jazz guy)

Jamie: Sometime we'll have to get a video camera in - you'd be surprised what tenses up when you're singing.

Jamie: Have you had sun-dried tomatoes in the last week? (I can't remember why on earth he said this! But it seemed relevant at the time....)

Must sleep now. Word to the wise: if you have your own copy of The Music Makers, you might wish to dig it out and put it in your choir bag....

Technical problems

The server on which the mp3s are hosted is currently inaccessible. I've emailed the friend who administers it, and he's already on the case, so please try again in a few hours if you want some Mozart (it may well be working by the time you read this). EDIT: Working now. EDIT 2: *Really* working now. Honest.