Dear all
Many thanks to those who came to last night’s rehearsal – we covered a lot of material.
We started with the Faure Requiem, working backwards from the last movement. In Paradisum is mostly being sung very well, but particularly tenors and bases may need a little more familiarity with the notes, especially when the T&B parts split. This is true in quire a few places throughout the whole requiem (tenors and bases split far more than altos or sopranos do), so if you have any time this week focus on this. The Libera Me is sounding very competent and the notes are more secure – the key to this piece iOS the performance, notably at the end when we sing the main theme in unison. Follow the dynamics in the score, and exaggerate to the point of it feeling silly! Agnus Dei is sounding good, but again, could use more familiarity.
We’re then spent the rest of the rehearsal on the Vaughan Williams Festival Te Deum, note-bashing through the bits we have not done before (large 13 to the end), which generally sounded very good. We will keep going over these bits and will likely need to break them down again a few times – the notes are quite tricky at first but mostly follow patterns, which make it easier as you get to know it. We have now covered all the notes in this piece and it is already sounding convincing, but it needs a huge amount of energy to pull it off. It’s loud and high most of the way through, and even the quiet moments need a sense of drama, so it will feel like much longer than 6 minutes to perform start to finish! It will be worth it though!
Auditions
As per last week’s roundup, please let me know by next week’s rehearsal if you would like to sing for any of the solos in the Vivaldi or the Faure. We have a few so far but not enough! Details are in last week’s email.
Also please be reminded that next week, Tuesday 5th April, is the last rehearsal before Easter. We will resume on Tuesday 26th April.
Best
Dave