"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!