We settled the times for the Piano Rehearsal at Wednesday’s committee meeting and there’s a slight change in start time.
Date and TIme: Saturday January 24 10:15 to 1600
Lunch break of 45 minutes or so from 13:00
All posts by Keith Underdown
Opening Rehearsal Notes
It was great to get back together again and to meet some new faces and some old ones who have returned after considerable absence in some cases.
The first piece of important news is that we have a date for the next concert—2015-01-31.
We started on the Beethoven Mass in C. John is going to rehearse this in strict sequence so tonight we started with the Kyrie which went well. One thing to be aware of is that wherever possible we will sing “Kyrie” as three syllables. The phrase marks seems to suggest otherwise but that’s what we want.
In the second half we started on the Credo and reached the bar before A. We will pick up there next week.
Termly Report 2014-07-02
Our Summer Concert (June 28 2014) was a great success, the choir coped magnificently with the Fugue in the Mass and the motets were all performed beautifully. We will restart on September 17 with rehearsals for our Silver Jubilee Concert in late January/early February 2015. The repertoire will be Bach’s Magnificat, Four Spirituals from Tippet’s A Child of our Time and Beethoven’s Mass in C.
Piano Rehearsal 2014-06-21
Don’t forget that there will be a rehearsal on Saturday, 21 June from 10:00 to 16:00 at Canton Uniting Church. This is where we will add that final polish. All those hairy fugal moments will fade away!
2014-04-02 Notes
Rehearsal Notes
Casals O Vos Omnes rehearsed all the way through.
Puccini Fugue from fig33 to end And to p45.
Next week from p46
Easter Break
Wed 23rd no rehearsal
Rehearsal 2014-03-26
I will post a short report after each rehearsal to record any significant announcements or developments concerning the upcoming concert and, especially, notes on what we rehearsed so that members who not able to be present can know what they should brush up on.
So from tonight:
- John is waiting on a copy of the Part Antiphons. He will make a decision once he’s had a chance to examine it in detail.
- What did we rehearse?
- Brahms Geistliches Lied, ESM pp56-63 in total
- Puccini Gloria from #17 on p31 to #23 on p37. We will pick up there next week
- Mendelssohn Verlieh uns Frieden ESM pp208-213. Revised in total
- What should we look at before next week?
- Casals O vos omnes ESM pp99-102. This has split ATB parts so we need as many present as possib;l
Report on Committee Meeting 2014-03-19
We are moving ahead with charity registration and also changing the bank account so we can go to electronic banking.
We will need a general meeting soon to approve some minor changes to the constitution and accept the accounts.
We discussed the repertoire for the concert. The Arvo Part Seven MMagnificent Antiphons is the piece in question. We will encourage members to buy it at around £6
Come and Sing Haydn’s Creation
There is the opportunity to spend the day of 2014-03-29 at Holy Trinity Methodist Church in Penarth rehearsing Haydn’s Creation. The cost is £10. For booking forms and more details contact their Secretary
Committee Meeting 2014-03-19
There will be a committee meeting next Wednesday before the rehearsal. It will start at 1900 and the main item of business will be our application to become a registered charity. All are welcome to attend. We would be keen for members with experience of this area to attend.
Watch or hear the pieces we are performing
Here are some links to various sites that will enable you to hear performances of the pieces we are rehearsing. I’ve simply done a search in Youtube and chosen some of the top results. I assume that whoever posted the item has the copyright but as we are listening for study purposes that should be all right anyway.
Puccini
A search for the Messa di Gloria on Youtube reveals about 5170 full or partial performances! I obviously haven’t had time to review them all. Here are some full recordings:
- A television recording from Spain. Starts properly after the credits
- A commercial audio recording from 1986 posted by a Japanese subscriber. No information about performers but nice recording. Could well be bootleg
Brahms
Only about 3000 versions of this!
- A television recording of an arrangement for choir and strings by John Eliot Gardiner
- An audio+scrolling score version by the St Bride’s London Choir
- An audio recording plus “uplifting” slide show by the St John’s College Choir
Casals
Only about 2500 versions of this!
- 2010 performance by King’s College Cambridge Choir
- A beautiful performance in Buckfast Abbey by chamber choir Antiphon
- A surprisingly effective male voice performance by University of Pittsburgh Mens Glee Club
Mendelssohn
About 2500 versions
- Performance by the Como Conservatory Chamber Choir with a piano reduction
- Commercial recording by La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and Philippe Herreweghe, conductor
- An unnamed Chinese choir with scrolling score and piano reduction. Their pronunciation is poor.
Rachmaninov
- A recording from a Polish choir (I think). Rolling score in Cyrillic . Nice performance but recording overloaded
- A performance from Sarajevo. Excellent women’s voices
- Rather soupy American performance. Audio with quite nice visuals of appropriate stained glass