complete Bach on one iPod.

Yes, I got a brochure sent to me, offering me the complete works of JS Bach on one 80Gb IPod. Cost is Euros 499. Equivalent of 172 CDs. All the Cantatas and other choral works. These are conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

This is one IPod that you would certainly not want to lose or break.

You can find Helmuth Rilling on YouTube.

HUMOUR: Some musical eddycation for us all...

Florence Foster Jenkins is one of my all-time favourite sopranos.

As the wikipedia entry on this esteemed soprano points out, Jenkins "became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability." Her musical ability (or lack thereof) was improved by an injury sustained in a taxi crash, after which she found she "could sing a higher F than ever before".

In other words, she gives hope to all of us lesser mortals that maybe we're not so bad after all.

I'll end this brief eddycation lession with a quote from the great lady herself, and a Youtube recording of her unique vocal instrument.

"People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."
-- Florence Foster Jenkins.

Southern Sinfonia presents Carmina Burana

Saturday, 9 August 2008, 8:00 pm
Dunedin Town Hall

Conductor: Werner Andreas Albert
Soloists: Tenor John Murray, Soprano Barbara Graham and Baritone Jared Holt, with the City of Dunedin Choir

Programme:

Psathas: Pirogov/Cauldron Lighting (Shostakovich arr. Psathas)
Rachmaninov: Cinq Études-Tableaux
Orff: Carmina Burana

http://southernsinfonia.org/con_carmina.html

John Psathas (born 1966) is one of New Zealand's most frequently performed composers. He has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations in New Zealand and overseas. Psathas was one of New Zealand's best kept secrets until he composed the music for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, an extract of which features in this concert. It is fitting that this concert is planned for the evening following the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Rachmaninoff (1 April 1873 - 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism in classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom which included a pronounced lyricism, expressive breadth, structural ingenuity and a tonal palette of rich, distinctive orchestral colors.

His works for piano solo include the two especially difficult sets of Études-Tableaux, Opp. 33 and 39, which are very demanding study pictures. Stylistically, Op. 33 hearkens back to the preludes, while Op. 39 shows the influences of Scriabin and Prokofiev. These sets were supposed to be "picture pieces", though Rachmaninoff did not disclose what each piece suggests, stating, "I don't believe in the artist that discloses too much of his images. Let them paint for themselves what it most suggests."

In 1929, conductor and music publisher Serge Koussevitsky asked whether Rachmaninoff would select a group of etudes tableaux for Italian composer Ottorino Respighi to orchestrate. The commissioned orchestrations would be published by Koussevitsky's firm and Koussevitsky would conduct their premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Rachmaninoff responded favourably, selecting five etudes from Opp. 33 and 39. Respeghi rearranged the order of etudes but was otherwise faithful to the composer's intent, giving each etude a distinct title from the programmic clues Rachmaninoff had given him:

1. La Mer et Les Mouettes (The Sea and the Seagulls) (Op. 39 No. 2)
2. La Foire (The Fair) (Op. 33 No. 7)
3. Marche Funebre (Funeral March) (Op. 39 No. 7)
4. La Chaperon Rouge et Le Loupe (Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf) (Op. 39 No. 6)
5. Marche (March) (Op. 39 No. 9)6.

Orff (10 July 1895 - 29 March 1982) was a 20th-century German composer, most famous for Carmina Burana. He was also successful and influential in the field of music education. His Carmina Burana was hugely popular in Nazi Germany after its premiere in Frankfurt in 1937, receiving numerous performances. But the composition with its unfamiliar rhythms was also denounced with racist taunts.

Read more about Carmina Burana at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana

Andrew Johnston singing Pie Jesu

Choir boy singing a segment of Lloyd-Webber's Pie Jesu:

Click to view.

Choristers might appreciate this snippet.

Greatest choral moments

What are your favourite musical moments of your choral career?

If I was going to write a list of greatest choral moments, it would be a long one, but there are a few that stand out.

• The Alleluia from the Bernstein Mass is definitely up there, complete with Kazoo chorus. ("Alleluia al-allelui-ya ya!") (I couldn't find a Youtube for this movement, so I stuck in the Simple Song, which is lovely).
  
  
• The Choir of Angelicals from the Dream of Gerontius. ("Praise to the holiest in the heights, and in the depths be praise. In all His words most wo-on-der-fu-ul!") What a great work.
  
  
• The Lord's Prayer from Afrikan Sanctus for sheer thumb-candle waving nausea/hilarity in the dress rehearsal. Apart from that, the Sanctus is actually a great sing, combining recorded original content from 1970s Africa with Fanshawe's own composition. Truly unique stuff, and worth performing if only for its originality.
  
  
• Beethoven's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage ("Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt"). The most wonderfully crafted choral piece I've ever had the honour of singing. Choral orgasm. Absolute divinity. I know why I am alive. My favourite all-time piece. How can we convince David this is worth performing? Does he take bribes? Or is the Committee I have to slip twenties to? ;-)
  
  
• Durufle's Ubi Caritas. Simple. Beautiful. I want it at my funeral, even though it isn't really a funeral piece, as it's about peace and friendship.
  

I could go on and on, but I'll cut the list here.

What are your 'greatest choral moments'?

Singing is an art form...

well that much we knew already.

After last night's practice it occurs to me that this particular piece, Caramel Banana (as we've been told this is a useful guide to correct pronounciation) throws up a particular set of challenges.

Firstly for me, it reveals that I need a hair cut. There is a fine line between balancing glasses on the end of the nose, so that I can peer over the top of them, and having a fringe short enough so that the view I get is of David and not of out-of-focus hair.

Secondly, it's a balancing act of handling the ever-so fragile copy of said Banana. Incidentally mine has been badly repaired using ordinary sellotape, itself now ageing and falling off leaving horrible sticky residue behind. I may have a go at some rescue repairs myself, but really it needs more than 3M Scotch Tape, much of the spine needs supporting with some extra paper strips and a bit of PVA glue - these two are fairly innocuous methods of sticking things back together again.

Thirdly, it's an art knowing where the other parts are singing. I did a wonderful alto solo last night, joining the men when I shouldn't have been, I blame my neighbour for not digging me in the ribs to let me know I was not in the right place.

Fourthly, and this art-form is common to all of us, getting our toungues round the words. I have a CD (sorry I forget who is singing) and they don't seem to do much better, no excuse but hey, we can only do our best!

It's all good fun.

PS: caramel banana = Carmina Burana

Listen to the anthems

Carisbrook, 12 July 2008, tri-nations rugby test New Zealand vs South Africa, with Claire Barton, Peter Chin and our Choir singing the national anthems:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wILc82cRwK0
Wow, they looked so smart, and sounded great!

Sheet music

Hi!

I'm wondering if anyone has the sheet music for a piece of music called Veni, Veni Emmanuel. It's an amazing and beautiful piece of choral music, and I've been searching for it awhile now. The lyrics are 9th century Latin, and the melody is approx 12th century French. There's a link to youtube which is a recording of some people doing it, it's not that great, but if anyone remembers they have the sheet music of it, could they please let me know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrnGRXtSuh0

Thank you!!

Social choristers

Most of choirs I've been involved with over the years have had a social side to them, and I think that's a positive attribute. There's an old saying that "A choir that plays together stays together" and I think that's very true.

So what I'm wondering is, being a social sort of person and all (ya reckon?), it might be nice if we could get some social activities up and running. As a new member to the choir, I've met some fabulous people already, and I hate to think that there's some great would-be friends here that I'll never get to know better than their name tag and a rushed and awkward "hello" during break.

Is there a possibility of having regular drinks or coffee either before or after rehearsal each week, at a cafe or pub close by? Would people be interested? Is something like this already happening but I just don't know about it? And if lifts are a problem, I'm sure people would happily carpool with other members living close by for safety and security.

What do you think? A regular meet-up saves on organisation and planning, and means we can all get to know each other better as the weeks go by in a relaxed and easy manner. With caffeine! :-)

(And in the meanwhile, please come over and say hello when we're not rehearsing. I'd love to meet you and have a chat!)

A source of income for the Choir

Well, we always need more funds so we can afford to put on really great classical choral work concerts. We do our best with fundraising, but it is hard work! How about hiring ourselves out to do commercial work - like these guys. Surely there should be some profit in such a venture? And it would be heaps of fun too!

Honda ad on YouTube
Honda Civic ad on YouTube

A little different from our usual music?

I love the music we do, but don't you think it would be fun one day to do something really different!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP7mjSwqOwc

I know we will never do that, but I just have these images of something like that! I think maybe some people would be rather shocked!

Well, I suppose I can dream!

National Anthem in Maori.

One of my overseas friends asked - when did the first verse start to be sung in Maori on a regular basis?

Praise for anthems

Spotted in the Otago Daily Times this morning (16 July) in the SMOKO column by Simon Cunliffe, he says:

"The Dunedin City Choir gave a magnificent rendition of the South African national anthem, then it was the singing mayor's turn: Peter Chin led us..."

Mmm... he seems to have forgotten to mention Claire Barton's wonderful voice, and the fact that the Choir also provided the backing for Peter Chin's singing, but never mind, this wasn't a musical review anyway.

Dream of Gerontius

Really really looking forward to singing "Gerontius for the 4th time. We join with the Christchurch City Choir in September for their planned performance. Maybe all our Dunedin fans could follow us up to Christchurch!

music on YouTube

You can find lots of Choral Music and other Classical Works on YouTube, just type in the name of any piece. One especially recommended is a performance of Dream of Gerontius, conducted by Andrew Davis, in St Paul's Cathedral. London. There is also a great Pictures at an Exhibition, from a London Prom. There are some performances where you wonder why they bothered putting it on YouTube, but lots of the performances, especially some of the amateur ones are worthwhile.

You can also see classic episodes of Dr Who with Patrick Troughton, including Tomb of the Cybermen, and also The Magic Roundabout. (Just to avoid confusion, no Patrick Troughton was not in a classic episode of The Magic Roundabout.)

Anthems at Carisbrook

The Choir was invited to provide the backing for the singing of the South African and New Zealand national anthems at the rugby test at Carisbrook on Saturday 12 July. Even though only a third of the singers could be accommodated on the field, a recording of the full Choir voice was used on the night.

It was hard work to get the pronunciation of the four foreign South African languages (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho and Afrikaans) just right, but we did it!

The weather played along nicely - no rain, snow or gale-force winds - and the choir looked and sounded excellent! Oh, yes, the soloists did a good job too! Claire Barton's voice soared beautifully in the South African national anthem while Peter Chin, Dunedin's esteemed mayor, gave a stirling rendition of the New Zealand national anthem.

We would love to hear from the "Carisbrook Choir" how they enjoyed the gig!

Schubert in May 2008

Accolades for orchestra, choir

"Despite the holiday weekend and sport on TV, an extremely good-sized audience attended the town hall on Saturday evening to hear the Dunedin Youth Orchestra and the City of Dunedin Choir, conducted by David Burchell.

It was a great performance and accolades flowed, particularly for the DYO... The length and difficulty of the programme was a huge ask for these young players, who achieved an extremely commendable standard overall.
The choir, of well over 130 singers, was in good form, delivering a beautiful interpretation, despite there appearing to be insufficient male voices for a satisfactory blend. High register soprano clarity and intonation were particularly commendable.

Soloists... Lois Johnson.. Claire Barton... Andrew Grenon... Chris Bruerton... their frequent harmonic passages were perfectly balanced, refreshingly light and appealing."

(Extract from the review by Elizabeth Bouman in the Otago Daily Times of 1 June 2008.)

Performance: Franz Schubert's Mass No. 5 in A Flat, Dunedin Town Hall, 31 May 2008

About the Choir

Mission

It is the mission of the City of Dunedin Choir to make glorious music for the enjoyment of the wider Dunedin and southern New Zealand community.

Vision

It is the vision of the City of Dunedin Choir to be "A Choir of Note" in New Zealand.

Goals

To fulfill its Mission the Choir has set the following Goals:

1. To present choral music concerts or other entertainments to the general public (normally presenting or participating in five events annually),
2. To encourage the performance and enjoyment of choral music by people of all ages and from all walks of life,
3. To strive for an excellent standard of performance,
4. To build good working relationships with the Southern Sinfonia, the University of Otago Music Department, the Dunedin Youth Orchestra and other New Zealand choirs, orchestras and bands,
5. To provide opportunities for young musicians to gain experience in performances with the Choir,
6. To associate with any other charitable New Zealand society or association having interests similar to that of the Choir, such as the New Zealand Choral Federation, and
7. To ensure the prudent management of the Choir in accordance with its rules.

The Choir came into being in 1863 and was constituted as the Dunedin Choral Society Incorporated in 1898. The Choir is managed in accordance with the Dunedin Choral Society Rules 1994/96/2001.

So, now that we all know what the Choir is all about, let's have some fun! We invite choir members to tell about their experiences during rehearsals and performances, and we invite patrons and friends to have their say - we would love to hear your views!