Come along to one, you won't regret it!
Showing posts with label gcc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gcc. Show all posts
Friday, October 12, 2012
Requiem
Come along to one, you won't regret it!
Sunday, March 04, 2012
He's a very naughty boy
At the start of Holy Week, at 7pm on Saturday 31st March 2012 in St Bride's Church in Hyndland, Glasgow, and again at 4pm on Sunday 1st April in Culross Abbey in Fife, Glasgow Chamber Choir will be performing Handel's timeless oratorio Messiah, with young soloists and orchestral accompaniment, directed by Michael Bawtree.
I've sung Messiah a few times before and it always seems to be done by huge big choral societies (of which I am in no way a fan), but singing it in a choir of about 30 singers is a whole different proposition and it promises to be something not to be missed.
Tickets are only £10 (£5 for students) and can be bought on the door or from Culross Abbey in advance for the Sunday concert (if you can't read them already click on the image of the poster to be able to see their contact details - I won't post them here for every Spam-Harvesting low-life to gather!).
Monday, November 21, 2011
Bikes, Brides, Blow-Downs and Breakdowns
After a year and a half of it being off the road due to a slipping clutch I couldn't justify spending money on to replace, last Friday I collected my wonderful BMW R1100RT motorcycle from my work colleague who had kindly offered to use it as his autumn/winter project and who'd been busy fixing it up in his spare time. With not only a new clutch, but a full service, new brake pads and pins, various minor repairs and two new tyres it sailed through the MOT without a hitch, so on Saturday morning I took advantage of the unseasonably mild and dry weather and went for a ride up through Argyll to Inveraray and back. Fantastic fun!
On Saturday evening with Glasgow Chamber Choir I sang in the Old World, New World concert in St Bride's Church in Hyndland, with glorious music by Victoria, Villa-Lobos, Casals, de Padilla, and Guererro. Lately most of the GCC concerts have featured music which has been a bit more modern in style than my first choice would be, so when for various personal reasons before the new term started in September I was considering whether I would leave the choir, perhaps temporarily perhaps permanently, the largely 17th century choice for this concert swung it towards me staying, for the moment at least. Suffice to say that the concert on Saturday, and repeated again on Sunday in the historic Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh (the church in which Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall were married in July this year), contained some of the best sounds I've heard the choir make (as well as one or two slightly less enjoyable arse-tightening moments!).
Before heading to Edinburgh on Sunday though, Ruth and I went to Motherwell to watch the demolition of Glencairn Tower, where I used to live a long time ago with my parents. We've both been meaning to catch a "live" blow-down of a tower block for the past few years but never managed to hear about one in time until now, and it didn't disappoint albeit it was over in just a few seconds. The images below weren't taken by me, but are "official" press ones which I've seen on several news websites so I've reproduced them here on the basis that they're of public interest, and the photographers will have been reimbursed by the mainstream media. In particular I think the third one, with the controlled buckling of the walls so apparent, is very striking. In the top picture our old house can be seen three floors from the top and roughly near the centre of the left half. In fact the large white banner is covering the window of my old bedroom!
So, taking the bike to work this morning I jumped at the chance to deliver a couple of pieces of mail which needed hand-delivery, one to Edinburgh and one to Kirkcaldy, but after already noticing oil leaking from one of the front forks when I was on the way to Edinburgh, the clutch cable snapped as I approached a set of lights at a very busy junction in the city centre. Fortunately I managed to bring the bike to a halt safely without hitting anything or dropping it, and made the call to the RAC. To cut a long story short (3 hour wait) a recovery truck eventually took me and the dead bike back to Glasgow and dropped it off at the garage who'd done the MOT, where it's now sitting waiting for the replacement parts to arrive, for the mechanic to fix it, and for me to shell out another £160! Hopefully though this will be the last such sudden expenditure for a while and I can get back to using the bike as much as is reasonably practical and safe over the winter.
On Saturday evening with Glasgow Chamber Choir I sang in the Old World, New World concert in St Bride's Church in Hyndland, with glorious music by Victoria, Villa-Lobos, Casals, de Padilla, and Guererro. Lately most of the GCC concerts have featured music which has been a bit more modern in style than my first choice would be, so when for various personal reasons before the new term started in September I was considering whether I would leave the choir, perhaps temporarily perhaps permanently, the largely 17th century choice for this concert swung it towards me staying, for the moment at least. Suffice to say that the concert on Saturday, and repeated again on Sunday in the historic Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh (the church in which Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall were married in July this year), contained some of the best sounds I've heard the choir make (as well as one or two slightly less enjoyable arse-tightening moments!).
Before heading to Edinburgh on Sunday though, Ruth and I went to Motherwell to watch the demolition of Glencairn Tower, where I used to live a long time ago with my parents. We've both been meaning to catch a "live" blow-down of a tower block for the past few years but never managed to hear about one in time until now, and it didn't disappoint albeit it was over in just a few seconds. The images below weren't taken by me, but are "official" press ones which I've seen on several news websites so I've reproduced them here on the basis that they're of public interest, and the photographers will have been reimbursed by the mainstream media. In particular I think the third one, with the controlled buckling of the walls so apparent, is very striking. In the top picture our old house can be seen three floors from the top and roughly near the centre of the left half. In fact the large white banner is covering the window of my old bedroom!
So, taking the bike to work this morning I jumped at the chance to deliver a couple of pieces of mail which needed hand-delivery, one to Edinburgh and one to Kirkcaldy, but after already noticing oil leaking from one of the front forks when I was on the way to Edinburgh, the clutch cable snapped as I approached a set of lights at a very busy junction in the city centre. Fortunately I managed to bring the bike to a halt safely without hitting anything or dropping it, and made the call to the RAC. To cut a long story short (3 hour wait) a recovery truck eventually took me and the dead bike back to Glasgow and dropped it off at the garage who'd done the MOT, where it's now sitting waiting for the replacement parts to arrive, for the mechanic to fix it, and for me to shell out another £160! Hopefully though this will be the last such sudden expenditure for a while and I can get back to using the bike as much as is reasonably practical and safe over the winter.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Old World, New World
The 2011-2012 season for Glasgow Chamber Choir is about to kick off with a concert in St Bride’s Church in Hyndland and in Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh over the weekend of 19th & 20th November 2011.
The concert is entitled Old World, New World, and features Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Requiem Mass of 1605, the lively Mexican baroque Missa Ego flos campi by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla, Ave Virgo sanctissima by Francisco Guererro, Bendita Sabedoria and two settings of Ave Maria by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and O vos omnes by Pablo Casals.
On both days the concert starts at 7.30pm, in Glasgow on the Saturday and in Edinburgh on the Sunday. Tickets cost only £10 (£7 concession) and are available on the door.
On Wednesday 21st December why not tune in to BBC Radio Scotland’s Get it on with Bryan Burnett from 6.10pm, where you’ll hear us singing carols live on the show as a small group of us did last year. It’s a request show, so you have your chance to get us to sing your favourite!
Our season continues with performances of Handel’s Messiah in Glasgow and in the beautiful Abbey of Culross in Fife over the weekend of 31st March – 1st April 2012.
We look forward to welcoming to Glasgow a choir from Gothenburg at the end of April and in early June we are planning a reciprocal visit to Sweden, then on 9th June in Glasgow there will be our White Nights – Music from the Baltics concert, with music from Estonia, Poland, Sweden and Finland.
Full details of venues and concert times can always be found on our website at www.glasgowchamberchoir.org.uk
The concert is entitled Old World, New World, and features Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Requiem Mass of 1605, the lively Mexican baroque Missa Ego flos campi by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla, Ave Virgo sanctissima by Francisco Guererro, Bendita Sabedoria and two settings of Ave Maria by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and O vos omnes by Pablo Casals.
On both days the concert starts at 7.30pm, in Glasgow on the Saturday and in Edinburgh on the Sunday. Tickets cost only £10 (£7 concession) and are available on the door.
On Wednesday 21st December why not tune in to BBC Radio Scotland’s Get it on with Bryan Burnett from 6.10pm, where you’ll hear us singing carols live on the show as a small group of us did last year. It’s a request show, so you have your chance to get us to sing your favourite!
Our season continues with performances of Handel’s Messiah in Glasgow and in the beautiful Abbey of Culross in Fife over the weekend of 31st March – 1st April 2012.
We look forward to welcoming to Glasgow a choir from Gothenburg at the end of April and in early June we are planning a reciprocal visit to Sweden, then on 9th June in Glasgow there will be our White Nights – Music from the Baltics concert, with music from Estonia, Poland, Sweden and Finland.
Full details of venues and concert times can always be found on our website at www.glasgowchamberchoir.org.uk
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Hear and Now
Tickets, limited to 4 per application, are free, but may be subject to a booking fee (not sure how that works exactly, but there you go) from the City Halls Box Office (0141 353 8000) at Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ.
The flyer for the concert, which is reproduced here, describes the Cardew piece thus:
The concert is billed as featuring the unique groundbreaking music of four major modern composers so as well as the Cardew, the BBC SSO will be performing Ohoi by Giacinto Scelsi, Solo for sliding trombone by John Cage, and Lento by Howard Skempton.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Glasgow Chamber Choir in Holland
With our 2011-2012 season about to start in a couple of weeks, I'm randomly reminded this evening of earlier this year when Glasgow Chamber Choir took part in an exciting venture with St Joris Kamerkoor of Amersfoort in the Netherlands, with a weekend trip by GCC to Amersfoort and Utrecht in March being followed by a weekend trip by SJKK to Glasgow in May, with joint concerts over each weekend.
This was hugely enjoyable for both choirs, both musically and socially, and the links between us look as though they'll last for a long time to come, which is great.
All of the concerts were recorded for sound, and the one in Utrecht's St Catharinakerk, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, was also video recorded. A while back I received a link to a Youtube HD video of one of the pieces from that concert, Warum ist das Licht gegeben, by Johannes Brahms, and I've posted it below.
If you look really closely, in the wide shots taken from the fixed camera at the back of the church, I can be seen at the right hand side of the back row, with what looks like a cross growing out my left ear!
I hope you enjoy it, we certainly enjoyed performing it together, and it's great to see and hear it all again.
This was hugely enjoyable for both choirs, both musically and socially, and the links between us look as though they'll last for a long time to come, which is great.
All of the concerts were recorded for sound, and the one in Utrecht's St Catharinakerk, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, was also video recorded. A while back I received a link to a Youtube HD video of one of the pieces from that concert, Warum ist das Licht gegeben, by Johannes Brahms, and I've posted it below.
If you look really closely, in the wide shots taken from the fixed camera at the back of the church, I can be seen at the right hand side of the back row, with what looks like a cross growing out my left ear!
I hope you enjoy it, we certainly enjoyed performing it together, and it's great to see and hear it all again.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Glasgow Chamber Choir summer concert
Glasgow Chamber Choir's next concert is only a couple of weeks away, on Saturday 11th June 2011 at 7.30pm in Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow.
With soloists Emily Mitchell (soprano), Catriona Morison (mezzo), Gitai Fisher (tenor) and Brian McBride (bass) and featuring Haydn's glorious Nelson Mass, Bach's Lobet den Herrn, and music by Brahms and Bruckner, this is going to be a cracking summer concert, and is in fact part of Glasgow's West End Festival.
And as if all that music wasn't enough reason to come, there'll be the opportunity to join us for interval and post-concert refreshments too!
Tickets are only £10 (£7 concession) and are available on the door and from choir members.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Halcyon days
I'm quite conscious that lately my posts haven't really come from within my head, inasmuch as most recent ones have been either reposted material from my website which I've now closed since I didn't update it for the past year or so and it was costing me money to host, or occasional embedded YouTube videos which caught my eye.
I'm not particularly hung up on this, although for a while I considered it to be a bit of a literary failing, because I've accepted that times change and my use of this Blog will change, and probably change back, with my own personal zeitgeist.
Perhaps this is a moment however to reflect on what life's doing to me here at the start of 2011, albeit the virtual ink's still damp on my review of 2010.
Generally, life's reasonably good at the moment, leaving aside a nasty cold that's been lingering for a week or two and which currently is causing me to sound genuinely like a man yodelling when I try to sing in choir. I'm due to sing live on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave on Monday morning in their Daily Service when the Cathedral Choir will be doing it from Glasgow, but we'll see how that goes!
I'm now at the end of seven days of annual leave, which although is happening now comes from my 2010 entitlement which I will lose if I don't use it up by the end of January. So with not all that much to do, little money left after the Christmas festivities, and no one else on holiday to socialise with during the day, it's an odd time for a break, but fairly welcome nonetheless.
The biggest new thing to affect my life recently happened only a couple of days ago when, through the miracle of the UK government's Cycle to Work Scheme, I took delivery of a new bicycle, the first I've owned/ridden since 1997 when I bought one and used it for only a month or two before getting rid of it and trading up to a BMW K75RT motorcycle.
It's a Halcyon Monterey, like the one in the picture, which is a hybrid, neither Mountain Bike nor Road Racing bike but something more suitable to daily commuting with the occasional trip along a canal towpath or similar. Front suspension and seat make it quite comfortable to ride, and although it's very early days to my surprise so far it's been less traumatic leg-wise than I expected, but I really need to replace the comfy gel saddle with a much wider comfy gel saddle! If you get my drift. Owwwwwww!
Having collected it, I decided there'd be no point just taking it home and looking at it, so I set off along the nearby towpath of the Forth and Clyde canal towards Glasgow city centre, intending just to be gentle with myself and see how I got on. Before I knew what was happening I'd reached Lock 27, a pub next to, well, Lock 27 of the canal funnily enough, which was a lot further than I intended. Taking the more direct route home through Anniesland cross (for those who know this area) and down through Knightswood, I had no real trouble until I stepped off the bike at my front door and tried to climb the 3 stairs with wobbly jelly legs! One hot bath later I was fine, with only a sense of personal satisfaction remaining afterwards. A check of AutoRoute showed that I'd travelled almost eight miles! OK, in the grand scheme of things not all that far, but pretty reasonable for a first effort.
I intend using it to occasionally commute the few miles to work, using the Renfrew Ferry to cross the River Clyde enroute. If I manage that once or twice a week I'll be happy and it'll be a whole load extra exercise I wasn't previously getting. Not only that, the Cycle to Work Scheme means that my employer has actually bought the bike and I'm renting it from them over the next year, with the payment coming off before Tax & NI contributions, and at the end of the year I'll be able to buy it from them for an estimated one month's rental. I won't know exactly what I'll save until I receive my payslip containing the first payment, but the bike (reduced from a retail price of about £400 to £199) plus the accessories (helmet, lights etc) costs about £275 and I think I'll end up paying about £200, so it isn't a bad deal.
Other things that are happening are that the countdown to a significant birthday starts in a week, so to celebrate that less than significant one I've aranged a group of about 20 friends to go for a curry in Glasgow next Friday. It's ages since I had a curry and I'm really looking forward to it. Of course the celebrations in 2012 will perhaps be more extensive, but I need to get my head round exactly how I want to celebrate it, and not be overly swayed by other people.
Glasgow Chamber Choir has an exciting year ahead, the first part of which is a trip to the Netherlands in March to sing with another choir there. Our choir members are being hosted by their choir members, but since I'm not really in a position where I feel I can reciprocate when they come over to Glasgow in May (and I'm an anti-social bastard), I decided just to make my own arrangements, so I'm staying in a hotel in the centre of Amersfoort, near Utrecht, which is where that choir's from. It's a small hotel, but looks very friendly so it should be good. The hotel website describes it as, amongst other things, gay friendly, but I get the impression that although it's called the Queen's it isn't compulsory! The flights and hotel are all booked, and as it gets closer I'll get more into it.
Oh, and the meaning of the title of this post? Well as I'm sure you know, Halcyon Days are the seven days in winter when storms never happen.
I'm not particularly hung up on this, although for a while I considered it to be a bit of a literary failing, because I've accepted that times change and my use of this Blog will change, and probably change back, with my own personal zeitgeist.
Perhaps this is a moment however to reflect on what life's doing to me here at the start of 2011, albeit the virtual ink's still damp on my review of 2010.
Generally, life's reasonably good at the moment, leaving aside a nasty cold that's been lingering for a week or two and which currently is causing me to sound genuinely like a man yodelling when I try to sing in choir. I'm due to sing live on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave on Monday morning in their Daily Service when the Cathedral Choir will be doing it from Glasgow, but we'll see how that goes!
I'm now at the end of seven days of annual leave, which although is happening now comes from my 2010 entitlement which I will lose if I don't use it up by the end of January. So with not all that much to do, little money left after the Christmas festivities, and no one else on holiday to socialise with during the day, it's an odd time for a break, but fairly welcome nonetheless.
The biggest new thing to affect my life recently happened only a couple of days ago when, through the miracle of the UK government's Cycle to Work Scheme, I took delivery of a new bicycle, the first I've owned/ridden since 1997 when I bought one and used it for only a month or two before getting rid of it and trading up to a BMW K75RT motorcycle.
It's a Halcyon Monterey, like the one in the picture, which is a hybrid, neither Mountain Bike nor Road Racing bike but something more suitable to daily commuting with the occasional trip along a canal towpath or similar. Front suspension and seat make it quite comfortable to ride, and although it's very early days to my surprise so far it's been less traumatic leg-wise than I expected, but I really need to replace the comfy gel saddle with a much wider comfy gel saddle! If you get my drift. Owwwwwww!
Having collected it, I decided there'd be no point just taking it home and looking at it, so I set off along the nearby towpath of the Forth and Clyde canal towards Glasgow city centre, intending just to be gentle with myself and see how I got on. Before I knew what was happening I'd reached Lock 27, a pub next to, well, Lock 27 of the canal funnily enough, which was a lot further than I intended. Taking the more direct route home through Anniesland cross (for those who know this area) and down through Knightswood, I had no real trouble until I stepped off the bike at my front door and tried to climb the 3 stairs with wobbly jelly legs! One hot bath later I was fine, with only a sense of personal satisfaction remaining afterwards. A check of AutoRoute showed that I'd travelled almost eight miles! OK, in the grand scheme of things not all that far, but pretty reasonable for a first effort.
I intend using it to occasionally commute the few miles to work, using the Renfrew Ferry to cross the River Clyde enroute. If I manage that once or twice a week I'll be happy and it'll be a whole load extra exercise I wasn't previously getting. Not only that, the Cycle to Work Scheme means that my employer has actually bought the bike and I'm renting it from them over the next year, with the payment coming off before Tax & NI contributions, and at the end of the year I'll be able to buy it from them for an estimated one month's rental. I won't know exactly what I'll save until I receive my payslip containing the first payment, but the bike (reduced from a retail price of about £400 to £199) plus the accessories (helmet, lights etc) costs about £275 and I think I'll end up paying about £200, so it isn't a bad deal.
Other things that are happening are that the countdown to a significant birthday starts in a week, so to celebrate that less than significant one I've aranged a group of about 20 friends to go for a curry in Glasgow next Friday. It's ages since I had a curry and I'm really looking forward to it. Of course the celebrations in 2012 will perhaps be more extensive, but I need to get my head round exactly how I want to celebrate it, and not be overly swayed by other people.
Glasgow Chamber Choir has an exciting year ahead, the first part of which is a trip to the Netherlands in March to sing with another choir there. Our choir members are being hosted by their choir members, but since I'm not really in a position where I feel I can reciprocate when they come over to Glasgow in May (and I'm an anti-social bastard), I decided just to make my own arrangements, so I'm staying in a hotel in the centre of Amersfoort, near Utrecht, which is where that choir's from. It's a small hotel, but looks very friendly so it should be good. The hotel website describes it as, amongst other things, gay friendly, but I get the impression that although it's called the Queen's it isn't compulsory! The flights and hotel are all booked, and as it gets closer I'll get more into it.
Oh, and the meaning of the title of this post? Well as I'm sure you know, Halcyon Days are the seven days in winter when storms never happen.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Christmas music
A few members of Glasgow Chamber Choir, including yours truly, will be singing live on BBC Radio Scotland this coming Tuesday, 21st December, between 6pm - 8pm when we will be on Get it On with Bryan Burnett, which is a rather good programme I often listen to anyway during the week.
The premise of the programme is that it's essentially a requests show where the host, Bryan Burnett, provides a theme for the evening and listeners email or text their suggestions for songs that fit the theme. It could be B sides that were better than the A sides, one hit wonders, John Peel related songs, or just about anything.
Tuesday evening is apparently their Christmas Carol Concert Special (not sure if I should be letting on yet, as they only ever announce the theme one day ahead!) and the BBC have asked for about 8 singers from Glasgow Chamber Choir to be there to sing whatever carols are suggested/chosen by the listening audience. Six carols altogether, three during each hour of the programme, so why not listen in and see if your favourites are amongst them (or even email, text, or follow the show on Facebook to make sure they are!).
It's always a busy wee time for choirs approaching Christmas, and last night Glasgow Chamber Choir sang in a carol concert in Hyndland Parish Church, tonight I'm singing in the Christmas Carol Service at St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow (6.30pm), tomorrow between 1pm-2pm The New Quartet are singing carols in the Royal Bank of Scotland in Gordon St, Glasgow, to help raise money for this year's bank-supported charity which is Barnardo's, and then on Tuesday it's the BBC live broadcast. Wednesday is a day off singing, Thursday there's no GCC rehearsal but that only means I'm free to go to the Cathedral Choir rehearsal in preparation for the midnight service there on Friday, starting at 11.15pm when we're singing, I think, a Charpentier Mass, which should be fun.
The premise of the programme is that it's essentially a requests show where the host, Bryan Burnett, provides a theme for the evening and listeners email or text their suggestions for songs that fit the theme. It could be B sides that were better than the A sides, one hit wonders, John Peel related songs, or just about anything.
Tuesday evening is apparently their Christmas Carol Concert Special (not sure if I should be letting on yet, as they only ever announce the theme one day ahead!) and the BBC have asked for about 8 singers from Glasgow Chamber Choir to be there to sing whatever carols are suggested/chosen by the listening audience. Six carols altogether, three during each hour of the programme, so why not listen in and see if your favourites are amongst them (or even email, text, or follow the show on Facebook to make sure they are!).
It's always a busy wee time for choirs approaching Christmas, and last night Glasgow Chamber Choir sang in a carol concert in Hyndland Parish Church, tonight I'm singing in the Christmas Carol Service at St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow (6.30pm), tomorrow between 1pm-2pm The New Quartet are singing carols in the Royal Bank of Scotland in Gordon St, Glasgow, to help raise money for this year's bank-supported charity which is Barnardo's, and then on Tuesday it's the BBC live broadcast. Wednesday is a day off singing, Thursday there's no GCC rehearsal but that only means I'm free to go to the Cathedral Choir rehearsal in preparation for the midnight service there on Friday, starting at 11.15pm when we're singing, I think, a Charpentier Mass, which should be fun.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
One down, two to go
The first of three Glasgow Chamber Choir concerts over successive nights took place last night in Canongate Kirk on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
A slightly lopsided concert at first glance, the first half consisting of two motets by William Byrd (c1540-1633), Ne irascaris Domine and Civitas sancti tui, sandwiching the magnificent Take him, earth, for cherishing by Herbert Howells (1892-1983) written for the memorial service of President John F Kennedy, interspersed with the piano pieces Prelude from Suite for pianoforte duet by York Bowen (1884-1961) and Nocturne from the same suite, all of which lasted about half an hour. It seemed like no sooner were we walking on we were walking back off again, but it all made sense because the second half consisted solely of the comparatively lengthy Ein Deutsches Requeim (German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), in the piano duet version arranged by Brahms himself soon after he composed the piece.
Having heard Bearsden Choir performing Brahms' full orchestral version of the Requiem just a couple of weeks ago in Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in Paisley (coincidentally where the next performance of RSCM Scottish Voices is due to take place when we sing Choral Evensong there on 4th December) I definitely prefer the more intimate piano version. That's not to criticise Bearsden choir, it's personal preference for an alternative arrangement of the music.
I have to confess I think we just about nailed last night. I don't think a better performance of the Howells piece was possible (and in fact afterwards a musically knowledgeable member of the audience commented that he'd never heard a better sung recording of it) and in particular the first Byrd motet, which we sang spread out round the sides of the audience, was magical. The Brahms itself was powerful when needed, and beautifully quiet when appropriate. And the soloists, Emma Harper (soprano) and Anders Östberg (baritone) sang magnificently, accompanied by Ed Cohen and Jennifer Redmond on piano.
After the concert last night we went next door to the Tolbooth Tavern, where refreshments were consumed before the 2300hrs train back to Glasgow, some chips, and a bus trip back home. So it was about 2am before I manasged to get to bed, tired yet happy.
Unfortunately the performance last night was marred a bit for me by the fact that in the afternoon I pulled a muscle in my back when stupidly trying to lift a speaker stand while I was twisted round. It was a mild tweak, and if I hadn't thereafter been standing in one position holding a folder of music for hours I would have been fine by bedtime, but unfortunately that wasn't an option and it made the pain almost unbearable at times, taking my mind away from the singing. It's a bit better right now though, and hopefully fully dosed up with painkillers I'll be fine for tonight when we do it all again in St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Newlands, Glasgow at 7.30pm. And then again tomorrow evening at the earlier time of 7pm in The West Kirk in Helensburgh. All with appropriate alcoholic refreshment afterwards, naturally!
Tickets are available on the door, costing £10 for tonight's performance and £8 for the Helensburgh one. And there'll be a bar available at the Glasgow performance.
A slightly lopsided concert at first glance, the first half consisting of two motets by William Byrd (c1540-1633), Ne irascaris Domine and Civitas sancti tui, sandwiching the magnificent Take him, earth, for cherishing by Herbert Howells (1892-1983) written for the memorial service of President John F Kennedy, interspersed with the piano pieces Prelude from Suite for pianoforte duet by York Bowen (1884-1961) and Nocturne from the same suite, all of which lasted about half an hour. It seemed like no sooner were we walking on we were walking back off again, but it all made sense because the second half consisted solely of the comparatively lengthy Ein Deutsches Requeim (German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), in the piano duet version arranged by Brahms himself soon after he composed the piece.
Having heard Bearsden Choir performing Brahms' full orchestral version of the Requiem just a couple of weeks ago in Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in Paisley (coincidentally where the next performance of RSCM Scottish Voices is due to take place when we sing Choral Evensong there on 4th December) I definitely prefer the more intimate piano version. That's not to criticise Bearsden choir, it's personal preference for an alternative arrangement of the music.
I have to confess I think we just about nailed last night. I don't think a better performance of the Howells piece was possible (and in fact afterwards a musically knowledgeable member of the audience commented that he'd never heard a better sung recording of it) and in particular the first Byrd motet, which we sang spread out round the sides of the audience, was magical. The Brahms itself was powerful when needed, and beautifully quiet when appropriate. And the soloists, Emma Harper (soprano) and Anders Östberg (baritone) sang magnificently, accompanied by Ed Cohen and Jennifer Redmond on piano.
After the concert last night we went next door to the Tolbooth Tavern, where refreshments were consumed before the 2300hrs train back to Glasgow, some chips, and a bus trip back home. So it was about 2am before I manasged to get to bed, tired yet happy.
Unfortunately the performance last night was marred a bit for me by the fact that in the afternoon I pulled a muscle in my back when stupidly trying to lift a speaker stand while I was twisted round. It was a mild tweak, and if I hadn't thereafter been standing in one position holding a folder of music for hours I would have been fine by bedtime, but unfortunately that wasn't an option and it made the pain almost unbearable at times, taking my mind away from the singing. It's a bit better right now though, and hopefully fully dosed up with painkillers I'll be fine for tonight when we do it all again in St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Newlands, Glasgow at 7.30pm. And then again tomorrow evening at the earlier time of 7pm in The West Kirk in Helensburgh. All with appropriate alcoholic refreshment afterwards, naturally!
Tickets are available on the door, costing £10 for tonight's performance and £8 for the Helensburgh one. And there'll be a bar available at the Glasgow performance.
Friday, October 08, 2010
Glasgow Chamber Choir 2010-2011 season
2010-2011 season highlights include:
- Brahms Requiem in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Helensburgh
- Choir visits Holland in March 2011
- Further joint concerts with St Joris Kamerkoor in Edinburgh and Glasgow
- Haydn Nelson Mass in Glasgow in June 2011
Brahms Requiem
FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010 - 7.30pm
Canongate Kirk, Royal Mile, EDINBURGH
SATURDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2010 - 7.30pm
St Margaret's Episcopal Church, 353 Kilmarnock Road, Newlands, GLASGOW
SUNDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2010 - 7.00pm
The West Kirk, Colquhoun Square, HELENSBURGH
A moving evening of music from across the centuries for Remembrance-tide, featuring Brahms' own version of his beloved German Requiem for piano duet accompaniment alongside Howells' famous "Take him, earth, for cherishing", composed for John F Kennedy's memorial service.
JOHANNES BRAHMS - Ein Deutsches Requiem (version for piano duet accompaniment)
HERBERT HOWELLS - Take him, earth, for cherishing
WILLIAM BYRD - Ne Irascaris Domine
Emma Harper – soprano
Anders Ostberg – baritone
Ed Cohen, Jennifer Redmond – piano duo
Michael Bawtree – conductor
Tickets £10 (£7 concessions) (Edinburgh & Glasgow); £8 (Helensburgh)
Laudes Organi + Chori
SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2011 - 8.15pm
Martinuskerk, Hoogland, Amersfoort, NETHERLANDS
SUNDAY 13 MARCH 2011 - 3.00pm
St Catherine's Cathedral, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS
SATURDAY 7 MAY 2011 - 7.30pm
St Cuthbert's Parish Church, Lothian Road, EDINBURGH
SUNDAY 8 MAY 2011 – 2.30pm
St Bride's Episcopal Church, Hyndland Road, GLASGOW
In an exciting development, Glasgow Chamber Choir combines forces with the St Joris Kamerkoor from Amersfoort in the Netherlands for four concerts in March and May 2011. The St Joris Kamerkoor, directed by Bach specialist Bas Ramselaar, is almost exactly the same size as Glasgow Chamber Choir, and performs a similarly diverse repertoire of music from across the centuries. For these joint concerts, there will be a feast of music for double choir by Bach, Brahms, Bingham, Howells, Harris, Rheinberger and Bruckner in addition to Zoltan Kodaly's magnificent Laudes Organi and music from Holland and Scotland.
Glasgow Chamber Choir & St Joris Kamerkoor
Michael Bawtree & Bas Ramselaar – conductors
Franz Joseph Haydn
SATURDAY 11 JUNE 2011 - 7.30pm
Hyndland Parish Church, 79-81 Hyndland Road, GLASGOW
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN - Missa in angustiis ('Nelson' Mass)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – Lobet den Herrn
The season is rounded off by our annual orchestral performance, this year based around Haydn’s magnificent ’Nelson Mass’. Continuing our series of Bach’s motets, the Choir also performs ‘Lobet den Herrn’. With the Glasgow Chamber Choir Orchestra
Tickets for Edinburgh and Glasgow concerts: £10 and £7 (concessions)
Available at the door, online (at www.glasgowchamberchoir.org.uk) and from choir members
Available at the door, online (at www.glasgowchamberchoir.org.uk) and from choir members
For further information about any of this season's concerts, please see
or contact
administrator@glasgowchamberchoir.org.uk
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Bach and Handel
Glasgow Chamber Choir's next concert is on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June in Glasgow and Greenock respectively.
The music includes Bach's Singet Dem Herrn, Handel's Dixit Dominus and Handel's Ode on St Cecilia's day.
The Dixit Dominus is fairly long and reasonably well known, so I haven't bothered with that one, but the other two are below. The Bach is a recording by the very excellent Hilliard Ensemble, and the Handel, which is split into five parts, seems to be a recording of a rehearsal, with French subtitles!
The music includes Bach's Singet Dem Herrn, Handel's Dixit Dominus and Handel's Ode on St Cecilia's day.
The Dixit Dominus is fairly long and reasonably well known, so I haven't bothered with that one, but the other two are below. The Bach is a recording by the very excellent Hilliard Ensemble, and the Handel, which is split into five parts, seems to be a recording of a rehearsal, with French subtitles!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
British Classics concert
Today, at 7.30pm tonight, it's at St Mary's Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, Glasgow G4 9JB, and tomorrow it's at the earlier time of 6pm in St Giles Cathedral, High St, Edinburgh EH1 1RE.
The music, as the title on the poster suggests, is all by British composers and includes
William Walton (1902-1983) - Coronation Te Deum; The Twelve
Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939) - Come, Holy Ghost; I love the Lord
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) - O clap your hands; Drop, drop slow tears; This is the record of John
Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) - When David heard
Thomas Weelkes (d. 1623) - When David heard
I should have posted this earlier, but a variety of stuff has got in the way. Last weekend I was laid very low by what I thought was food poisoning but upon my return to work on Monday realised that 6 out of 8 of us had it too and we hadn't all been eating the same thing.
On Friday morning (i.e. yesterday) at 0320hrs I was woken by a huge crash from the kitchen, and thinking that Elmo my cat had knocked something over I rushed through in a dazed just-awake state, to be confronted by the sight of the floor littered with glass and other debris, and disappearing out the back door was the housebreaker who'd caused it (in the rest of the UK, and probably the world, they're called burglars, in Scotland the crime of Burglary doesn't exist, instead it's called Housebreaking). I'll probably describe that in more detail later, I don't have time right now as I need to head off to the rehearsal for today's concert, but suffice to say it has shaken me. A lot. An awful lot.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Review of 2009
Well the choir of King's College, Cambridge are on the radio performing Nine Lessons and Carols right now as I sit here starting to type this, so it must be time for my third annual review. How was Lay Clerk's 2009?
A bit mixed, to be honest, but then again such is life. Much of what occupied my mind throughout the whole year concerns another person and according to the unwritten rules of Blogging which are solely in my head, I choose to keep that topic to myself.
Another unwritten rule is that I won't Blog about work, so apart from saying that I'm still enjoying it and we continue to be as busy as ever, I'll leave it there.
On the subject of work, a close friend was unfortunately made redundant at the start of the year, a victim of the worldwide economic situation, and for a few months went through a difficult time during which I hope I was there to offer what little support or help I could, and thankfully a new, better job was secured after a while. Onwards and upwards.
I still sing with Glasgow Chamber Choir, mostly enjoying it but sometimes having to fight against my inner dislike of certain types of choral music. On the whole it continues to be good fun, good musically, and a good bunch of people.
In 2009 my presence in the choirstalls at the Cathedral occurred more frequently and more regularly, and more or less every week I sing Choral Evensong on the Sunday, which I am thoroughly enjoying.
In about May the administrator of RSCM Scottish Voices, which was started the previous summer, resigned, and I was subsequently asked to take over that role. It's been an interesting 6 months, most but not quite all of it interesting in a nice way. I've registered a Domain name for the choir, but haven't yet got round to uploading the website which is sitting on my laptop. In truth, this is mostly because I've forgotten how to go about having multiple websites hosted together but kept separate, since it's been such a long time since I did anything with any of my sites. At some point I'll get the finger out and do it. And if anyone familiar with creating and uploading websites to 1&1 using Microsoft Frontpage is reading this and wants to remind me how easy it is, I'd be obliged! In the meantime I've also started a Blog for the choir, which is linked from the sidebar on the left. If any RSCM Scottish Voices members are reading this for some reason, and they fancy having a go at sometimes adding choir-related content to our Blog, email me.
In May I sang with The Biggar Singers in an enjoyable performance of Morten Lauridsen's piece, Lux Aeterna, which involved about a hundred mile round trip every week to rehearse. The choir's conducted and accompanied respectively by two members of Glasgow Chamber Choir who live down that way, and my few weeks of excessive travel pale into insignificance when set against them doing it every week coming to Glasgow. And indeed two other GCC members travel from Dumfriesshire every week to rehearse!
A personal high point of the year was when I was asked to sing the tenor solo in a performance of Stainer's Crucifixion on Good Friday in Paisley. My initial reaction upon being asked was "no thanks, I'm a chorister, not a soloist" but when I thought about it, knowing that I can actually sing the notes if not necessarily perform them as a "proper" soloist would, I thought why the hell not. And so I did. And it went well. First time I've ever had my name on a poster! I have no ambitions to be a soloist, and while I'd possibly say yes if asked again, equally I am not at all bothered.
I paid another visit to Paisley later in April, but this time to the Paisley Beer Festival, which was most enjoyable and having been there two years ago is likely to become an annual pilgrimage, albeit I missed last year as I was in Calfornia. I only went on one evening, but a fellow Cathedral chorister, Neil, took holiday from work and went every day. Now that's dedication!
In July four of us from Glasgow Chamber Choir, having coincidentally and enjoyably sung solo parts together during a recent concert, decided to get together and sing together some more. We've met twice so far, it's as much a social event as a musical one, and despite some (hopefully tongue in cheek) remarks from another couple of friends about "the elite group" it's just a bunch of friends singing, drinking and eating together. We've performed together under the name The New Quartet in public once, a few days ago in a branch of a bank for charity, but who knows whether we'll do it again or whether it'll stay purely as a social event.
After a break of 29 years, I met up with former schoolfriends at a wee reunion in Motherwell in April. It was as though we'd only had a break of 6 months and we all got on great again. An unexpectedly tremendous evening. Another one, on a bigger scale, is planned for next year when it'll be 30 years since we left school. And I foolishly offered to co-ordinate it. It shouldn't involve much more than a few emails though, so should be OK.
On the subject of school, there is a sobering time in one's life when one's schoolfriends start dying. In August Kenny Stewart was the first of us to go. Admittedly the lovely, intelligent, caring person Catherine Fellowes died in a tragic diving accident soon after we left school, leaving her massive potential unfulfilled, but Kenny is the first to die without having an accident. He was one of my closest friends at school, and despite us having some differences in later years, you can't take away the fact that we grew up together.
In July RE and I made a weekend trip to the north east of Scotland to see friends, Stephanie and Martin, and to have a wee tour about. It's an area of the country I happen to really like, and it was good not only to show RE round it, but to catch up with old friends at their barbecue. I've known Stephanie since the mid 1980's when she was a student at Glasgow University and joined the Cathedral Choir, so she's probably one of my oldest friends and although we don't see each other terribly often, it's good to catch up when we can.
In August my brother, his wife and daughter moved back to Scotland. They've been living abroad for about a dozen years, first in Dubai and then in San Diego, California. For some reason they decided to come back to the Scottish climate, and it's great to have them here. My niece, Jess, has joined the Cathedral Choir trebles, and seems to enjoy it I'm glad to say. I was immensely proud to be asked to present her with her surplice at Evensong when she passed from being a probationer to being a chorister. They hosted a Halloween party in October (on the 30th, funnily enough!) and the fact that they live in a castle (yes, really) made it all the more spooky! Great fun.
August also saw a return visit to the World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green, with RE, her cousin and his German girlfriend who were visiting Scotland. It rained. But it was a very enjoyable day despite the weather.
In September RE hosted one of her sisters, visiting from New Zealand, and I joined them for a trip to Linlithgow, their ancestral town. It was the first time I've been there, and I can now recommend the Four Mary's pub in the main street.
In a much previous life I was a roadie and mixed the sound for a local band. All very enjoyable, but in an amateur way. A friend, Ian, does it for a living though, well, the sound engineer bit anyway, and ages ago I mentioned to him that if he was ever needing some semi-skilled labour (i.e. really unskilled!) then I'd happily come and lift and carry stuff around for him. In September he called my bluff, and I found myself for two days being a roadie working on the sound crew at the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow. With three outdoor stages and an indoor venue to be covered, it was hard work, a bit physical sometimes, and a lot to take in, but it was great. I even ended up twiddling the knobs for one act, while Ian was called away to deal with a change of venue for another group. All very basic stuff of course, but I'm glad to say Ian trusted me enough to leave me on my own, and I'm even gladder to say I managed to avoid fucking it up! I'm looking forward to the next time, although I don't expect a change of career is due anytime soon!
The Institute of Advanced Motorists has taken more of a back seat this year, pardon the pun, although I did complete the necessary number of observed runs to continue as a Qualified Motorcycle Observer. It remains to be seen however whether I'll continue next year.
I've started to get the flat a bit more sorted. With the benefit of hindsight I realise that when I moved in I wasn't really in the right emotional frame of mind to do the decorating necessary, and as time went on I stopped seeing the faults. I have now got as far as getting a quote from a decorator, and getting the hallway replastered. Soon after Christmas I'll contact the decorator again and get him to come and do the business in the living room and hallway.
My general level of fitness continues to improve as I take advantage of the gym a few hundred yards from my house. I even made it onto a running track with RE a couple of times, but that was very hard going at that time! In the past few weeks I've slipped a bit, but my main New Year's resolution is to redouble my efforts. And I WILL do it.
On a fitness topic, in 2009 I did something I never thought I'd do. I climbed a hill. Not only a hill, but it was in fact a Munro. I've never ever ever been interested in hillwalking, and have been vocal about that opinion all through my life. But RE persuaded me to try it. Well I say persuaded me, but not proactively. I just mean that her influence, unbeknownst to her, made me want to do it. So she kindly agreed to "babysit me" up a hill. I'd be lying if I said there weren't bits I didn't enjoy. I slipped and fell up to my knees in a very cold stream; I slithered and slid my way down what was allegedly a "path"; I fell and staved my finger, but I bloody enjoyed it! And I know that thousands of people do it every weekend and think nothing of it. But this was me doing it. Me who about a year ago looked as though he was about to expire after a very short climb up a set of steps to a scenic viewpoint in the Scottish Borders. Me who a year ago hadn't taken any form of exercise for God knows how long, apart from when I tried badminton and spectacularly ruptured my achilles tendon. Me who is a city boy who has always said he didn't mind walking as long as it was on a pavement. This was me who walked up that Munro. And it is still me who is immensely proud of having done it, and proud of his friend RE for having the patience, skill and perseverance to help me all the way. Others may do it more often and with less effort, but we all have different abilities and different goals, and this particular achievement ranks highly for me.
So that's a potted history of Lay Clerk's 2009. A mixed year, but generally a good one and ending better than it started. Much of the above was Blogged about in depth at the time so if you've read this post in isolation it must seem pretty sparse of detail, and of course I've missed things out. Not just deliberately missed things to protect other people's privacy, but simply because things will have slipped my mind. Something which will hopefully never slip my mind though is to mention the love, friendship, and support of my closest friends, some of whom have been such for the thick end of 25 years, some for only a couple of years, but I value them all and thank them for their continuing friendship and support. I won't name them, but you know who you are. Thank you one and all.
Happy Christmas folks!
A bit mixed, to be honest, but then again such is life. Much of what occupied my mind throughout the whole year concerns another person and according to the unwritten rules of Blogging which are solely in my head, I choose to keep that topic to myself.
Another unwritten rule is that I won't Blog about work, so apart from saying that I'm still enjoying it and we continue to be as busy as ever, I'll leave it there.
On the subject of work, a close friend was unfortunately made redundant at the start of the year, a victim of the worldwide economic situation, and for a few months went through a difficult time during which I hope I was there to offer what little support or help I could, and thankfully a new, better job was secured after a while. Onwards and upwards.
I still sing with Glasgow Chamber Choir, mostly enjoying it but sometimes having to fight against my inner dislike of certain types of choral music. On the whole it continues to be good fun, good musically, and a good bunch of people.
In 2009 my presence in the choirstalls at the Cathedral occurred more frequently and more regularly, and more or less every week I sing Choral Evensong on the Sunday, which I am thoroughly enjoying.
In about May the administrator of RSCM Scottish Voices, which was started the previous summer, resigned, and I was subsequently asked to take over that role. It's been an interesting 6 months, most but not quite all of it interesting in a nice way. I've registered a Domain name for the choir, but haven't yet got round to uploading the website which is sitting on my laptop. In truth, this is mostly because I've forgotten how to go about having multiple websites hosted together but kept separate, since it's been such a long time since I did anything with any of my sites. At some point I'll get the finger out and do it. And if anyone familiar with creating and uploading websites to 1&1 using Microsoft Frontpage is reading this and wants to remind me how easy it is, I'd be obliged! In the meantime I've also started a Blog for the choir, which is linked from the sidebar on the left. If any RSCM Scottish Voices members are reading this for some reason, and they fancy having a go at sometimes adding choir-related content to our Blog, email me.
In May I sang with The Biggar Singers in an enjoyable performance of Morten Lauridsen's piece, Lux Aeterna, which involved about a hundred mile round trip every week to rehearse. The choir's conducted and accompanied respectively by two members of Glasgow Chamber Choir who live down that way, and my few weeks of excessive travel pale into insignificance when set against them doing it every week coming to Glasgow. And indeed two other GCC members travel from Dumfriesshire every week to rehearse!
A personal high point of the year was when I was asked to sing the tenor solo in a performance of Stainer's Crucifixion on Good Friday in Paisley. My initial reaction upon being asked was "no thanks, I'm a chorister, not a soloist" but when I thought about it, knowing that I can actually sing the notes if not necessarily perform them as a "proper" soloist would, I thought why the hell not. And so I did. And it went well. First time I've ever had my name on a poster! I have no ambitions to be a soloist, and while I'd possibly say yes if asked again, equally I am not at all bothered.
I paid another visit to Paisley later in April, but this time to the Paisley Beer Festival, which was most enjoyable and having been there two years ago is likely to become an annual pilgrimage, albeit I missed last year as I was in Calfornia. I only went on one evening, but a fellow Cathedral chorister, Neil, took holiday from work and went every day. Now that's dedication!
In July four of us from Glasgow Chamber Choir, having coincidentally and enjoyably sung solo parts together during a recent concert, decided to get together and sing together some more. We've met twice so far, it's as much a social event as a musical one, and despite some (hopefully tongue in cheek) remarks from another couple of friends about "the elite group" it's just a bunch of friends singing, drinking and eating together. We've performed together under the name The New Quartet in public once, a few days ago in a branch of a bank for charity, but who knows whether we'll do it again or whether it'll stay purely as a social event.
After a break of 29 years, I met up with former schoolfriends at a wee reunion in Motherwell in April. It was as though we'd only had a break of 6 months and we all got on great again. An unexpectedly tremendous evening. Another one, on a bigger scale, is planned for next year when it'll be 30 years since we left school. And I foolishly offered to co-ordinate it. It shouldn't involve much more than a few emails though, so should be OK.
On the subject of school, there is a sobering time in one's life when one's schoolfriends start dying. In August Kenny Stewart was the first of us to go. Admittedly the lovely, intelligent, caring person Catherine Fellowes died in a tragic diving accident soon after we left school, leaving her massive potential unfulfilled, but Kenny is the first to die without having an accident. He was one of my closest friends at school, and despite us having some differences in later years, you can't take away the fact that we grew up together.
In July RE and I made a weekend trip to the north east of Scotland to see friends, Stephanie and Martin, and to have a wee tour about. It's an area of the country I happen to really like, and it was good not only to show RE round it, but to catch up with old friends at their barbecue. I've known Stephanie since the mid 1980's when she was a student at Glasgow University and joined the Cathedral Choir, so she's probably one of my oldest friends and although we don't see each other terribly often, it's good to catch up when we can.
In August my brother, his wife and daughter moved back to Scotland. They've been living abroad for about a dozen years, first in Dubai and then in San Diego, California. For some reason they decided to come back to the Scottish climate, and it's great to have them here. My niece, Jess, has joined the Cathedral Choir trebles, and seems to enjoy it I'm glad to say. I was immensely proud to be asked to present her with her surplice at Evensong when she passed from being a probationer to being a chorister. They hosted a Halloween party in October (on the 30th, funnily enough!) and the fact that they live in a castle (yes, really) made it all the more spooky! Great fun.
August also saw a return visit to the World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green, with RE, her cousin and his German girlfriend who were visiting Scotland. It rained. But it was a very enjoyable day despite the weather.
In September RE hosted one of her sisters, visiting from New Zealand, and I joined them for a trip to Linlithgow, their ancestral town. It was the first time I've been there, and I can now recommend the Four Mary's pub in the main street.
In a much previous life I was a roadie and mixed the sound for a local band. All very enjoyable, but in an amateur way. A friend, Ian, does it for a living though, well, the sound engineer bit anyway, and ages ago I mentioned to him that if he was ever needing some semi-skilled labour (i.e. really unskilled!) then I'd happily come and lift and carry stuff around for him. In September he called my bluff, and I found myself for two days being a roadie working on the sound crew at the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow. With three outdoor stages and an indoor venue to be covered, it was hard work, a bit physical sometimes, and a lot to take in, but it was great. I even ended up twiddling the knobs for one act, while Ian was called away to deal with a change of venue for another group. All very basic stuff of course, but I'm glad to say Ian trusted me enough to leave me on my own, and I'm even gladder to say I managed to avoid fucking it up! I'm looking forward to the next time, although I don't expect a change of career is due anytime soon!
The Institute of Advanced Motorists has taken more of a back seat this year, pardon the pun, although I did complete the necessary number of observed runs to continue as a Qualified Motorcycle Observer. It remains to be seen however whether I'll continue next year.
I've started to get the flat a bit more sorted. With the benefit of hindsight I realise that when I moved in I wasn't really in the right emotional frame of mind to do the decorating necessary, and as time went on I stopped seeing the faults. I have now got as far as getting a quote from a decorator, and getting the hallway replastered. Soon after Christmas I'll contact the decorator again and get him to come and do the business in the living room and hallway.
My general level of fitness continues to improve as I take advantage of the gym a few hundred yards from my house. I even made it onto a running track with RE a couple of times, but that was very hard going at that time! In the past few weeks I've slipped a bit, but my main New Year's resolution is to redouble my efforts. And I WILL do it.
On a fitness topic, in 2009 I did something I never thought I'd do. I climbed a hill. Not only a hill, but it was in fact a Munro. I've never ever ever been interested in hillwalking, and have been vocal about that opinion all through my life. But RE persuaded me to try it. Well I say persuaded me, but not proactively. I just mean that her influence, unbeknownst to her, made me want to do it. So she kindly agreed to "babysit me" up a hill. I'd be lying if I said there weren't bits I didn't enjoy. I slipped and fell up to my knees in a very cold stream; I slithered and slid my way down what was allegedly a "path"; I fell and staved my finger, but I bloody enjoyed it! And I know that thousands of people do it every weekend and think nothing of it. But this was me doing it. Me who about a year ago looked as though he was about to expire after a very short climb up a set of steps to a scenic viewpoint in the Scottish Borders. Me who a year ago hadn't taken any form of exercise for God knows how long, apart from when I tried badminton and spectacularly ruptured my achilles tendon. Me who is a city boy who has always said he didn't mind walking as long as it was on a pavement. This was me who walked up that Munro. And it is still me who is immensely proud of having done it, and proud of his friend RE for having the patience, skill and perseverance to help me all the way. Others may do it more often and with less effort, but we all have different abilities and different goals, and this particular achievement ranks highly for me.
So that's a potted history of Lay Clerk's 2009. A mixed year, but generally a good one and ending better than it started. Much of the above was Blogged about in depth at the time so if you've read this post in isolation it must seem pretty sparse of detail, and of course I've missed things out. Not just deliberately missed things to protect other people's privacy, but simply because things will have slipped my mind. Something which will hopefully never slip my mind though is to mention the love, friendship, and support of my closest friends, some of whom have been such for the thick end of 25 years, some for only a couple of years, but I value them all and thank them for their continuing friendship and support. I won't name them, but you know who you are. Thank you one and all.
Happy Christmas folks!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
So far so good
The music I mentioned previously has gone well so far, and now there remains only the midnight service and the one on Christmas morning.
The Glasgow Chamber Choir concert in Hyndland went well, and the 70 primary school kids were surprisingly well behaved and more importantly stayed out of my way!
The New Quartet's public debut in the Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday afternoon seemed well received and I think it made a pound or two for charity, which was the whole point.
Glasgow Chamber Choir's involvement in the Raymond Gubbay Carol Spectaculars, while inevitably a bit shouty, were a success and it seems we'll likely be asked to do them again next year. Interestingly, on the Sunday the Edinburgh area of the National Youth Choir of Scotland also performed a few pieces and on the Monday it was their Falkirk area counterparts, and both choirs were directed by ex Glasgow Chamber Choir members, Mark Evans and Kirsty Yeoman respectively (except I think Kirsty may have a new married name now, but I didn't catch it). Small world this musical choiry-stuff lark! The Sunday was a long day which ended with spectacular real deep crunchy crisp snow on the streets of Edinburgh as the last four of us battled through it from the pub across the road from the Usher Hall (All Bar One if you must know), where we'd indulged in a post concert fluid replacement session, to the Chinatown Restaurant in Atholl Place (near Haymarket Station) where we had a very tasty meal before catching the train back to Glasgow. I got back in the door a few minutes before midnight, having left to catch the bus a little after 7am. Long day.
The Monday concert in Glasgow was followed by a few drinks in La Bonne Auberge, across the road from the Royal Concert Hall. A bit pricy, but quiet unlike most of the other city centre Glasgow pubs this close to Christmas. This time I didn't get the bus home from the city centre until almost half past midnight, so it was another long day albeit not as bad as the previous one.
So just the two to go now.
The Glasgow Chamber Choir concert in Hyndland went well, and the 70 primary school kids were surprisingly well behaved and more importantly stayed out of my way!
The New Quartet's public debut in the Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday afternoon seemed well received and I think it made a pound or two for charity, which was the whole point.
Glasgow Chamber Choir's involvement in the Raymond Gubbay Carol Spectaculars, while inevitably a bit shouty, were a success and it seems we'll likely be asked to do them again next year. Interestingly, on the Sunday the Edinburgh area of the National Youth Choir of Scotland also performed a few pieces and on the Monday it was their Falkirk area counterparts, and both choirs were directed by ex Glasgow Chamber Choir members, Mark Evans and Kirsty Yeoman respectively (except I think Kirsty may have a new married name now, but I didn't catch it). Small world this musical choiry-stuff lark! The Sunday was a long day which ended with spectacular real deep crunchy crisp snow on the streets of Edinburgh as the last four of us battled through it from the pub across the road from the Usher Hall (All Bar One if you must know), where we'd indulged in a post concert fluid replacement session, to the Chinatown Restaurant in Atholl Place (near Haymarket Station) where we had a very tasty meal before catching the train back to Glasgow. I got back in the door a few minutes before midnight, having left to catch the bus a little after 7am. Long day.
The Monday concert in Glasgow was followed by a few drinks in La Bonne Auberge, across the road from the Royal Concert Hall. A bit pricy, but quiet unlike most of the other city centre Glasgow pubs this close to Christmas. This time I didn't get the bus home from the city centre until almost half past midnight, so it was another long day albeit not as bad as the previous one.
So just the two to go now.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Corroboration
Well, what did I tell you. Pop over to Kelvin's Blog and read about how he cried at Elizabeth Poston's Jesus Christ the Apple Tree during Choral Evensong yesterday. Just like I said in my previous post, a fantastic piece and obviously beautifully performed on the night.
And I note with interest and some pleasure that he has praise for Choral Evensong in the Cathedral. I couldn't agree more. It's the best of services and has been sung relatively unchanged since the 17th century.
Oh, and the carol service with Glasgow Chamber Choir at Hyndland Parish Church went well, and all beautifully directed by our stand-in conductor Noel, a choir member and all round fantastic musician. We are lucky to have his skills on tap, both vocally and while waving his arms on occasions.
And I note with interest and some pleasure that he has praise for Choral Evensong in the Cathedral. I couldn't agree more. It's the best of services and has been sung relatively unchanged since the 17th century.
Oh, and the carol service with Glasgow Chamber Choir at Hyndland Parish Church went well, and all beautifully directed by our stand-in conductor Noel, a choir member and all round fantastic musician. We are lucky to have his skills on tap, both vocally and while waving his arms on occasions.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
A Festive Public Information Announcement
How very remiss of me, I've just realised I haven't publicised any of the Christmassy type stuff in which I'm involved this year. So here goes.
Sunday 13th December
Tonight at 6.30pm in Hyndland Parish Church at 79-81 Hyndland Road in Glasgow, there will be a carol service in which Glasgow Chamber Choir is taking part. In addition to GCC, there'll also be around 70 primary school children whose teacher is a member of GCC and they'll be singing some stuff on their own.
Also tonight St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow has their regular Choral Evensong at 6.30pm. This isn't specifically a Christmas event, obviously, but is well worth mentioning because the introit they'll be singing is Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, an outstandingly lovely piece by Elizabeth Poston. Last year's performance of it in the Cathedral caused shivers in the spine when the sopranos sang their "solo" start and ending incredibly beautifully and tenderly, and I would expect tonight to be the same. Not that they don't normally sing beautifully, lest I get pelters from any of them for mentioning it as though it was out of the ordinary! The other music is by Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Ebdon, Tomas Luis da Victoria, and JS Bach. Anyway, I won't be singing Evensong tonight as I'll be in Hyndland with GCC.
Sunday 20th December
Next Sunday Glasgow Chamber Choir will be singing in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh at 3pm in the annual Christmas Classics - A Grand Christmas Gala extravaganza put on by the music entrepreneur Raymond Gubbay. It's not our own concert, which is good because we have no organising or selling of tickets for it, and we are effectively the main "chorus" along with the NYCoS Edinburgh Area Choir, the Scottish Concert Orchestra, and the tenor Iain Paton and trumpeter Mark O'Keefe, all conducted by Robert Howarth. Oh and we get paid for doing it, obviously. Not as individuals (lest a representative from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs is reading this) but into choir funds. Tickets range from £13.50 to £30.
That night the Christmas Carol Concert at St Mary's Cathedral will take place at 6.30pm, and music includes The Lamb (John Tavener), Where riches is everlastingly (Bob Chilcott), Hail, happy morn (F. Walker), Cantemos a Maria (Dominican Republic traditional), Eg vil lofa eina þá (Bára GrÃmsdóttir), In the bleak mid-winter (Darke), and God to Adam came in Eden (John Barnard). Quite an eclectic selection and I'm sorry to be missing singing in it at least partially because having learned the Bára GrÃmsdóttir piece a couple of years ago it gives me a sense of smug satisfaction to sing in Icelandic even if I have no clue what the words mean!
Monday 21st December
Glasgow Chamber Choir will be doing it all again in the Raymond Gubbay Carols and Classics concert in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow at 7.30pm, this time with the NYCoS Falkirk Area Choir instead of the Edinburgh one, but everything else is the same. Tickets range from £17 to £29.50 for this one.
Much more importantly though, before the Monday evening concert, that afternoon between 1pm - 2pm you can hear a much less grand but no less worthy rendition of traditional carols in aid of Save the Children. This will take place inside the Royal Bank of Scotland branch at 10 Gordon St, Glasgow G1 3PL. Taking part will be a modest number of singers (four to be exact) including yours truly, and this will be the inaugural (and possibly only) public performance by The New Quartet which was "founded" earlier this year with the twin purposes of singing and socialising! So if you're in Glasgow city centre on Monday 21st December at lunchtime, please pop in to the bank (it's next to the TGI Friday which is on the corner of Buchanan Street and Gordon Street) and show your support for this worthy charity and for the four members of The New Quartet. And on the subject of the RBoS, they have received a hell of a lot of largely deserved bad press recently, but they actually offer an awful lot of support to charities, almost all behind the scenes and almost all unreported and unrecognised. So all credit to them for that.
Thursday 24th December
On Christmas Eve Choral Eucharist (aka the Midnight Service) will take place in St Mary's Cathedral at 11.15pm and the setting is the Festival Missa Brevis by Frikki Walker, who is the Director of Music at St Mary's Cathedral and also of RSCM Scottish Voices amongst others. The anthem is the hauntingly good O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen who is one of the increasingly famous and popular group of American contemporary composers which also includes Eric Whitacre. I've sung O Magnum Mysterium a few times before, and also his larger scale piece Lux Aeterna, and if you haven't heard his style of music before you should make an effort to, because it's worth it. As is Whitacre's. And that's high praise from someone who generally dismisses much of what has been written since the 17th century!
Friday 25th December
Finally, well as far as Christmas stuff goes, Sung Eucharist will take place at 10.30am on Christmas Day in St Mary's Cathedral, and the setting is by Proulx & MacMillan, with other music being Cantemos a Maria (Dominican Republic traditional), and Hail, happy morn (F. Walker).
And then ....
And then begins a short break from singing. Well, a week anyway! The Cathedral choir gets back in harness on Sunday 3rd January 2010, and Glasgow Chamber Choir starts rehearsing on Thursday 14th January for our next concert of British Classics which is on Saturday 20th March 2010 in St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow (small world!) and Sunday 21st March 2010 in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and music includes:
William Walton (1902-1983) - Coronation Te Deum; The Twelve
Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939) - Come, Holy Ghost; I love the Lord
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) - O clap your hands; Drop, drop slow tears
No doubt further adverts will appear before that though!
Other music things? Well RSCM Scottish Voices will next meet on Saturday 16th January to sing a service in St Mary's Parish Church in Haddington, just east of Edinburgh. Keep an eye on our Blog for more details of all our services, and of what to do if you feel you'd like to audition for the choir.
Sunday 13th December
Tonight at 6.30pm in Hyndland Parish Church at 79-81 Hyndland Road in Glasgow, there will be a carol service in which Glasgow Chamber Choir is taking part. In addition to GCC, there'll also be around 70 primary school children whose teacher is a member of GCC and they'll be singing some stuff on their own.
Also tonight St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow has their regular Choral Evensong at 6.30pm. This isn't specifically a Christmas event, obviously, but is well worth mentioning because the introit they'll be singing is Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, an outstandingly lovely piece by Elizabeth Poston. Last year's performance of it in the Cathedral caused shivers in the spine when the sopranos sang their "solo" start and ending incredibly beautifully and tenderly, and I would expect tonight to be the same. Not that they don't normally sing beautifully, lest I get pelters from any of them for mentioning it as though it was out of the ordinary! The other music is by Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Ebdon, Tomas Luis da Victoria, and JS Bach. Anyway, I won't be singing Evensong tonight as I'll be in Hyndland with GCC.
Sunday 20th December
Next Sunday Glasgow Chamber Choir will be singing in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh at 3pm in the annual Christmas Classics - A Grand Christmas Gala extravaganza put on by the music entrepreneur Raymond Gubbay. It's not our own concert, which is good because we have no organising or selling of tickets for it, and we are effectively the main "chorus" along with the NYCoS Edinburgh Area Choir, the Scottish Concert Orchestra, and the tenor Iain Paton and trumpeter Mark O'Keefe, all conducted by Robert Howarth. Oh and we get paid for doing it, obviously. Not as individuals (lest a representative from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs is reading this) but into choir funds. Tickets range from £13.50 to £30.
That night the Christmas Carol Concert at St Mary's Cathedral will take place at 6.30pm, and music includes The Lamb (John Tavener), Where riches is everlastingly (Bob Chilcott), Hail, happy morn (F. Walker), Cantemos a Maria (Dominican Republic traditional), Eg vil lofa eina þá (Bára GrÃmsdóttir), In the bleak mid-winter (Darke), and God to Adam came in Eden (John Barnard). Quite an eclectic selection and I'm sorry to be missing singing in it at least partially because having learned the Bára GrÃmsdóttir piece a couple of years ago it gives me a sense of smug satisfaction to sing in Icelandic even if I have no clue what the words mean!
Monday 21st December
Glasgow Chamber Choir will be doing it all again in the Raymond Gubbay Carols and Classics concert in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow at 7.30pm, this time with the NYCoS Falkirk Area Choir instead of the Edinburgh one, but everything else is the same. Tickets range from £17 to £29.50 for this one.
Much more importantly though, before the Monday evening concert, that afternoon between 1pm - 2pm you can hear a much less grand but no less worthy rendition of traditional carols in aid of Save the Children. This will take place inside the Royal Bank of Scotland branch at 10 Gordon St, Glasgow G1 3PL. Taking part will be a modest number of singers (four to be exact) including yours truly, and this will be the inaugural (and possibly only) public performance by The New Quartet which was "founded" earlier this year with the twin purposes of singing and socialising! So if you're in Glasgow city centre on Monday 21st December at lunchtime, please pop in to the bank (it's next to the TGI Friday which is on the corner of Buchanan Street and Gordon Street) and show your support for this worthy charity and for the four members of The New Quartet. And on the subject of the RBoS, they have received a hell of a lot of largely deserved bad press recently, but they actually offer an awful lot of support to charities, almost all behind the scenes and almost all unreported and unrecognised. So all credit to them for that.
Thursday 24th December
On Christmas Eve Choral Eucharist (aka the Midnight Service) will take place in St Mary's Cathedral at 11.15pm and the setting is the Festival Missa Brevis by Frikki Walker, who is the Director of Music at St Mary's Cathedral and also of RSCM Scottish Voices amongst others. The anthem is the hauntingly good O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen who is one of the increasingly famous and popular group of American contemporary composers which also includes Eric Whitacre. I've sung O Magnum Mysterium a few times before, and also his larger scale piece Lux Aeterna, and if you haven't heard his style of music before you should make an effort to, because it's worth it. As is Whitacre's. And that's high praise from someone who generally dismisses much of what has been written since the 17th century!
Friday 25th December
Finally, well as far as Christmas stuff goes, Sung Eucharist will take place at 10.30am on Christmas Day in St Mary's Cathedral, and the setting is by Proulx & MacMillan, with other music being Cantemos a Maria (Dominican Republic traditional), and Hail, happy morn (F. Walker).
And then ....
And then begins a short break from singing. Well, a week anyway! The Cathedral choir gets back in harness on Sunday 3rd January 2010, and Glasgow Chamber Choir starts rehearsing on Thursday 14th January for our next concert of British Classics which is on Saturday 20th March 2010 in St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow (small world!) and Sunday 21st March 2010 in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and music includes:
William Walton (1902-1983) - Coronation Te Deum; The Twelve
Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939) - Come, Holy Ghost; I love the Lord
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) - O clap your hands; Drop, drop slow tears
No doubt further adverts will appear before that though!
Other music things? Well RSCM Scottish Voices will next meet on Saturday 16th January to sing a service in St Mary's Parish Church in Haddington, just east of Edinburgh. Keep an eye on our Blog for more details of all our services, and of what to do if you feel you'd like to audition for the choir.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Masses of the Masters
Come along to one of the concerts if you can, you won't be disappointed.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Orpheus Britannicus
You could do much worse than come along to Glasgow Chamber Choir's concerts this weekend in Perth and Glasgow.Not only is the music by Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten bloody good, but the concert is sponsored by First Drinks so we will be serving free, yes you read that right, free Hendrick's Gin at the interval!
Oh, and the Hendrick's Gin Website has annoyingly loud music on it that plays as soon as you load the page, sorry if you already followed the link!
So tonight, Saturday 6th June we will be singing in St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, North Methven St, Perth PH1 5PP at 7pm.
Tomorrow, Sunday 7th June we will be singing in St Bride's Episcopal Church, 69 Hyndland Rd, Hyndland, Glasgow G12 9UX, again at 7pm.
Tickets cost only £10, and that includes gin!
Go on, you know it makes sense.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Review of 2008
It's that time of year again when the TV, Radio and newspapers are full of their reviews of the activity and stories of the previous 12 months. Well I'm not going to be outdone! For your delectation (well, OK, it's actually totally for me as a cathartic exercise) here is how 2008 went for me. Not everything I'm going to mention has already been Blogged about, but some has.
Looking back at the review of 2007 I posted a year ago, I can see there have been some changes to my life in the past year. Almost exclusively these have been changes for the better.
The year 2007 ended with me having rejoined Glasgow Chamber Choir, and continuing to enjoy the experience. This coincided with me coming to the end of a difficult and sometimes turbulent relationship which had been going on for a bit over a year. I pride myself on being easy going and hopefully pretty calm much of the time, but my stress levels were through the roof for a significant chunk of the latter part of 2007. I didn't really Blog about this much at the time, it wouldn't have been right, but I can say now with the clarity of hindsight that this was a relationship I shouldn't have been in, and having been in it, it shouldn't have dragged on as long as it did. It did neither of us any good. And in fact it affected my friendship with other, better, friends too. Another pride I take is that I am still on good speaking terms with everyone (there are not all that many!) with whom I have had a significant relationship, whatever form that took, but this particular relationship having finished part way through the year and changed into a tentative, or possibly even tenuous, friendship, in January something happened which caused the other person to cut off all contact with me, despite my efforts to try to remain friends. I gave it a few weeks though, and after all calls had gone unanswered, including calls being rejected, I gave up and haven't thought about contacting her again. So another dark chapter passes!
The thing that happened in January was that I started a new relationship with RE, a member of Glasgow Chamber Choir. She had joined in September 2007 on the same evening I had rejoined, and over the next weeks and months we seemed to hit it off and seemed to enjoy one another's company, albeit always in a larger group, and so we eventually started dating. And we are still doing so, I'm very glad to say! It wouldn't be right for me to describe RE, or our relationship, or how I felt, or anything like that. So I won't. But she knows, I hope, and that's what matters.
In January, sadly, my gran died after a short illness but a long life. Needless to say I miss her. It was largely for her that I started tracing my family tree a few years ago (I currently have it traced back to the late 17th century in one of the strands) and since her death I haven't put any real effort into researching anything further. I fully intend getting back into it in the new year though.
Also in January I sat and passed my Institute of Advanced Motorists Advanced Driving test, adding that qualification to the Advanced Motorcycling one I passed the previous month. Since then I haven't felt the urge to become a Qualified Car Observer, but I persevered with the motorcycling training and in September 2008 I successfully passed the written and practical tests which make me a Qualified Motorcycle Observer, able to accompany and assist associates who are undertaking training to pass their own Advanced test. The season's finished just now of course, but I'm looking forward to carrying on with helping associates next year.
In March I spent a tremendously enjoyable long weekend in Marseilles with Glasgow Chamber Choir, where we sang in a couple of concerts (pretty stress free) and ate, drank and socialised a lot. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it was that it was my first trip abroad for ages, apart from the trip to Belgium in 2007 when I was in a plaster cast, and the first time away with RE. In fact up to that point our relationship was known only to a very small handful of people, but we had to come out the closet, so to speak, for the trip away so it was nice not to have to hide it from our friends any longer!
I've made my personal peace with St Mary's Cathedral. For a while I had no intention of ever going back, but I have and I'm very happy to have done so. My absence from the choir, and from the building generally, started with my achilles tendon injury when I couldn't walk or even stand without crutches, but it then developed into a wider problem connected with the relationship I was in. I should never have let that happen, but I did, but I'm glad to say that I'm back. I'm not singing in the choir full time at the moment, because they rehearse on the same evening as Glasgow Chamber Choir does, but I am for the moment one of the "occasional extra" singers drafted in when they need tenors. The other side of that coin is that if I see anything coming up on the music list which I'd like to sing, then I just contact FW, the director of music, and he's happy for me to come and join in, even if that means the choir has a boatload of tenors that evening! And in fact the choir is well blessed for tenors at the moment, there are I think about five of them, so I'm not really needed just now. But RE and I do attend Evensong most weeks, which is very enjoyable only not quite so enjoyable as actually singing in it!
This year, and I actually can't remember when it was apart from early summer or before, St Mary's Cathedral played host to a big Evensong service for the organist emeritus, Bernard Porter, who was celebrating a significant birthday. Lots of former choir members, including me, joined the current choir and made a spectacular sound. Some travelled from as far afield as the south of England, the north of Scotland, and New York to join the singing! And the socialising, funnily enough, was great!
In the summer, together with various friends including RE, I joined the newly formed Royal School of Church Music Scottish Voices choir. The initial meeting was a residential weekend at Strathallan School in Perthshire, which seemed to go well, not least because FW, from St Mary's Cathedral, is also the conductor of RSCM Scottish Voices. I should explain that the RSCM choir is not to be confused with Scottish Voices, which is a different choir. Apparently RSCM Scottish Voices is the equivalent of the RSCM Cathedral Singers in England, but they decided not to use that name in Scotland lest it offended Presbyterians and others who have no cathedrals! Political correctness strikes again! So they chose the name RSCM Scottish Voices instead, and presumably either didn't realise there is already a choir called Scottish Voices, or didn't care. Superb!
Anyway, next year's dates have recently been circulated, and it looks like it'll be a busy and enjoyable year.
In September my little cat Ernie fell ill, and after a short illness sadly died. I Blogged about that extensively at the time and have no intentions of reliving it here, since it was an intensely painful experience. I miss him greatly, as does Elmo, his wee pal.
One of the high spots of the year undoubtedly was my visit to San Diego, Califonia to visit my brother and his family. Made even better by RE joining me for the last few days when she was enroute back to Glasgow from New Zealand and made a stopover. I've Blogged a fair bit about the holiday, but I'm conscious that I still haven't told the full story yet and I owe this Blog the final installment, so I'll try to get to that as soon as possible!
I discovered in 2008, or it might have been late 2007, that my blood pressure had climbed alarmingly. It's now down to a better level, and I'm trying to get my act together to get to my local gym regularly in an effort to keep it down, lose a bit of weight, and get fit enough to do the things I want to do, which are many and varied! I've decided against taking up badminton again though, as I don't relish the idea of fucking up my achilles tendon again! Watch this space for details of my progress, if indeed I make any progress!
As ever, I make it my rule not to Blog about work. Suffice to say I'm still enjoying being in the particular department I'm in, doing the things I do, and tempting as it is to go looking for more money elsewhere, and it IS available, I'd rather stay where I am. For the moment anyway!
So, to sum up, 2008 has been a good year for me, not only on the relationship front but also as regards St Mary's Cathedral and trips abroad to sunny places. On the extreme down side, I lost both my gran and my faithful companion Ernie, but such is the way of life.
I've just re-read all of the above and realised it's a bit more of a random stream of consciousness than usual, so apologies for that. If I could be arsed I'd edit it into some better chronological, or at least logical, order, but I can't!
Anyway, Happy Christmas and a successful 2009 to you all, and I refuse to go down the political correctness route and use weasel words detracting from Christmas. If you are offended by my wishing you a Happy Christmas rather than Happy Holidays or similar, then perhaps you're reading the wrong Blog and I invite you never to darken my URL again!
Looking back at the review of 2007 I posted a year ago, I can see there have been some changes to my life in the past year. Almost exclusively these have been changes for the better.
The year 2007 ended with me having rejoined Glasgow Chamber Choir, and continuing to enjoy the experience. This coincided with me coming to the end of a difficult and sometimes turbulent relationship which had been going on for a bit over a year. I pride myself on being easy going and hopefully pretty calm much of the time, but my stress levels were through the roof for a significant chunk of the latter part of 2007. I didn't really Blog about this much at the time, it wouldn't have been right, but I can say now with the clarity of hindsight that this was a relationship I shouldn't have been in, and having been in it, it shouldn't have dragged on as long as it did. It did neither of us any good. And in fact it affected my friendship with other, better, friends too. Another pride I take is that I am still on good speaking terms with everyone (there are not all that many!) with whom I have had a significant relationship, whatever form that took, but this particular relationship having finished part way through the year and changed into a tentative, or possibly even tenuous, friendship, in January something happened which caused the other person to cut off all contact with me, despite my efforts to try to remain friends. I gave it a few weeks though, and after all calls had gone unanswered, including calls being rejected, I gave up and haven't thought about contacting her again. So another dark chapter passes!
The thing that happened in January was that I started a new relationship with RE, a member of Glasgow Chamber Choir. She had joined in September 2007 on the same evening I had rejoined, and over the next weeks and months we seemed to hit it off and seemed to enjoy one another's company, albeit always in a larger group, and so we eventually started dating. And we are still doing so, I'm very glad to say! It wouldn't be right for me to describe RE, or our relationship, or how I felt, or anything like that. So I won't. But she knows, I hope, and that's what matters.
In January, sadly, my gran died after a short illness but a long life. Needless to say I miss her. It was largely for her that I started tracing my family tree a few years ago (I currently have it traced back to the late 17th century in one of the strands) and since her death I haven't put any real effort into researching anything further. I fully intend getting back into it in the new year though.
Also in January I sat and passed my Institute of Advanced Motorists Advanced Driving test, adding that qualification to the Advanced Motorcycling one I passed the previous month. Since then I haven't felt the urge to become a Qualified Car Observer, but I persevered with the motorcycling training and in September 2008 I successfully passed the written and practical tests which make me a Qualified Motorcycle Observer, able to accompany and assist associates who are undertaking training to pass their own Advanced test. The season's finished just now of course, but I'm looking forward to carrying on with helping associates next year.
In March I spent a tremendously enjoyable long weekend in Marseilles with Glasgow Chamber Choir, where we sang in a couple of concerts (pretty stress free) and ate, drank and socialised a lot. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it was that it was my first trip abroad for ages, apart from the trip to Belgium in 2007 when I was in a plaster cast, and the first time away with RE. In fact up to that point our relationship was known only to a very small handful of people, but we had to come out the closet, so to speak, for the trip away so it was nice not to have to hide it from our friends any longer!
I've made my personal peace with St Mary's Cathedral. For a while I had no intention of ever going back, but I have and I'm very happy to have done so. My absence from the choir, and from the building generally, started with my achilles tendon injury when I couldn't walk or even stand without crutches, but it then developed into a wider problem connected with the relationship I was in. I should never have let that happen, but I did, but I'm glad to say that I'm back. I'm not singing in the choir full time at the moment, because they rehearse on the same evening as Glasgow Chamber Choir does, but I am for the moment one of the "occasional extra" singers drafted in when they need tenors. The other side of that coin is that if I see anything coming up on the music list which I'd like to sing, then I just contact FW, the director of music, and he's happy for me to come and join in, even if that means the choir has a boatload of tenors that evening! And in fact the choir is well blessed for tenors at the moment, there are I think about five of them, so I'm not really needed just now. But RE and I do attend Evensong most weeks, which is very enjoyable only not quite so enjoyable as actually singing in it!
This year, and I actually can't remember when it was apart from early summer or before, St Mary's Cathedral played host to a big Evensong service for the organist emeritus, Bernard Porter, who was celebrating a significant birthday. Lots of former choir members, including me, joined the current choir and made a spectacular sound. Some travelled from as far afield as the south of England, the north of Scotland, and New York to join the singing! And the socialising, funnily enough, was great!
In the summer, together with various friends including RE, I joined the newly formed Royal School of Church Music Scottish Voices choir. The initial meeting was a residential weekend at Strathallan School in Perthshire, which seemed to go well, not least because FW, from St Mary's Cathedral, is also the conductor of RSCM Scottish Voices. I should explain that the RSCM choir is not to be confused with Scottish Voices, which is a different choir. Apparently RSCM Scottish Voices is the equivalent of the RSCM Cathedral Singers in England, but they decided not to use that name in Scotland lest it offended Presbyterians and others who have no cathedrals! Political correctness strikes again! So they chose the name RSCM Scottish Voices instead, and presumably either didn't realise there is already a choir called Scottish Voices, or didn't care. Superb!
Anyway, next year's dates have recently been circulated, and it looks like it'll be a busy and enjoyable year.
In September my little cat Ernie fell ill, and after a short illness sadly died. I Blogged about that extensively at the time and have no intentions of reliving it here, since it was an intensely painful experience. I miss him greatly, as does Elmo, his wee pal.
One of the high spots of the year undoubtedly was my visit to San Diego, Califonia to visit my brother and his family. Made even better by RE joining me for the last few days when she was enroute back to Glasgow from New Zealand and made a stopover. I've Blogged a fair bit about the holiday, but I'm conscious that I still haven't told the full story yet and I owe this Blog the final installment, so I'll try to get to that as soon as possible!
I discovered in 2008, or it might have been late 2007, that my blood pressure had climbed alarmingly. It's now down to a better level, and I'm trying to get my act together to get to my local gym regularly in an effort to keep it down, lose a bit of weight, and get fit enough to do the things I want to do, which are many and varied! I've decided against taking up badminton again though, as I don't relish the idea of fucking up my achilles tendon again! Watch this space for details of my progress, if indeed I make any progress!
As ever, I make it my rule not to Blog about work. Suffice to say I'm still enjoying being in the particular department I'm in, doing the things I do, and tempting as it is to go looking for more money elsewhere, and it IS available, I'd rather stay where I am. For the moment anyway!
So, to sum up, 2008 has been a good year for me, not only on the relationship front but also as regards St Mary's Cathedral and trips abroad to sunny places. On the extreme down side, I lost both my gran and my faithful companion Ernie, but such is the way of life.
I've just re-read all of the above and realised it's a bit more of a random stream of consciousness than usual, so apologies for that. If I could be arsed I'd edit it into some better chronological, or at least logical, order, but I can't!
Anyway, Happy Christmas and a successful 2009 to you all, and I refuse to go down the political correctness route and use weasel words detracting from Christmas. If you are offended by my wishing you a Happy Christmas rather than Happy Holidays or similar, then perhaps you're reading the wrong Blog and I invite you never to darken my URL again!
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