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!