Shortly I’ll be closing down my computer to go and sing – I’m taking the afternoon off to rehearse at St. Paul’s Cathedral for a concert this evening of Berlioz’ Grande Messe des Morts.  Yesterday we rehearsed at the Barbican and I wondered, “What is the collective noun for timps?”  A herd of kettle drums?  I don’t think so… a tinnitus of timps, perhaps.  I counted thirteen – for this is a work of epic proportions.  We are also two choirs – the London Symphony Chorus and the London Philharmonic Choir.

Whilst our focus is on the concerts that lie ahead, there are memorable moments – striking in the moment – during rehearsals and yesterday was one.  We gathered at the Barbican’s concert hall for our first tutti rehearsal.  The orchestra alone filled the extended concert platform so someone came up with the idea of placing our conductor – our much loved Sir Colin Davis – at the rear of the concert platform, with the orchestra facing him and the choir singing from the stalls.  The Barbican was ours and ours alone.  The effect was to combine the grandeur of the piece with a sense of intimacy as if, somehow, this was a performance for us, and us alone.


As I start to gather together all that I need for this evening’s concert – concert dress, black handbag, music, make-up – I start to imagine the same musicians in the much larger venue of St. Paul’s Cathedral and to recognise the challenge we face.  Yesterday Sir Colin was so far away – will we be any closer today?  We need to watch him like a hawk to follow his tempi for with so many musicians we cannot rely on sound which takes time to travel.  And that’s before we factor in the pauses, the changes of tempo in the midst of movements…

I take time for one final action from my ‘to do’ list before I go and send a quick e-mail to friends and family before I go.  It reads:

Dear friends and LSC groupies


I’ll be going off to rehearse shortly for our two concerts (this evening and tomorrow) of Berlioz’ Grande Messe des Morts.  You just can’t beat the live performance of such an epic piece!


Still, in case you won’t be at the concert and would like to know what I get up to in my spare time, listen out on BBC’s Radio 3 tomorrow – for details just follow this link:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jz3z1.  And if you’d like to book tickets you’ll find them at http://lso.co.uk/page/3090/City-of-London-Festival-2012-Berlioz-Requiem/544.


Much love


Dorothy


Memories are made of such moments as this.