I’ve almost lost count of the times I’ve passed up opportunities to sing Mahler 2. When I first came to Bath I was invited (via the Chantry Singers) to sing it in the Bath Phil’s Mahler cycle, but I declined – I can’t think why, except that in those days I rather scorned large choruses. A few years ago I could have sung it in Oxford, but rehearsals were awkward. More recently I was invited to do it in Tewkesbury (or was it Worcester?). There were four 2-hour rehearsals in Worcester before the day, which struck me as excessive. Having now sung the piece, I see that there is a lot of subtlety packed into the short chorus part, with its frequent changes of tempo and dynamics. But even so, this much rehearsal seems hard to justify – unless the conductor had very little confidence in his chorus, in which case I was probably best out of it.
This performance was with Eugene Monteith and the Bath Symphony Orchestra. It was my second time performing in the Forum. This time the temperature was more bearable, perhaps because it was late autumn. But the sight lines are still poor. I was in the front row where I often am – directly behind the percussion. Because I was standing on the stage, I had to peer round the cymbals whenever they were used during the chorus section if I wanted to see the conductor. I got a rather percussion-heavy account of the earlier part of the symphony too (how many other works involve such a long wait for the chorus?).
This concert marked the opening of the orchestra’s 50th anniversary season and we had a very appreciative audience. It marks a significant moment in my choral singing career too. It is now genuinely hard to think of an outstanding choral work that I have never performed. The bucket list now consists of works of the likes of The Seasons, The Apostles, The Bells, assorted Handel oratorios and Haydn Masses, and, staying with this composer, the brief soprano chorus in Mahler 3.