Using Ears

Sometimes  the benefits of using one’s ears instead of performing in a concert can be invaluable!

On Friday 1 November, I went to hear a concert that I was invited to perform in (but could not make  all performances due to other musical commitments ). 😦

The concert was called Cloudburst and featured two local community choirs based in Wellington, NZ. Those Choirs were the  Festival Singers & Cantoris. Each sang their own works as well as Tutti pieces, including a couple of pieces by Eric Whitacre.

All pieces were performed with elloquence and clarity under Musical Director, Brian O’Regan.

I haven’t had the chance to hear adult choirs perform for a very long time as usually I am involved in helping them learn their pieces or playing piano accompaniment for them.  I loved this concert…the programme was wonderful and exposed some new music too. I especially liked the blending of the parts , the sound quality and dynamic contrasts. I also liked the fact that there was a tremendous amount of a capella work for the choirs -they did an amazing job on  those pieces. Believe me that’s not easy!

The chance to see two choirs perform with my friend, Brian, the Musical Director, was great.  Some of the work really challenged the singers. I  could see/hear the love they had for creating music, and working on their parts as well as doing their best. It was also obvious they loved the works they were performing and thrived on the direction that Brian provided.

My favourite pieces were Chris Artley’s O Magnum Mysterium , Morten Lauridsen’s Sure on this Shining Night (both performed by Festival Singers), R Thompson’s Stopping by Woods on a snowy evening (men only- this was super lovely) and Brahms’ Wie Lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (Tutti).

Having not heard any of Eric Whitacre’s pieces live before, I was really looking forward to it- and wasn’t disappointed- adored both pieces but my personal favourte of the two Whitacre pieces would have to be the Alleluia. It was beautifully performed and I didn’t want it to end. The soft passages were gorgeous.

The choirs I work with at the moment have some wonderful voices, but some choir members don’t yet understand the concept of blending. It was noticeable how different those two choirs sound to my own. Right through the whole concert, I  loved the contrasts between louds and softs. I particularly liked the blending of the sops , basses and tenor parts. There were few instances where one voice within each section didn’t sound more prominant than the others and I hope we will reach this stage with our own choir one day. We’re working on it though and improving every week!

Congratulations Festival Singers, Cantoris and Brian O’Regan.

KB