Listening in lockdown

some Easter flowers

We’re amateur musicians.  We enjoy playing and (in my case) singing, but giving concerts, performing in public, is not a high priority for us.  But this period of uncertainty has left us frequent disappointments, when the rare chances we might have to play music with friends (we have a group of 4, 2 couples, which used to get together playing baroque trio sonatas) are cancelled again and again because of Covid.  Sadly I think our next date later in April will be added to the cancellation list.

All the same, Mary has been pleased and touched to be asked to help out at the Vauvert music school where she has her cello lessons.  Her teacher is unwell, and M has been asked to stand in for her working with individual young pupils.  Even without Covid it would only have been for a short time, and the latest lockdown measures curtail it even more, but it is both an unexpected extra thing to do, more variety, but at the same time a bit daunting.  Tomorrow’s will be the last session for now, but she’ll be back later in April to complete the lessons, around 20 young people of varying abilities over two days a week normally.  Of course, whatever her qualities as a cellist her experience as a teacher and musician means that she has things to offer and she has enjoyed meeting the pupils so far.  Meanwhile my choir in Montpellier is postpones again and again, and the various schemes that have been suggested for sectional rehearsals don’t seem to me to be very useful even when they were allowed.

soprano and flute, following Jesus to the cross

All of which leaves us with the alternatives of listening to radio and recordings.  To be honest, these days that attracts me more than performing, and there are plenty of inspirational things to listen to.  At Easter there are of course Bach Passions on offer, and while Mary was out meeting her pupils on Wednesday I listened to a broadcast of the St Matthew Passion which I don’t know very well, a Dutch performance with beautiful singing and playing, particularly a lovely tenor evangelist.  The 3 hours’ music took me through mundane morning chores and past lunch too!  Listening is more practical in combination with other simple tasks – you aren’t glued to a screen, and so can listen as you potter about.  I’ve enjoyed the more flexible opportunities available through podcasts and ‘catch-up’ radio, especially since we’ve acquired high-quality wireless (Bluetooth) speakers.

 This Easter Sunday, we played a lovely tv programme of excepts from the Messiah from English National Opera at the Coliseum.  Marvellous soloists, including Iestyn Davies whom we heard live in Handel, Saul, at Glyndebourne.  The chorus and orchestra of the English National Opera, including wonderful valveless trumpets, were spread right across the auditorium, which turns out to have a very good acoustic when empty - never of course heard like that except in these odd times.  But singing and playing widely spaced like that must have been a great challenge, successfully surmounted.  And we also played the Easter service from King's College Cambridge - as at Christmas the tenors and basses of the choir were replaced by the Kings Singers, who blended well with the boys' voices.