Author Archives: vhk10

the golden age of compound time

Posted on April 4, 2007 by vhk10

As I was singing the opening chorus of the St. Matthew Passion a thought occurred to me: why did it go wrong for compound time after the baroque period? Why did later composers use it less, apart from niche markets … Continue reading →

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G’s and Z’s

Posted on March 27, 2007 by vhk10

Plenty of these in the name of one of the composers in the most recent Chandos Singers concert: Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, whose Conductus (an assortment of settings of mostly funerary texts) we performed. The other substantial single piece was Lalande’s … Continue reading →

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at the school jumble sale

Posted on March 27, 2007 by vhk10

This year I helped to run the bookstall at the school jumble sale. Among all the chick-lit, thrillers, airport reading and the like there was just one book relating to music: the Cambridge Opera Guide to Wozzeck. As I withdrew … Continue reading →

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a holding message

Posted on March 20, 2007 by vhk10

Due to a lack of suitable lunchtimes I haven’t had much chance to write new entries recently. It’s not that I’m losing interest. Over the next few weeks I hope to cover: the latest Chandos Singers concert a performance of … Continue reading →

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technorati.com

Posted on March 13, 2007 by vhk10

At the moment, this blog gets a steady 20 visits or so per day with something over a quarter being return visits by people who’ve been before. But my rating on Technorati remains very low (today at 2,763,168) because no … Continue reading →

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two familiar pieces for Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 26, 2007 by vhk10

Just a brief note until I can prepare some longer entries. On Ash Wednesday we sang two very familiar pieces: Allegri’s Miserere and parts of Byrd’s 4-Part Mass. I know both pieces very thoroughly, but as it happens I haven’t … Continue reading →

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Birmingham falls

Posted on February 24, 2007 by vhk10

This blog proved its usefulness when a reader saw that I wanted to sing in Birmingham Cathedral and suggested that I join his choir (the Peterborough Chamber Choir) for a weekend of services there. Evensong on the Saturday had a … Continue reading →

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Vengerov at the 2007 Bath Festival

Posted on February 23, 2007 by vhk10

A friend emails me about a forthcoming concert of traditional music at the Bath Festival this year. It’s not uncommon for performers to advertise their appearance at the festival in advance of the release of the official programme. Probably with … Continue reading →

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Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky

Posted on February 23, 2007 by vhk10

In previous posts I dealt with the BBC’s airing of the complete works of Beethoven and Bach. This time it was the turn of Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, done jointly. I rather dipped in and out of this, though I tried … Continue reading →

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Lassus – or is it?

Posted on February 9, 2007 by vhk10

For Candlemas last week we sang a Mass setting new to me: Lassus’ Mon cœur se recommande à vous. I’ve sung surprisingly little by Lassus – I’m not really sure why not – and it’s arguable that I still haven’t … Continue reading →

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on the move again

Posted on January 30, 2007 by vhk10

The server this lives on is being shut down and I’ll have to move it to another one. There may be a period when it’s offline. If I can post the new URL before shutdown I will and I’ll email … Continue reading →

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the greatest monotone I’ve performed

Posted on January 24, 2007 by vhk10

I got the chance to sing this recently: the long note in the treble line which sets the letter ‘Beth’ in Tallis’ Lamentations of Jeremiah.

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