A pertinent reference to Cloudburst. Last night we sang it right through minus the bells (the bells, the bells!) and we (shock horror!) can actually sing it. Different Rudsambeelets had a chance to sit in the audience to listen to the rest of us and all looked thoroughly chuffed/moved/excited by this incredible Whitacre piece.
In fact, a week on Saturday will be a proper Whitacrefest (like Woodstock but without the long hair and pot. Probably.) with both Cloudburst and Five Hebrew Love Songs. We rattled through the latter last night as well. Now we hadn't sang this since last summer and Rudsambeelets have notoriously poor memories, but honestly, it sounded t'riffic. Can't wait to add a couple of instruments to the melee. Theremin anyone? (see a previous post for an explanation of this jolly instrument of brilliance. Ah, the cyclical nature of conversation a la Rudsambee).
Now last night the sopranos were branded as 'vicious' by Maestro Boy. Unfair you may think but the poor Bass1s (I hasten to add that all basses were present and correct last night) looked thoroughly forlorn while the sops bashed on through. As well as Whitacre-excitement we sang Jede Sedlak without music - sounded dreadful the first time, better the fifteenth. And we tried En Une Seule Fleur again for the first time since the heady days of 2008. A brief heads up to Mirren here as we had a couple of very jolly French pronunciation queries which I won't share with you. Suffice to say "fois toi" is very difficult for this Anglo-Saxon tongue to sing quickly... and in tune. "Devinir" also caused a little contention. Currently it sounds like a description of an inhabitant of of a southern English county (try saying it with flat North English vowels and you'll see what I mean). We'll get there eventually. Again, we were all a little amazed that we could remember this one, particularly Kay2 and Oliver2, neither of whom has ever sung it.
So we're now looking forward to Saturday for a rehearsal at the Reid Hall. Muchos jolliness. Bells, drums and jingly percussive sounds. What larks! Put the Saturday after in your diaries as you don't want to miss the excitement of Cloudburst. It is going to be brilliant.
Until Saturday
CSW
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2 comments:
Well, since you asked... Once again it's 'DUH-venir'. Forget all associations with the county where the clotted cream comes from.
Thanks for the clarification. Ah clotted cream, tea, scones, lovely jam, hot days by the sea...sorry, drifted off there for a moment.
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