Oh Agatha!

I went for a run, as will hopefully now be usual, with the Front Runners last night. My running is improving very gradually, and I have been also slowly getting to know some of the other members. At present I tend to run on the Monday and the Saturday, with the odd Wednesday thrown in if I can fit it in. The difficulty in getting to know people is that there tends to be about forty or so members at a shot, which can be quite daunting, and the same runners aren't there from week to week, which can make any attempts at getting to know someone futile.

That said, I have made some really interesting friends. On the Saturday I go for a run with Robert, who is my pacer since he runs ever so slightly quicker than I, and I also get on fabulously with a guy called Ingo. So much so in fact that people have asked me whether I knew him from before. No, actually we just met, but he has a great sense of humour with which I have a great affinity.

Last night, I ended up going out for a meal with Martin, Dylan, Tian Peng and John, all of whom are also really nice people. Ordinarily we go to a pub round the corner for dinner after the run, but since the chilli I had there the last time tasted like a reheated ready-meal, and I paid twice what it was worth, we decided to be a bit more adventurous and went to an Italian just opposite Lambeth North tube.

The waitress there was a very excitable woman called Agatha. She kept on saying how she loved us, and never had so many "muscley boys" at her table before. If we'd stayed on she would have introduced us to her colleague who also "likes the boys". Oh the irony! I am definitely not muscular at all, and neither, dare I say it, are Martin or Dylan - no offense, but they are built for speed not for bulkiness. In fact the two most shapely, if you can call it that, are John and Tian Peng. But then again neither are obsessive about it either. So perhaps her standards are low, at least on the gay scale, I can't speak for straights! Nevertheless I do appreciate the unsolicited compliment.

Anyway, I had a very pleasant, albeit hefty, meal and spent most of the evening flirting with Agatha, with her flirting back! Oh, it was fun. Not sure I can eat there every Monday though...

P.S. The original caption for this picture was that Arnie had pecs bigger than his head. This is both revolting, yet strangely appealing at the same time...

Fast Train à Paris

If you've been following this blog you'll realize that we're off to Paris in just under 4 weeks' time (!) The details are on our website, but basically, make a date for:

Saturday 8 December 2007
6 p.m. and 8p.m.
Mairie du IIIeme
2, Rue Eugene Spuller
75003 Paris

You will notice that there are two times listed, and that's because we will be performing our repertoire twice. Word on the street is that the venue is quite small, and to make the exercise worthwhile financially, two seatings will be required. this is, I think, the first time we will be performing the repertoire twice on one night which will be a bit of a novelty. But I am worried that with some of the very high notes of You'll Never Walk Alone and Come What May, at least in the tenor line, I personally will have trouble getting through it once, let alone twice.

A potential highlight is that the Mayor of that arrondissement will be opening the concert, although I do wonder whether he/she is inclined to sit through both sessions. The definite highlight is just the fact that we will be in Paris at the start of winter when the days are short and the sky is (hopefully) clear, singing with friends and wowing the audience.

Oh, and watching Mladen panic the week before!

Ironically though the main attraction for me is the outgoing journey from St. Pancras Station via Eurostar. The Barlow shed is opening this week and looks totally gorgeous.

Aaargh! I hate French and Latin!

I have been spending the last few days trying to memorize the bloody lyrics to Dies Irae and Hymne à l'amour. Being unable to speak either Latin or French, it has proven to be a major exercise in frustration. With most songs we learn I sing it a couple of times, the lyrics seem to fall into place, and I develop a muscle memory of the piece. With these two pieces, however, I am finding it really hard.

The worst is the Jenkin's piece, mainly because I have no melody to rely on (most of the tenor line is a single note, or a slow scale), the metre is exactly the same for all the six verses and it is super fast to sing as well.

Like a saddo, I have taken to carrying a sheet of paper around with me with the lyrics and looking at it when I have a free moment. It is like using flash cards, I read a line e.g. "Judex ergo cum sedebit", and then, looking away, I have to respond "Quid quid latet apparebit, nil in ultum remanebit".

Sigh.

P.S. In my quest for esoteric pictures, the above is of a western chorus frog Pseudacris triseriata. Heh heh! Geddit? Latin? French? Singing?

Jenkins' Dies Irae: A Translation

We've sung Mozart's Dies Irae before, but we sang an edited version. If you know the Latin Mass you will be aware that it is actually much longer than that. According to Wikipedia, the Dies Irae is a poem describing "the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames. The hymn was used as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass until the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal."

In Latin:

1
Dies iræ! dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!

2
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!

3
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulchra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.

4
Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.

5
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.

6
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.

7
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?

In English:

1
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!

2
Oh what fear man's bosom rendeth,
when from heaven the Judge descendeth,
on whose sentence all dependeth.

3
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
through earth's sepulchers it ringeth;
all before the throne it bringeth.

4
Death is struck, and nature quaking,
all creation is awaking,
to its Judge an answer making.

5
Lo! the book, exactly worded,
wherein all hath been recorded:
thence shall judgment be awarded.

6
When the Judge his seat attaineth,
and each hidden deed arraigneth,
nothing unavenged remaineth.

7
What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
when the just are mercy needing?

In total there are actually 19 verses, thanking the stars we only have to sing seven of them!

P.S. For the translation of In Paradisum check out this post. Picture of The Last Judgement by Hans Memling.

Almost Paris

I have been away from rehearsal for 2 weekends while Simon and I were away in the U.S. on holiday, but we are back now, and it was with some trepidation that we returned to rehearsal to face two new songs
Let The Sun Shine In and Dies Irae from Jenkins' Requiem. The latter Mladen would like us to perform in Paris, while the former, well, we have to perform because it is our joint song. A few seasons ago we attempted, but never followed through on, a version of this song from Hair, and all I will say, for diplomacy's sake, is that it is an interesting arrangement. I don't know the musical well at all, but England and Manchester in particular seem to feature prominently in it. Perhaps this is an incentive to watch the show? Despite these misgivings, I think we did pretty well and the difference between how it sounded at the start of the rehearsal and the end of the rehearsal was staggering, thank goodness!

As for the other songs, they are shaping up well too, and for the first time ever, I think we paid attention to the markings on the sheet music and actually sang "pianissimo" when it was written "pianissimo". Notice I did not write "forte", mainly because we tend not to have a problem with "forte". Ever. In particular, even the semi-horrifying Come What May is sounding less like a dying cat, although we are still quite a way away from tenderness and romance.

The other highlight was some of the Soprano 1s going for gold by singing parts of Lacrimosa an entire octave above what was written; that goes to a high D for the musically inclined. Despite their hesitation, I think it sounded wonderful, and it was quite angelic to hear their high voices floating above the more earthy tones of the rest of the choir.

It was good to chat with some of the new members, even if I find that I am often in such a rush to arrive and leave that I don't get that much of a chance. Celso, who is the tenor who got me into the Front Runners in the first place, was there. He seems to be enjoying himself and is a really dedicated member, so props to him! It seems rather tragic to me, but in the break I was regaling Miranda, Tim R and Andrew D with my, and Johnathon's, adventures in the Front Runners. I also spoke briefly to Joey and Colm, ironically as my bladder was about to explode while queueing for the loo. Needless to say, the conversation was very brief.

All in all I thought it was a very exhausting rehearsal, especially for the tenors who have to hit ridiculously high notes in both Come What May and You'll Never Walk Alone but one in which we seemed to cover a lot. Paris really isn't very far away, so we need it!

P.S. The picture associated with this post is actually quite accurately linked to the title because the Eiffel Towel you see above is the one in Las Vegas, not Paris, but you knew that!

Living The Dream

I know loads of musicians who wish they could give up the day job and live on music alone. Unfortunately, it is a really tough world out there, and my impression is that for every Kylie there are a million who have fallen by the wayside. That said, I haven't heard a band with such catchy music as Paleday in a very long time, so it comes as no surprise that they are finally having a press album launch cum gig on Tuesday 13th November at 7.30pm at the Soho Revue Bar, London, W1F 0ED. The Pink Insider will definitely be there shaking his pink booty all night! I've been priveleged to watch Anthony (a Pinkie!)and his band develop over this very exciting time, and all I can say is good on them, I can think of no-one who deserves it more.

Oh, and do visit their website for the coolest in press photos!

Of Musicals And Chess

My first ever musical was Starlight Express in London all those years ago. I was thirteen, and despite it not being one of the most sophisticated art forms in the history of humanity, was mesmerized. It sparked off an obsession which continued with Les Misérables, Blood Brothers, The Phantom Of The Opera, Into The Woods and a dozen other stage shows of the 80s and early 90s.

I am pleased to say that not only did I have the original cast recordings to all these shows, I actually managed to see all of them performed with one great, and much lamented, exception: Chess.Brought to us by the guys from ABBA, who could not love the drums of One Night In Bangkok or the melodies of I Know Him So Well? I was on a conference in Stockholm in 2003 when I chanced upon a performance in the Nykvarns Folkets Park - my hopes were raised, only to be dashed when I realized it was sung in Swedish.

Anyway, this story does have a happy ending. I was watching Breakfast on BBC this morning when Josh Groban came on. I'm not sure what exactly he is promoting at the moment, but the conversation turned to his recent appearance on Any Dream Will Do with Lee Mead. He was asked, given his theatrical training, whether there was a chance that he would return to musical theatre, and his reply was that it was great to be able to dip his toes in occasionally, and that he would be giving this concert of Chess in May next year at the Royal Albert Hall.

The other rumour/highlight is that one of the female roles is to be played by none other than Idina Menzel. This is going to be a concert made in heaven!

Here are a couple of YouTube videos: one of Josh Groban performing the wonderful Anthem (I Mitt Hjärtas Land for the Swedish speaking crowd), and the second of the even more amazing and original Tommy Körberg singing the same song. I really like both, although I wish Josh would pronounce his 't's when he sings 'petty' rather than Americanize them.

Di ..... di ..... di ..... di

Yesterday's rehearsal was rather bereft of tenors. With only six of us (less than half the quota) it was a poor showing. But of course, what we lacked in numbers we made up for in gusto. The "movements" rehearsal found us washing each other's hair as we sang and 'danced' to "I'm gonna wash that man...."
We also sang Karl Jenkins' "Dies Irae" for the first time as a choir - a very interesting piece for the difficulty came in the timing. The tenors seemed to have about 3 notes to sing so that bit was easy but at a fast pace that was more difficult especially in Latin. Also we found ourselves singing di ... di ... di ... ... to everybody else's "dies irae" and this went on for some time. Thankfully our musical leaders decided to cut out big chunks off this - otherwise I might find myself rehearsing this piece at bedtime when I feel insomnia creeping in.
All in all, I think things are moving on steadily. I've managed to speak to a couple of the new altos now. With any luck I might managed to say hello to the rest of the newbies before the end of the season....