(There are bigger versions on my choir pictures page but the ones in the hall aren't any clearer, I'm afraid! I know lots of other people were taking pictures with proper cameras - if anyone would like to send me any, I'll put them online.)
For those who weren't there: the first photo is of Mark getting his birthday present from the choir, which he said was "Brilliant!" (it was a hand-carved tabletop music stand - he said he could take it all over the world, subject of course to airline luggage restrictions... this, needless to say, prompted a wry chuckle!) He also told us that not only is it a gloriously sunny day (honestly, it was so hot in Manchester today I thought I might faint) but that "The four soloists advertised in the programme ARE ALL HERE!" This is very rare for Mark, he seems to have a curse on soloists, as I'm sure I've mentioned before - invariably one or more of them is ill and has to be replaced. (The second picture is of Mark speaking to the audience - this was an open rehearsal, and an impressive number of people sat through the whole thing. And the third is of Mark presenting 30- and 40-year choir service awards to lots of people.)
A bonus birthday present, which I'm ashamed to admit I didn't notice immediately, was that we have a guest principal flautist - Andrew is back! And I didn't even see him till he waved to me! I didn't get a chance to speak to him - hopefully tomorrow - so I don't know how long he's here. Presumably just for the weekend. But I was amazed that none of the people around me seemed to remember him at all. I mean, he's an old friend of mine (I know him from Chet's) so I'd remember him more, but still! I couldn't actually remember when it was that he left the Hallé for the RPO, but this list of orchestral principal flautists tells me he was with us from 1999 to 2004. (Yes, I know the page says 'flutists' but that word always looks wrong to me, even though I know it's the American version!)
The rehearsal wasn't too bad, I suppose - we almost got all the way through (we were 5 pages from the end when the orchestral manager came on to stop the rehearsal). I have to say I wasn't too inspired by the soloists - the bass was a bit slapdash with his rhythm, the tenor swooped, the soprano pronounced lots of words very strangely (e.g. 'shill' instead of 'shall')... and the alto was fine, but annoyed me by being a mezzo when the part is labelled 'contralto'! (It doesn't take much to annoy me at the moment!) As for the choir, those alto bits are still wrong (although there are slightly fewer people singing the F-when-it's-supposed-to-be-G), and the other sections have their own stumbling blocks. There are too many people who can't sing quietly, and FAR too many people who think that singing quieter automatically means slower (this is a very common choral problem but it drives me UP THE WALL). There are also a lot of people who seem to think that in parts where we've been asked - for very well-explained reasons - to be absolutely still, that it doesn't apply to them, and it won't make any difference if they choose that moment to start flicking through their score. ARGH.
As ever when we do a piece with the orchestra for the first time, I noticed a couple of interesting bits. For example, there are some chords on page 81 that have a square bracket under them for no apparent reason - does anyone know why? I must investigate. And there was a fabulous twiddly bit on the bottom of page 138 - I think it was a horn, but I only became aware of it as it ended. Must listen out tomorrow.
I felt a bit fount-of-all-knowledgey today, actually. At various points during the morning, I was asked: is there a breath on page 28? (answer: there was once, but it was removed); what's a good place to take parents for lunch tomorrow? (answer: there are loads of places, but I suggested Felicini); who had a number one hit with Frankie in 1985? (answer: Sister Sledge); what do I do if I didn't put my name down for the party at Cloud 23? (answer: officially, nothing, because the numbers have already been finalised with the hotel; unofficially... well, I told the person who asked!); and, who writes the Upbeat choir newsletter? (answer: this was the only question I didn't know the answer to, but I later found out that it's actually Tom Parnell - who tells me that the use of the word 'Poulank' was deliberate, and he'd hoped people would understand if they'd read the newsletter!) (I haven't read it myself in quite a while, I must say - ever since that Christmas issue that I mentioned at the time - but maybe I should.)
Unfortunately I seem unable to convince any non-choir people of my usefulness - my job hunting is not going at all well, and the other day I was turned away from a temp agency by the RECEPTIONIST, who told me that because I have no actual office or admin experience (because of course I've never had to do anything administrative in my life, have I?!) there was no point me even trying to get a temp job doing anything administrative. How encouraging. (She didn't even get to the part of my CV where I listed some of the things I can do - apparently my employment history was the only thing that counted.) I do have a few other ideas to try, but I hope one of them works soon, as money is becoming a real issue.
Hope some of you made it to a Whit Friday event. Sadly I didn't - the friends I'd been due to go with cancelled at the last minute, and I didn't want to go on my own. So I stayed home and watched David Beckham. But lots of people seem to be coming here looking for results, so for them: Saddleworth results are here and Tameside results are here.
Oh, and I seem to have made quite a few people very excited indeed by my mention of Alan Rickman - lots of people have arrived here from the Alan Rickman Download Haven, and it sounds as if large numbers of Rickman fans will come to see the Hallé just because of him. So, an excellent marketing decision there :-)
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