Category Archives: singing in concerts

Bruckner and the snoring hummingbird

Posted on May 25, 2012 by vhk10

During rehearsals our choirmaster, Gavin Carr, told about the viral YouTube video of a hummingbird apparently snoring. I’m not sure quite how this was intended to inform our performance of Bruckner’s Mass in F minor – not at least by … Continue reading →

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O magnum mysterium

Posted on December 30, 2011 by vhk10

This was the theme of the Chandos Singers’ Christmas concert, which we put together fairly quickly after the Russian folk-song performances. The first half of the concert was built around Victoria’s mass and motet on this text, both familiar repertoire … Continue reading →

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The Golden Apples

Posted on December 26, 2011 by vhk10

The Chandos Singers ventured outside the usual concert format and took part in performances of Russian folk-tales given by Fire Springs (alongside on one evening a one-act opera by our conductor, which I wasn’t involved in) at the Rondo Theatre, … Continue reading →

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for whom the bell tolls

Posted on October 6, 2011 by vhk10

On September 10th I took part in a ‘come and sing’ Verdi Requiem at Bristol Cathedral with the New Bristol Sinfonia and soloists, presented as a 9/11 memorial concert. I passed up a chance to sing this work earlier in … Continue reading →

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Liszt’s chaotic pendulum

Posted on July 21, 2011 by vhk10

The second half of the Chandos Singers’ concert opened with a Salve Regina by Liszt.  The rules governing the length of each beat, we were told, were very complex and the net effect on the beat was rather like that … Continue reading →

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a return to Swayne

Posted on June 3, 2011 by vhk10

The Erleigh Cantors put on a concert of music for double choir at St. Peter’s, Caversham in May, which I sang in. The most complex item on the programme was the Magnificat by Giles Swayne, which we sang at Southwark … Continue reading →

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behind the Royal Crescent

Posted on June 2, 2011 by vhk10

The now annual ‘Party in the City’ which opens the Bath ‘MusicFest’ (as it is currently styled) booked the Chandos Singers to perform in the garden behind the Royal Crescent Hotel. We were the last performers at this venue and … Continue reading →

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I was glad

Posted on April 22, 2011 by vhk10

The Chandos Singers’ latest concert consisted of settings of Psalm 122, plus a parody Mass, by various composers (but not Parry). It was the first time I’d performed in the Magdalen Chapel on Holloway, a small venue but acoustically pleasant. … Continue reading →

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Svyat! Svyat! Svyat!

Posted on March 5, 2011 by vhk10

Singing familiar texts in an unfamiliar language can make them feel altogether different. I know very little Russian, so there was a lot of grappling with the Old Church Slavonic texts of Rachmaninov’s Vespers (strictly the ‘All-Night Vigil’), which I … Continue reading →

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The Armed Man for Remembrance

Posted on December 12, 2010 by vhk10

I joined the choir at my daughter’s school for a performance of selections from Karl Jenkins’ Armed Man mass. Not being a Classic FM devotee, I’d not heard the piece before and wasn’t sure how I’d get on with it. … Continue reading →

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a missed anniversary concert

Posted on May 17, 2010 by vhk10

I was prevented by illness from joining the Erleigh Cantors for their 20th anniversary concert. So I can’t write about the concert itself but I had rehearsed the programme with the other singers and at home which allows me to … Continue reading →

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a time of penitence

Posted on March 13, 2010 by vhk10

The Chandos Singers broke some new ground with their latest poster, showing a couple of flagellants. The concert was built around two Masses by Adam Michna: his Lenten Mass and Requiem. The former of these is built on a repeating … Continue reading →

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