Author: Lesley Morley

Dear all. Apologies for a late roundup this week – it’s been a busy one!

Many thanks to those who came to see Carmen last night! Was really touching to see some friendly faces in the audience! Hope you enjoyed it – the cast was buzzing afterwards because we felt it went really well! Still one more chance to see it tomorrow if you are free – 7pm Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington.

This week we spent some time on the Angus Dei and Lux Aeterna in the Mozart. These, again, are all about the changes in dynamics, capturing the difference between the almost angry setting for ‘Angus Dei…’ and the much more reflective ‘dona eis requiem’. This runs into the Lux Aeterna, which was sung very well on Tuesday. M<are sure you keep counting, especially altos who sing in stretto with the tenors and basses. Sopranos just need to make sure they know when their entires are, and enter strongly and confidently! The mini-fugue at the end was generally very good – keep the semiquavers smooth

We then looked at the Hostias and ‘Quam Olim Abrahae’ fugue. This needs to keep moving – Be aware I was going a little under tempo on Tuesday. The fugue needs to bring out the word ‘promisisti’ whenever you have it – I explained why at the rehearsal!

Finally we sang through the 4th of the Rutter Birthday Madrigals (which we did before Christmas). As with the third one we did last week, this just needs rocking over. We will start one or two of the other ones next week, as we have covered a lot of the Mozart now (very successfully).

Have a good weekend!

Dave

Dear all

Many thanks for another good rehearsal on Tuesday, despite the difficulty with the alarm at the school…

We started working on the Lacrimosa, one of the better-known movements of the requiem. The key to this movement will be making it interesting, especially using dynamics. We will continue to work on this, as the notes were pretty solid.

We then looked at the Rex Tremendae. This movement is only difficult because it is so slow, so make sure you are counting and concentrating for entries!

We also started work on the Kyrie, another of the fugues in this requiem. This will take a few runs through before we are comfortable with the notes, but this is the only real challenge with this movement. If you do any work between rehearsals, checking the semiquaver runs in this movement would be a good use of your time!

Finally, we had a sing through the third of the Rutter Birthday Madrigals. This took a lot of work to get to performance standard for the Autumn concert so we will need to keep it ticking over every couple of weeks or so.

For those interested, I’ll share details again of the opera I am singing in next week. The New London Opera Group, with whom I have been signing for over a decade, are presenting a semi-staged version of Carmen on Thursday 23rd and Saturday 25th January. I am playing Don Jose, which is quite a major role!

The show is on at Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington (on the same road as the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall), with performances starting at 7pm (not 7.30 as previously advertised). The principal parts will be staged and costumed and the chorus will be in concert format, with piano accompaniment. Hope you can come along! More information and tickets availabel on the Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/440053776689766/

Dave

Dear all

Many thanks for a fantastic first rehearsal of the year. It felt great to be back!

We made a great start on the Mozart Requiem on Tuesday. We spent a good proportion of the rehearsal on the opening movement, which sounds very solid already. The key is making sure entries are in the right place, especially given how slow the movement is.

We then looked at the Sanctus and Hosanna, which is a short but difficult fugue (because it is fast). We handled this very well. My real bugbear is words in the Sanctus – ‘Dominus Deus Sabaoth’ (pronounce both ‘s’s between deus and sabaoth), ‘pleni sunt coeli’ (clearly pronounce all consonants, no ‘pleni sun coeli’!)

We finally looked at the Dies Irae. This section is pure operatic drama, so we need to bring out that character. We looked a lot at dynamics towards the end of the movement, which were sounding good.

As mentioned at the end, we will also be singing the complete set of Birthday Madrigals by Rutter in the concert, so please bring copies to future rehearsal. We may also include the Spirituals from A Child of Our Time by Tippett – to be confirmed!

Finally, I mentioned that I am singing in an opera in a couple of weeks. I am playing Don Jose in an amateur production of Carmen with the new London Opera Group on Thursday 23rd and Saturday 25th January in Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington (right by the Royal Albert Hall). More details and links to tickets on the Facebook event here – https://www.facebook.com/events/440053776689766/ – would be great to see some friendly faces in the audience!

All best

Dave

Dear all

Many thanks for the rehearsal on Tuesday – just one more left before the concert!

We started with a sing through the Cantique de Jean Racine. This is a piece the choir knows well, but we must ensure we are not complacent with it – it relies on big shifts in dynamics to make it effective. Please pay particular attention to the crescendo on pages 2-3 (near the beginning, so sets the tone for the piece) and the ‘subito’ (sudden) pianos on page 5 (especially sopranos) and page 9. Basses – remember to sing through the note in the third bar of page 7 and breathe after ‘O Christ’.

We next looked at the two pieces from the Rutter, both of which are sounding very confident now. Number 3 needs a bit more tidying at the end, and number 4 needs more confidence during the loud bit (penultimate page) which we will work on next week.

Then we sang through the Mozart Ave Verum. This is a more simple piece and, again, one the choir knows well, but it’s the sort of music that can be dull if not performed well. Remember to breathe ANYWHERE except after the second ‘Ave’ at the beginning – I want to hear ‘Ave verum corpus’ as one phrase! Also remember that I will stop the music (briefly) before the last bar of singing (between ‘mortis’ and ‘examine’) – make sure you are not the one person who carries on through the silence!

We managed to sing through all 6 of the Choral Dances from Gloriana very effectively. As I said last week, wee need to be ready for the very different character of each movement before we start. Movement 2 is very difficult to keep in tune and I would like to do it without piano if possible – we will work on this next week, as well as movement 3 which needs more tidying.

Finally, we sang through the Antiphon by Vaughan Williams, which is now a very exciting and accurate performance! Be ready for the slightly different timings at the end – it will surprise you if you are not prepared!

Have lovely weekends all round,

Dave

Hi all

Huge apologies this is coming round so late this week. I hope these messages remain useful and that everyone is reading to the end – there is a good reason to do so today!

last Tuesday we worked again on the two piece from the Rutter Birthday Madrigals. These are both difficult sings, and we are now singing them very well indeed. Both need a lot of tidying up and more familiarity, so do keep listening in your spare time!

We also worked through Let All the World by Vaughan Williams, which was excellent! It has really come together very well and we are making a very good sound. We need to find more variation in dynamics (generally, but especially in this piece), and try to look over the ‘but above all‘ section and the very last phrase, if you can, as we are least familiar with these bits.

Meal time we worked through the Britten Choral Dances in order. These are also not easy and the choir is really performing them extremely well! Our biggest barrier is that it usually sounds brilliant on the second or third song through, but we need it to be perfect first time for the concert! Each piece has quite a different character and we need to be ready for each one before it starts.

Finally, we worked through Locus Iste. The performance at the very end is the best I have heard the choir sing this term – well done! I am conducting this without the music – try and learn this off by heart. It’s not a long piece.

I said that you should read to the end, and here is your reward – the running order for the concert!

Zadok the Priest (Handel)

Locus Iste (Bruckner)

Cantique de Jean Racine (Faure)

Ave Verum (Mozart)

Soloist (Victoria Mulley, Soprano)

Choral Dances from Gloriana (Britten)

Soloist (Charles McGlore, Tenor)

Selections from Birthday Madrigals (Rutter

Antiphon from Five Mystical Songs (Vaughan Williams)

See you all tomorrow

Dave

Remember, remember the 5th of November… well, just in case you don’t…

We started with ‘Come live with me’ from the Rutter. This was the only piece with material that we were yet to cover, but not any more – we managed a complete performance! We spent a good third of the rehearsal on the last 3 or 4 pages of this piece, so if you weren’t there please PLEASE have a look in your own time, as we have precious little time left for note-bashing!

We also looked at the other Rutter (My True Love Hath My Heart), which is really starting to come together nicely. Sopranos were sounding as good as I have heard them on page 32! Tenors and Basses – remember to hold the note in bar 38 (just before B) when I bring off the Sopranos and Altos.

We then had a working run through Zadok, which is very secure. We spent a long time with the Sopranos nailing their runs in the third section – if you weren’t there please make sure you know those notes!

Finally we tackled the Britten again, with a sing through each of the SA and TB movements. The SA piece (No4 Country Girls) was excellent, but it showed that only 5 of the Tenors and Basses were present when we learned No5 Rustics and Fishermen! The Ss and As left early so we could note-bash through this. We also sang through the last movement (Homage), which was remarkably good considering we only learned it last week! Counting is the key in this piece – I am bringing in parts where I can, but there are too many competing entries for me to cover them all – you need to take that on yourselves!

Well, that was bonfire night. I make it just three more rehearsals before concert day – we are on track but still a lot of tidying to do!

All best

Dave

Dear all

We had a split rehearsal on Tuesday this week, as we worked with sops/altos and tenors/basses separately on their movements in the Britten Choral Dances. Both groups managed to cover the whole of their movements and both are sounding fantastic! I can feel a sing-off coming on…

We also did some detailed work on the Rutter Birthday Madrigals, both separately with the split parts and together. These are starting to sound very good indeed, but definitely need everyone to have a look over in between rehearsals to ensure we don’t lose momentum. Each part has demonstrated that they can sing their line, but it is complicated to put together in some places so the more familiar and comfortable with what you are doing the better.

Finally, we also starter singing through the Mozart Ave Verum. This is excellent preparation for the Requiem next term, as they were written at around the same time and share the fact fact that the difficulty is not the notes but the performance. Remember NEVER to breathe after the second ‘ave’ at the start – breathe literally anywhere else!

A reminder that we are still rehearsing as normal next week, with everyone called from 7.45pm.

All best

Dave

Evening all

We had a fantastic rehearsal on Tuesday! You sang superbly and are really starting to respond to what I am trying to achieve, which was really great for me. I came home buzzing!

We worked quite a lot on dynamics, which is something I feel we can get much better at. we certainly had flashes of what we could achieve in the rehearsal this week, but it took quite a lot of work on my part (my arms ached all day today) – I would love to get to a stage where we all respond to dynamic changes more quickly. But that will come.

We worked on Locus Iste and Cantiqur de Jean Racine, both of which are sounding excellent, but both of which require very secure quiet singing. Singing quietly takes far more effort than singing loudly – we need to remember that quieter does not mean less energy for these two!

We then looked at Zadok the Priest, which was sounding excellent in the homophonic passages but the third section need more work, familiarity and confidence, especially the fast runs – if you look at one thing before next week’s rehearsal, have a look at those semiquaver runs!

Finally, we worked very hard on the Antiphon, which is really starting to sound very good indeed! We need to be more familiar with it so you can watch me more than your copies, so I can help you come in at the right times.

Please be reminded that for next week, you will need to have printed movements 4 (sops and altos), 5 (tenors and basses) and 6 (all) of the Britten Choral Dances, as well as the Mozart Ave Verum. All are available in the music library on the website. Also for next week, slightly different timings:

7.45 – sops and altos

8.30 – tenors and basses join

9.00 – sops and altos finish

9.30 – tenors and basses finish

Please also be reminded that all Tuesdays from now until 30th November are rehearsal days (ie we are not taking a half term break)

Thanks all, see you next week!

Dave

Evening Morning all!

I want to get into the habit of rounding up the rehearsal each week, with a note about things to work on before next week when you have those spare few minutes. So, here goes…

This week we worked on the two pieces from the Rutter Birthday Madrigals that are available on the music materials page (no3 and no4). We managed to get all the way through no4, and most of the way through no3. These are challenging pieces but you continue to impress me with how well you are coping with them, especially the stylistically different no3! If you can, do have a listen over these two pieces before next week – familiarity with how they sound overall will be the difference in mastering these in the time we have. Plenty of recordings on YouTube/Spotify to choose from, and my project for this week will be to set up a public access playlist with all the music for this concert. Watch this space…

We also looked at the Britten Choral Dances, especially the first piece (Time). This is starting to sound really exciting! But we could all do with more confidence on our own parts, especially the sopranos – don’t be scared of the high notes! If you find yourself with a spare minute to look over this movement this week, focus on page 4 and the first 3 bars of page 5 (ie the bit that’s slightly different from the rest). Again, just familiarity is key.

We looked briefly at no’s 2 and 3 of the Britten at the end. No2 just needs tidying up (Tenors and Sopranos – watch tuning on the last notes of each phrase), but no3 needs another look over – it’s been a couple of weeks since we did it, so that will be ok with another go over.

I have been reliable informed that we have 7 rehearsals left before the concert, assuming we rehearse every week. There is still a lot to cover, but I am very much looking forward to it!

Best,

Dave