e_moon60 (e_moon60) wrote,
e_moon60
e_moon60

Sunday: Music All the Way Through

The day started off as usual (alarm goes off at 6 am.  Bleh.)   At 7, I was on the road to the city, and then rehearsal, where I discovered that we had only three sops and three altos and one bass, two baritones, and four tenors, including the soloist for the Parker/Shaw arrangement of "Amazing Grace" (Offertory anthem) and Randall Thompson's "Alleluia."   One of the other altos was the paid one (thank heavens.)   We did pretty well.   Then came breakfast in the parish hall.   By the second rehearsal, more sopranos had shown up, one of the three altos had gone home, more basses...so we were very, very glad to see the accurate D- show up to bring the alto section to three again.  I was reminded in rehearsal that I cannot push for power in the upper part of my voice where I'm still learning to use it, without being "hooty."  Blush.  The soloist gently mentioned a quick fix (decrescendo the last half of the note--she doesn't have my problem) so that's what I did.   No problems in the "Amazing Grace" (though the tenor soloist was getting tired, I probably only heard it because he was standing behind me.)    We did the best we could on the "Alleluia" but three altos trying to balance with a more robust soprano and bass section (and a slightly more robust tenor section) without pushing beyond our capacity (the two of us who aren't professionals) was tricky.  I'm not sure we managed.

After I got home and cleaned up in the kitchen and started the new cooking project, I turned on the TV and discovered that PBS Great Performances was partway through the Metropolitan Opera's Carmen, with Elina Garanca as Carmen and Roberto Alagna as Don Jose.   WOW.  Amazing.  Amazing, brilliant, wiped out all the other Carmens I've seen on TV (and the one I saw in real life, but that was a touring company and the live burro on stage started braying and then bit the man who tried to shut him up.)

For those who didn't see it, here's a link to the GP site's description and preview:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/gp-at-the-met-carmen/preview-the-opera/978/

I will have to calm myself down with some Bach organ music.
Tags: choir, music, opera
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