Berberis' World

Sunday, 2nd July 2006, London Coliseum.

This was fun. No, seriously, it was. If you ignore the after-show unpleasantness involving some alcohol, a mobile phone and a nearly deserted railway station (no, not a bad remake of Brief Encounter, just a misunderstanding) I have to say I enjoyed myself. And, despite what I might have written elsewhere, I actually enjoyed singing the new, quasi-religious work that had been commissioned for the occasion.

A bit of background. Sing! (the exclamation is obligatory, like Tally Ho!) was organised by the redoubtable Mary King, and was a day spent at the London Coliseum with some of the members of 8 other non-professional choirs and choral societies from all over the UK. The first half was the individual choirs singing works from their repertoire, and the second was all of us singing 3 pieces – ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ by Verdi, ‘The Voyagers Chorus’ by Mozart and the new work, ‘genesis’ (fashionably lower case) by Richard Taylor.

We’d had a few rehearsals of ‘genesis’ before a Saturday workshop at Goldsmith’s College, and had been provided with a score and a rehearsal CD for homework. On this were the voices of professional singers (Mary included) and 5 different versions; 1 with all the parts at the same level, the other 4 each with one voice part louder than the rest. The score had to be returned, but I still have the CD, and occasionally put it on in the car. It’s a good one to warm up to, if you ignore the odd looks you get from pedestrians.

Those of us from Lewisham Choral Society who had agreed to sacrifice this Sunday in early July had chosen to sing ‘Who is Sylvia?’ and ‘Live with me and me my love’, as we had recently performed these in concert. We were thwarted as regards the latter, however, when we found out that another choir had chosen it, and earlier. We plumped for ‘Hey, ho, the wind and the rain’ instead – no-one’s favourite, but beggars etc. In the end, it went very well, we sounded lovely, and the interval was reached without incident.

I like ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’. I make no apologies for this. However, it was treated as something less than worthy during rehearsals, which irritated me. It’s lovely, moreso than the Mozart, in my opinion. And, en masse, ‘genesis’ was superb. I have dismissed modern religious music elsewhere, but I found this much less… pretentious?… twee?… pompous?… I’m not sure any of those words are right, but I liked singing ‘genesis’ in the same way that I’d not liked the other ones.

Whatever the day’s content, it was a really good experience to sing in such a large choir – I’d not done so before: the buzz at the end is worth all the cramped dressing rooms and overpriced refreshments. It’s also great to walk amongst the general public with your badge and your score and know that you are part of the show rather than a spectator. Don’t get me wrong: I love going to concerts. Being in the audience at the performance of a favourite work is hugely emotional, but there is a special thrill from being in the cast.

Minor unpleasantness aside, a most wonderful day.