Saturday 28th June was a day when I was wanted everywhere. There was a Berlioz Te Deum rehearsal in Gloucester; a wedding at church; the return visit of St Peter’s Singers of Exeter to join Bath Abbey Chamber Choir in an evensong with Howells and Britten; and Bristol Choral Society’s Missa Solemnis. Strictly speaking, this could have just been a triple booking, as I think it was just possible to do both the wedding and the evensong at Bath Abbey. I didn’t do either though, or the Berlioz, as the Missa Solemnis is a categorical imperative.
One question I am often asked is why I don’t sing in a large choir in Bath. I normally reply with a question of my own: when was the Missa Solemnis last performed here? (The answer is 1982, and this doesn’t look like changing any time soon.) I have to seize any opportunity that comes my way, and even having sung the work twice I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface. One aspect I particularly noticed this time round is how rhythmically complex it can be, much more so than the 9th Symphony finale.
It was a good way to end singing with Bristol Choral (at least for a while); rehearsal night clashes gave me a difficult decision for the forthcoming season.