Welcome back! It was wonderful to be together singing again. Lovely to see everyone, and to see some new faces. We are very happy to have you join us. As a choir, you all made a really good sound, right out of the gate. Well done for the note learning you have done in sections and on your own.
Tonight we looked at:
Rameau: O Nuit – simple, but it needs to be spot on to avoid being messy. ATB parts could usefully brush up on making their harmonies 100% secure.
Lauridsen: Sure on this Shining Night – musically, this was the highlight tonight for me. It was hard to believe that this was a new piece for us, you sang it with an assuredness that meant that, within 20 minutes, I was not bothering about the notes but starting to talk about phrasing and dynamics. It is a beautiful piece, and one that has immense scope for making it special. I am looking forward to singing it again. If you want to work on this one this week, and you are confident of the first couple of pages and the coda that we looked at, by all means have a look at the tricky, climactic middle section.
Rachmaninoff: Bogoroditse Dyevo – a good start on what is not an easy piece. This would be a great place to spend some homework time. Nothing about any part is, of itself, especially difficult. But getting totally confident and to the point that you can look up rather than at the music would be a big step forward. Practise with the part tracks, or better yet, with the full choir recording.
Whitacre: Sleep – if the Lauridsen was my musical highlight, then this was my technical one. I was so impressed with how well you knew your parts, even where they divide. Tenors and Basses – please work on the ‘dark and deep’ section. Those chords in that rising-falling sequence are such a recognisable part of this piece, all four parts – T1,2 & B1,2 have to be equally strong and emotive. Anyone in any part that wants to press on, look at the spooky ‘transparent’ middle section. Try singing those bars so that they might give young children nightmares. That is what he was going for here.
Rheinberger: Abendlied – More great singing for a first time through. Those last polyphonic chords, starting fortissimo and decaying away to pianissimo in just a few notes were fantastic. Like the Rachmaninoff, this is a good one to devote some homework to, for exactly the same reasons. Know your notes really well and we can make this little piece sound as pretty as it is.
I will send another post with plans for next week’s agenda. But you can expect some Christmas music – sorry it’s so early. And the Rusby ‘Underneath the Stars.’ If you want to get ahead of the game, look at that. It’s all about the syncopation.
Great singing. See you next week
Chris
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