Oh, oh, oh, totus floreo, iam amore virginali totus ardeo

So sorry about the long hiatus. All sorts of bad things have happened this summer - the burglary was just the beginning, but I will try not to whinge about what's happened since, as I'm sure no-one wants to know - and I haven't been in the mood to write anything. I'm still not, really, but I decided I'd better make an effort to try and catch up with stuff.

We had a whirlwind start to our choral season, with two performances of Mahler 8 in Symphony Hall in our second week back. We still remembered it very well from May, of course, but this was with a different orchestra (the CBSO) and a different conductor (Andris Nelsons), so it did need a lot more rehearsal than it might have if it had been a direct repeat. And because of the concerts being on a Thursday and a Saturday, the schedule (including rehearsals) meant us all being in Birmingham on three consecutive weekday nights and then back again on Saturday. This caused huge logistical problems for most of the choir, so it was impressive how many of us were there. I know a few people took the whole week off work specially, but not everyone could do that, so there were lots of exhausted singers! On top of that, I managed to develop a streaming cold at the start of the week, so I had one of those fun concert experiences in which I kept having to wait for loud bits so I could blow my nose. Very annoying. (I blame the air-conditioning on Tuesday's coach - my nose felt far worse after that.)

I enjoyed both concerts, but I didn't think either of them was as good as the Manchester one. I won't go into the reasons here, but I *will* say what I thought was BETTER in Birmingham, and that was the Mater Gloriosa and the offstage brass. Not their actual performances - they were both great in both locations - but their positioning. I think I've mentioned before that my most abiding memory of the FIRST time I did Mahler 8 in the Bridgewater Hall was of the Mater Gloriosa singing her bit from the very highest possible point in the hall. When we did it in May, she was on the same level as the choir, and it just wasn't the same. But in Birmingham both the Mater Gloriosa and the offstage brass were right up near the roof, and I much preferred it. (I felt sorry for the offstage brass, though. The conductor totally forgot to give them a bow on Thursday night, and they stood there waiting for quite a while before obviously deciding to leave when the bows continued and they still didn't get one - they had vanished before we left the stage. So I didn't really blame them for not waiting at ALL on Saturday!)

The reviews surprised me quite a bit, because all the reviewers seem to have viewed the concerts differently than I did. They're all really good, though. Thanks to Martin for sending me a PDF of the Times review - the Times and Sunday Times both now charge for access to their website, so I can't check it any more. (In fact, there was - in theory - a feature about me in today's Sunday Times, but I haven't seen it yet for exactly this reason! I'm hoping someone will have bought it and will show me sometime. I did tell all my friends it was due to be in, but I haven't heard back from any of them, so maybe they haven't read it either.)

(Oh, and before I forget, I'm live on the radio in a few hours' time - in fact, I'll probably have been on by the time you read this, but you can listen on iPlayer if you're interested. I'm a guest on Woman's Hour (which, being a bit of a tomboy, I've never listened to in my life!), although I can't promise I'll have anything interesting to say!)

Other reviews: Guardian, Financial Times, Birmingham Post, MusicWeb, and (with photos and comments) Intermezzo. Oh, and the finale is (very illegally and nothing to do with me!) on YouTube.

(A couple of recent links about Mahler: a fascinating review of a Norman Lebrecht book about Mahler (from which I learned that Mahler is Beyonce's eighth cousin four times removed), and a great Guardian article about Mahler that stems from one chord.)

We're doing Mahler 8 again next summer, but for now our next two concerts are in a couple of weeks' time: a Carmina Burana scratch day on 9th October, and The Planets (which I think might be sold out) on 12th. I haven't done Carmina for YEARS, so that's great fun, particularly as all of a sudden we're joining in with loads of soprano parts and choir 1 bits that I haven't sung before. Very much looking forward to doing it with the orchestra and a thousand extra singers.

I have many links to share with you, but my favourite is this one from almost two months ago, in which lots of musicians (including our own music director) describe their greatest onstage moments.

Those who sang Eric Whitacre's Sleep earlier this year may be interested to know that he's using that song for his next Virtual Choir project. If you want to join him, the instructions are on his website. Also, here's a review of a concert of his - sounds fabulous, wish I'd been there! And also from his website, but other than that not actually anything to do with him at all, an absolutely fascinating short documentary about the making of 10CC's I'm Not In Love in the days before computers.

Those who took spart in my Surprise Spem project will be fascinated by the idea of a whole CONCERT of 40-part vocal music. I'd had this review for a while, but coincidentally the concert itself was on Radio 3 at the weekend, and you can listen to it until Saturday.

The Proms seem ages ago now, even though I know they only ended a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that there wasn't one this year that really blew me away, although three that I did really enjoy were the Rodgers and Hammerstein night, the Jamie Cullum night and the Monteverdi Vespers. The last night just seemed wrong without the Sea Songs, although I know they did it in the 1910 reenactment. (The Radio 3 blog posted a Last Night post-mortem, and Classical Iconoclast had a post-mortem of the Proms as a whole.) (Classical Iconoclast also has a fascinating article about Parry and Stanford - did you know Parry hated Stanford? I didn't.)

Stephen Hough has another practice tip: make sure you look at the original score. He also has a great post about historically-informed performance. And he asks that age-old question: If I had ten minutes with the Pope, what piano duets would we play?

On an Overgrown Path has an intriguing post about a piece of Elgar history. And here's a different piece of Elgar history: he wrote one of the first football anthems (for Wolves), and someone's recorded it.

Here's a great Telegraph article about Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

From A Cappella News: the King's Singers have a new member. (I thought this was interesting not for who he was - I've never heard of him - but for what sort of person they needed.)

A very sad article about the downfall of Scottish Opera, and more on this from Tom Service.

Slightly alarming thing from Ben Goldacre talking about the fact that how female musicians dress affects how their playing is perceived.

There's a composer who thinks that classical music should be amplified, so that people can talk during the concert, and walk in and out as they choose. Tom Service follows this up with Berlioz's instant feedback method.

Classical Iconoclast brings us news that the Elgar Birthplace Museum in Worcester is having a Gerontius exhibition from now until December, and also a great post about the emotional impact of the piece.

Classical scholars may be able to guess what a lithophone is: it's like a xylophone, but made of stone instead of wood. They've made one out of Lake District rocks and got Evelyn Glennie to play it. More details from the University of Leeds, who made it, and the University of Hull, who composed some music for it.

Chris Rowbury's posts (From the Front of the Choir) are always interesting, but I particularly liked this one about conducting gestures. (I wonder whether Andris Nelsons has read it? Doubt it.)

I don't really care whether or not there's a Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, but it turns out that there was and now there isn't, and I was so taken with the photo of it that I had to show you!

Here's a Guardian article about supposedly offensive lines being cut out of songs. I hate this. Although what I hate even more is when they use sonsg for adverts and cut SINGLE BEATS OUT OF BARS just to get the song to fit into the time limit. ARGH.

Talking of irritating, the only thing I really hate about buses is the fact that invariably there is someone who wants to play everyone their favourite music on their phone. The Guardian has a thought-provoking article about this. (I still hate it, though.)

In a similar vein, the BBC has an article about the proliferation of Autotune.

There was a very odd rumour I heard recently (although apparently it's a very old urban legend) that the original Batman theme (you know, the ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner one) has its vocal lines actually produced by brass instruments, even though they clearly sing the word "Batman!" The ever-reliable Snopes not only tells us that the rumour is untrue, but digs up some interesting information about how they DID do it.

This is kind of fun, and therapeutic: a musical thingy involving circles crashing into each other. Try it and see!

I doubt this will interest any of you, but just in case: McFly are my very favourite band, and the Guardian recently had an article about them. (Their musical skills are considerable, I promise you.)

A few people have asked me about Dr Liz. I mentioned her blog last time, but if you haven't read it, here are a few notable posts: a description of what she's actually doing, some Australian oddities, and news that she's found a choir and will be singing the Berlioz Te Deum in Sydney Opera House, lucky thing. (That's one of my favourite pieces ever, and the venue's not bad either!)

A bit of Manchester news now: we have a house in the city centre built especially for ducks!

The last of the books have finally left the Central Library - the photo is a bit eerie if you know that room well - but there's news about what it'll be like after the renovations.

Biggest current news in Manchester is the filming of a Hollywood blockbuster (Captain America) that's going in in the Northern Quarter. I went to have a look the other day - it's mainly on Dale Street, near the Piccadilly Station end. There are security staff all over the place, but you can get quite a good view of the set. The actors weren't there when I looked, but they are now. Someone's started a dedicated blog that has loads of photos, if you haven't got time to go and have a look yourself.

Yesterday a load of people went swimming in the Manchester Ship Canal! Sounds slightly insane to me.

Other bits of random stuff: I really like this article by Gia Milinovich, explaining how she started to feel invisible after her husband became extremely famous. (Her husband is Professor Brian Cox.)

If you've never used eBay, or you have but you suspect you're not getting the most out of it, this article will help.

If you use the same password for everything, this article might make you reconsider.

I watched this in fascination for several hours last Sunday: two young men attempted to set a new world record for the longest continuous kiss. They broke the record - they did 32.5 hours, with not a single break. They stood up the whole time - in fact, they danced for lots of it - and their lips were attached continuously, so they had nothing to eat or drink. It was very impressive.

Which links me nicely into my Big Picture selections, because the first one is of a selection of same-sex weddings, and I think these pictures are SO lovely. There's also some spectacular new solar system photos, and some great images from Oktoberfest.

And finally, via Londonist, an Ikea advert which involved a hundred cats being released into the store at night and filmed for a while.