Citius, Altius, Fortius

Hmm, I seem to have not written here for a while - sorry about that! Been busy! But I received an email asking me whether I had any Mahler 2 mp3s to post, which reminded me that of course I meant to do that weeks ago! I'll be putting up pdfs of individual parts too (e.g. the whole of the alto part on a single page) because I've always found things easier to memorise that way, so maybe others do too. Not had time to do that yet, but hopefully this weekend.

Anyway, the very end of Mahler 2, in 3 chunks:

Langsam, mysterioso (first choir entry, figure 31)

Etwas bewegter (alto solo, figure 39)

Mit Aufschwung, aber nicht eilen (sop/alto duet, figure 44)

(I've always had it in my head that the choir sings for only the last 5 minutes of the symphony, so I was quite surprised to discover that these three tracks have a total length of almost 15 minutes!)

(If you prefer video, try this one and its continuation. I think the choir's a bit out of tune, but it's fun to watch anyway.)

While we're doing mp3s, I want to share two more with you, because I've had them on the brain for weeks. They're from the fabulous (but hard to find) album Simunye, by I Fagiolini (Anna's group). I've had the album for a few years, but I'd forgotten about it till I Fagiolini were featured artists on Radio 3 recently and both these tracks were played. If you get a chance to hear the whole album (or any of their others - sadly I only own this one)... do!

Ah Robin

Douce Dame Jolie

I have a load of random non-mp3 links to share too, so let's get them out of the way:

Someone is writing a book about conducting and wants help.

A really interesting selection of music you should try. I haven't heard all this stuff myself, but the stuff from the list that I have heard makes me want to hear the rest.

All sorts of arguments about vibrato: an Elgar performance that didn't please everyone; plans to do another one at the Last Night of the Proms; another viewpoint.

More arguments, this time about whether or not you need to be able to read music: Damon Albarn's view; a response; another response.

Reviews of the best Prom so far (although the Doctor Who prom came close!): from the Guardian; the Times; the Independent; and the FT. (The last one, indirectly, sort of mentions us!)

Article by Peter Phillis about conducting at the Proms.

I've recorded Maestro but I haven't had time to watch it yet. People have been raving about it though. In the meantime, here's a brief article by another of the competitors (I think I mentioned Alex James a post or two ago).

Did you know about the peregrine falcons nesting in Manchester city centre? No, neither did I. Have any of you actually seen them?

A new type of sportsperson: extreme cellists!

Courtesy of ChoralNet, a beautifully written post about a particularly moving choir rehearsal. I'd love to hear the piece she's talking about!

Brief article about singers who cancel gigs. I was about to say that it seems as if our curse in this area has been finally lifted, but that would be tempting fate!

Interesting article about being a professional 2nd oboist. When I got the chance to play in the orchestra at Chet's (which wasn't that often, as there were 4 oboists in my year alone) it was as a 2nd oboist, so it's nice to read about what life might have been like if I'd practised more :-)

Are you enjoying the Olympics? I've watched far more of it this time than I ever have before (albeit while doing other stuff at the same time), but my favourite bit so far was definitely the opening ceremony, and I don't really care how much of it was slightly faked! Anyway, here's a selection of someone's favourite national anthems. I must admit my favourite has always been La Marseillaise - so dramatic! And the Star-Spangled Banner often brings a tear to my eye, although that depends hugely on who's singing it... I *love* it when they sing it at the Superbowl and the World Series etc., and they somehow arrange for fighter planes from the US Air Force to fly overhead at exactly the perfect moment. But watch this performance, which I saw today: the blogger explains the context. Made me cry.

A test to see how many of the 100 most common English words you can guess in 5 minutes. I only managed 26 - I'm very ashamed! (ARGH! I don't think I even put "very"!)

Fantastic Contraption - an online physics game. You'll either love it or hate it. I loved it - I had to stop myself playing it or I would have got nothing done since I discovered it...

And finally, again, Last Choir Standing. I'm still loving this, much to my surprise. Classic FM have a special choir page which I'd never noticed before - has it always been there? Anyway, I think I found it from the Last Choir Standing page. There's also a page of choral links there that I must investigate more fully at some point. But in the meantime, here are thoughts about the competition by From the Front of the Choir; further thoughts from A Cappella News; and a report from The Stage, who attended the most recent show.

I must admit I'm quite surprised at some of the results now - at first I found myself in agreement with the judges most of the time, but this is no longer the case quite so much (although I haven't yet totally disagreed with them...) I was actually expecting Sense of Sound to win the whole thing, so I'm very surprised that they're out while choirs that are nowhere near as good (in my opinion) are still in. I was also shocked that Last Minute didn't make it, because I was extremely impressed with them. Plus, they had Justin Finch-Fletchley as their lead singer!

I have no quibble with the others that have gone. Of the ones who are left, even though they're not the five I would have kept... well, I would expect the final to be between ACM Gospel Choir and Only Men Aloud!, and I think the gospel choir will win. But I've been wrong so far, so let's see!