Author: Siobhan Jones

Hi everyone

I know we have all been singing along at home or on the tube, but I thought I’d share the links I have found that I really like, to give you a different arrangement to do your last minute brushing up to, if you would like.

 

Questo (i) Presto: This recording is not as presto as some of them, which are impossible to keep up with, but still has the power and excitement. Perfect for our first item. Although I don’t think we are going to have the thunderclap.

Questo (ii) Larghetto: There are not many recordings of this version (Handel wrote two). This is really sweet and gentle, such a contrast with the presto. The togetherness of the choir, singing as one combined voice, not four parts, is really impressive. Note that they put the second syllable of Questo on a different note to us – don’t accidentally switch to their way.

Voyagers’ Chorus: They are very careful with this – they treat it with delicacy, not an attribute often mentioned in connection with Texas. Even so, it’s possible to criticise the intonation, especially at the entries, which just shows how tricky this simple-looking piece can be. (Jump forward to 1.35 to avoid the preamble.)

Hebrew Slaves: I really like the gentleness of this version (there is a theme here in my choices, I am noticing) – the pace, the style. Then in bar 23 enjoy the staccato, and in 24 that fabulous crescendo, still gentle. The ff/pp contrast 29-36. I think it’s the best one I’ve found. And sung from memory too, although they could look like they’re enjoying it a bit more. But then they are German.

There is no recording of Simon’s arrangement of the Purcell When I am Laid in Earth (maybe we should make one?) but here is proof from Janet Baker that true talent transcends the lack of modern recording techniques and the beauty of the voice shines through regardless.

 

For the Puccini many of us have used Choraline or our own recordings. But for variety and practice for the unexpected….

Here is a version of the Qui Tollis by an Italian outfit which seems to be a 45 recording played at 33 speed. Try practising to this – if you can get the long phrases in at this speed you can sing anything.

Another American choir, this time taking on the Credo. And making a very nice job of it, I’d say. Their tempo is a notch below ours. Listen to the timpani and brass thundering through this. It’s going to be very different and offputting having this accompaniment in place of Robert.

Definitely not a notch slower than us, or indeed than anybody, is this Sardinian choir’s Cum Sancto Spirito. I’m pretty sure they are breaking various EU regulations by taking it at this speed at the start, knowing that they have a Piu Mosso coming up. That happens officially at about 3 minutes. But they also do an unofficial speed up at 2 minutes, on our page 54, presumably thinking ‘breakneck’ is not a sufficiently crazy speed. Then they do a massive rallentando into the Largo bit. I’d really recommend practising to this recording. If you can keep up to this, you know you’ve got it nailed.

 

OK, I think that’s enough racial stereotyping for one day. Apologies for any offence caused, all was determinedly tongue in cheek.

Hello everyone

 

One last rehearsal before Saturday – Tuesday June 18th we are at Christchurch with a 7.30pm start time. Please make every effort to be there on time for our guest MD, who, we think, has a fairly packed agenda of work he wants to get through.

 

Equally importantly – the 2019 choir summer party is on Tuesday June 15th, and the organizers need to know numbers. If you have not already done so, can you please RSVP to Roger Blitz with your attendance? Right now we just have 11 people confirmed as coming. If it helps sway you, we think this season is the end of our 10th year of singing as a choir. So please come and raise a glass to a decade of musical wondrousness! And please extend an invitation to past members who might enjoy reuniting with us, possibly for a swift prosecco, possibly to come back and sing again.

Dear All

 

Here are the logisical details for the concert on the 22nd:

 

Music

Please make sure you have all the right music printed off. It can all be found, in order, in the Music and Media Library section of the website. Ideally the loose sheets for the first half of the concert would be in a blue binder, if you have one.

 

Timings

For the choir, you must be in your seat ready to sing at 2.30pm. You will be done and free to go home to change, drink heavily or whatever at 4.45pm at the latest. There will be a short break midway through for a breather. Please remember a pencil and a bottle of water.

You need to be back and ready to warm up at 6.45pm.

We will convene in the vestry at the back of the church, where there is room to change if you need.

 

Dress Code

Ladies – all black with a splash of colour at your own option.

Gentlemen – white shirts, black trousers and shoes, no jacket or tie.

 

Sits and Stands

First half:

Once we are all on stage and the audience has applauded on the conductor, we will sit, following the lead of Lesley in the front row near the middle.

From that point we sit (after the Mozart) and stand on Derek’s signal.

At the end of the first half, after the Hebrew Slaves, we do not sit, we just stomp off to rapturous applause once Derek exits the rostrum.

Second half:

It is possible to do the whole thing standing, but I know I’d personally like any short break to sit, so can you please mark your Puccini scores with the following:

p22, Top: SIT [note that there is no real gap in the music, so we need to sit down quietly so as not to disturb the introduction to the Gracias Agimus Tibi]

p27, first bar of last line: STAND [with page turned ready for the Gloria]

p77, first bar: Sopranos, Altos and Tenors: SIT [again, quickly and quietly as there is no gap in the music. Basses remain upright for the Crucifixus]

p79, third line, first bar (Allegro): S, A & T: STAND

We remain standing for the remainder, including the Benedictus solo section.

 

On and off stage

We have a good turnout which is fantastic but it means space will be tight. We will remove the bars on the stage from the vestry side to allow us to walk on easily.

Hello everyone

If you are getting this as an email then I think that I have successfully figured out how to send a post from the website to our GDPR-compliant mailing list.

If you have unsubscribed from Sheen Gate Choir mails, then please accept my apology and let me know and I will figure out what I did wrong.

And if you are in the choir but NOT getting this mail in your inbox, please check your Spam folder and if it still isn’t there then please speak to me. It would be good to be using the website for choir communications rather than emails. For one thing, it allows us to manage our GDPR list in one central place. And it means that you can always simply log in to the website to get what you need, rather than search through your email inbox.

See you tomorrow evening

Chris

Hi all

Tonight is one of just THREE – 3 – remaining rehearsals before the day of the concert. Although we have a run-through on the day, this is to ensure we are sync’d to the orchestra, not to learn notes.

With the possibility of adjustments, please make sure you have these in your diaries.

Wednesday June 5, 7.45-9.30pm, Tower House School

Tuesday June 11, 7.45-9.30pm, Christ Church – with Derek Saunders, conductor for the concert

Tuesday June 18, 7.45-9.30pm, Christ Church – with Derek Saunders

Saturday June 22, 2-5pm*, Christ Church – dress rehearsal with orchestra

*Exact time of rehearsal on the day is to be confirmed but please block out the whole afternoon.  There will be a gap between rehearsal and concert for food, costume change and a breather.

If you think you’ve seen this email before, it’s because you have! This is a copy of last year’s party invite, which is all the info you need for this year’s event.. The only thing that’s changed is the date. If it ain’t broke, etc.

One extra thing – if you know of people who should be invited, or are lapsed members, please let me know.

Cheers, Roger

 

Date – Tuesday June 25

 

Time – 7pm onwards

 

Food – yes!

 

Drink – oh yes!

 

Venue –  Chris Hawkins’ abode – 6 Dungarvan Avenue, SW15 5QU

 

Contributions – £20

 

Who’s invited – all, including those who had to opt out this term.

 

Teresa Henderson is once more doing the nosh, we’ll start eating around 8pm.

 

What you need to do –

 

1. Email me whether you can/cannot come.

 

2. If yes, I’d rather not take cash, so please make your contribution via a bank transfer, marked SGC, to the account details in Roger’s email of June 4th.

 

Cheers,

Roger

There is NO REHEARSAL TONIGHT as Chris is unwell.

The Madrigal de Paris recording (the one with the gold mask) is still available on Spotify for those who were asking on Tuesday.

 

The LPO recording is also a good listen. It’s sung more the way it’s scored, with 4 true soloists and a backing choir and the solos done by the parts in the score where the French version has much of it allocated to solo soprano. Sounds quite different. The full choir entries in the Kyrie, for example, are really powerful. If you just listen to one bit, listen to the second half of the Dies Irae (about 5 minutes in). The offbeat descending scales are accented brilliantly. It sounds like a limping Inspector Clouseau leading into the sublime Quid sum miser harmonies. My only criticism of this recording is that the speed of some of the movements suggest that the conductor had somewhere he urgently needed to be. The Rex Tremendae on this recording is over a minute quicker than in the Madrigal one. Then he seems to regret his haste and takes the Oro Supplex reallllllyyyyyy slowwwwwlllllly.

 

 

 

The Spotify version I mentioned is this one: