It was so lovely to be back! I know I was only away for a week, but I really missed the fun that we have. I thought Wednesday’s rehearsal was excellent, so thank you all for your hard work, and a massive thanks again to Terry for getting some brilliant work done – I came back suitably impressed!
At the bottom of this post is information about the Chipping Norton Music Festival. As I said in the rehearsal, I’m very excited that we’ll have the chance to perform in the Festival, and we can use it as an opportunity to gel as a choir and new conductor in a performance situation.
What we did on 02.02.22
It was great to start with the Verdi today. I usually put it at the end, but I’m sure you’ll all agree (especially Sopranos with those top Bs) that it was beneficial to start with it. Great job!
The Kyrie was fantastic! I’m so pleased with the hard work that you all put in with Terry, and I’m glad we could continue to build colour and character with the music.
We made really good progress with the ending of the Gloria. I feel like the confidence with the chromatic harmonies is getting more solid each week, so keep it up. Great watching for the rall. – I wonder if we can do this all of the time, haha!
Finally, we ended with a solid reminder of the beginning of the Credo. I loved the conviction with the text and the dark mood you created.
What we will do on 09.02.22
Verdi Stabat Mater: Bars 89-158, with a particular focus on the power needed from bar 143 onwards. Please familiarise yourselves with the text for this section, so we can crack straight on with conveying the incredible meaning behind it.
Puccini Credo: Beginning-Figure 6. A lot to cover in here, including the dramatic colour and dynamic changes, but I want to focus heavily on the homophonic stuff at figure 3, accompanying the soloist.
Puccini Gloria: Figures 24-26, looking in particular at the interplay between the parts.
Piece of the Week
This week is simply Verdi’s Stabat Mater. Hopefully you’ll all recognise it, but now’s a good chance to familiarise yourselves with it as a whole, having rehearsed it in sections over the past few weeks. You can find it on the Spotify Playlist for the concert, by clicking the link below.
Marked Scores
A few people have asked me to send round the marked scores again. They’re below, and should be available for download. I really appreciate your time in putting these markings into your parts as it saves so much time in rehearsals! I suggest doing it with a nice glass of gin!
Chipping Norton Music Festival
I’ve entered us into the Festival, yay! More details to follow, but the pieces we’ll be performing are the Puccini Kyrie and Gloria (Beginning-Page 16). The date of the performance is Saturday 5th March, so please keep this free in your diaries! If you know you can’t make it, please let Eric know as soon as possible. I’d love to bring along as big a choir as possible to really represent how incredible this choir is!
Ben