Hackney carried
by berberis on Mar.11, 2015, under Choir, Concerts, LCS, Rehearsals
Tuesday, 10th March 2015, Royal Festival Hall.
LCS joined forces with the Hackney Singers to amass a 300+ voice choir for this concert. Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ is well-known and much-loved. I’ve sung it on a number of occasions and, until now, there have been two sections which I’d not yet mastered, despite innumerable rehearsals: the two ‘Osanna‘s. I’ve always had to mime my way through all but the first and last bars. This time, I knew the notes, I could count to three, and I was note perfect.
Well, almost.
The common cold. A virus gets left on an easily accessible surface by a selfish git, gets picked up, mutates, gets passed on, gets left on an easily accessible surface etc., etc., ad infinitum. I usually manage avoid them before a concert. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of viruses recently and one of them got lucky. At the rehearsal on the day of the concert, I involuntarily blurted out some really bum notes, and it was only by concentrating on proper breath support that I didn’t do the same in the performance.
Brahms, then. ‘Nänie’. It’s a short piece, and very reminiscent of parts of his ‘Deutsches Requiem’.
The Wikipedia entry starts thus:
“Nänie (the German form of Latin nenia, meaning “a funeral song”) is a composition for SATB chorus and orchestra, op. 82 by Johannes Brahms. which sets to music the poem Nänie by Friedrich Schiller. Brahms composed the piece in 1881, in memory of his deceased friend Anselm Feuerbach. Nänie is a lamentation on the inevitability of death; the first sentence, Auch das Schöne muβ sterben, translates to “Even the Beautiful must die.” An average performance has a duration of approximately 15 minutes. It is one of the most rarely performed pieces by Brahms mostly due to its difficulty, leaving only more experienced choirs able to perform it.[citation needed]”
‘Citation needed’ indeed. It may well be rarely performed but it’s actually not that difficult; any decently directed amateur choir should find it easier than his ‘Requiem‘. There are some tricky corners – notably bars 101 to 104 – but good old-fashioned note-bashing sorts even these.
The performance was on a Tuesday evening, with a lunchtime rehearsal. I arrived at the venue far too early, so spent some time putting programmes on seats. I like the Festival Hall. It’s warm and friendly with lovely acoustics, and I’ve spent many a happy hour there. I bagged a front row seat in the choir stalls to ensure an uninterrupted sight line and a shelf on which to put my score.
Brahms, then. In short, it’s simply beautiful. In parts, I had to sing around the lump in my throat. I can’t possibly do it justice in words, but here’s someone who can.
What else is there to say about Mozart’s ‘Requiem’? The ‘Hostias‘ is probably one of my favourite pieces of music (bars 39-44 especially, and the beginning of bar 42 specifically – that low B!) and the Allegro of the closing ‘Lux Aeterna‘ being an echo of the ‘Kyrie‘ at the beginning reminds me of Bach’s B minor Mass (another of my favourites).
Singing in an internationally known venue always ups your game. You definitely reap what you sow and there’s no doubt that the collaboration with the Hackney Singers (a very friendly bunch) made a big difference to both choirs. The audience was amazing – as many if not more as the LPC managed to draw – and very appreciative. All in all, a wonderful evening.
