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Spemmity Spem!
Sunday, 29 May 2005 06:43 amI went to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
melted_snowball's concert last night, which was 20 pieces celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Tallis. The best part was certainly Spem in Alium, though the rest was quite wonderful. Spem has 40 parts, arranged in 8 choirs. The music director/conductor arranged this in the round- two choirs in the balcony, the other six in a semicircle around the floor. Wow. They performed wonderfully, and it was so neat to hear the different choruses wash over me at different moments. There were times that one chorus would sing counterpoint to another, across the church, and others that you could hear a theme circling across the floor from one side around to the other. And did I say the singing was amazing? :)
The rest of the concert was more Tallis and his contemporaries, and while dan had all kinds of bad things to say about the first half, I thought it was super. The pieces were varied enough that it didn't feel like a rehash of the same two or three, while they all were of the same Tudor style. The only detraction was the conductor's need to tell us all kinds of fiddley dry details about the birth, life, and death of every one of the composers. Cut the chatter, man! Print an extra page in the program if necessary; but bring on the singing, please!
I'm quite happy that I decided to go to both performances, which I don't usually do- this afternoon's will be a joy, as well.
Last night: saw elbie and joymoose, who happen to be two of my co-workers (well, sort of). I didn't know joymoose before the concert, despite the fact that she moved into my boss's old office; today, hope to see mynat and his mom. And maybe possibly lovecraftienne and persephoneplace too?...
melted_snowball's concert last night, which was 20 pieces celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Tallis. The best part was certainly Spem in Alium, though the rest was quite wonderful. Spem has 40 parts, arranged in 8 choirs. The music director/conductor arranged this in the round- two choirs in the balcony, the other six in a semicircle around the floor. Wow. They performed wonderfully, and it was so neat to hear the different choruses wash over me at different moments. There were times that one chorus would sing counterpoint to another, across the church, and others that you could hear a theme circling across the floor from one side around to the other. And did I say the singing was amazing? :)The rest of the concert was more Tallis and his contemporaries, and while dan had all kinds of bad things to say about the first half, I thought it was super. The pieces were varied enough that it didn't feel like a rehash of the same two or three, while they all were of the same Tudor style. The only detraction was the conductor's need to tell us all kinds of fiddley dry details about the birth, life, and death of every one of the composers. Cut the chatter, man! Print an extra page in the program if necessary; but bring on the singing, please!
I'm quite happy that I decided to go to both performances, which I don't usually do- this afternoon's will be a joy, as well.
Last night: saw elbie and joymoose, who happen to be two of my co-workers (well, sort of). I didn't know joymoose before the concert, despite the fact that she moved into my boss's old office; today, hope to see mynat and his mom. And maybe possibly lovecraftienne and persephoneplace too?...
