This week's show should be of interest - it is the first rehearsal of a choir that comes together once a year, at the beginning of December for an Advent Carol Service at St' Matthews Church in Chelston. For some of the singers it is the first time they have met and for others it is a reunion. All, however, are singing the programme for the first time, they come from 5 or 6 churches from around Torbay. It started at 7pm and as the first track progresses we hear people arriving and the choir filling out - the first peice Steven Royle worked on is actually the last song of the evening - the Lord Bless You and Keep You - by John Rutter, this arrangement is for three parts though and not the original 4 part score, it then went to Bach's "Break Forth oh Beauteous Heavenly Light" from the Christmas Oratorio for 4 voices, and more arrangements in 4 parts from Malcolm Archer and the last peice is the Matins Resonse which is the first item of the evening Next Sunday, which is sung in a dark church. So not much time for them to learn, but as you will hear they make a very good first attempt at the music.
hope you can listen in, there is plenty of learning to follow.
John
Great blog John.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice companion to the show and a testament to the fine work you're doing to promote choral music in the UK.
Paul (Hong Kong)