I try and write regularly in the general blog, but wine and music (this one) are usually neglected. But I'm inspired by our latest concert in the village of Sain Jean du Gard, in the foothills of the Cevennes, to provide a brief update on my musical life, and Mary's.
B.a.Bach is the choir I joined over 10 years ago, which does 'what it says on the tin', i.e. sings (almost only) the works of J.S.Bach. We have recently moved onto a new conductor, my friend and (for some time) singing teacher Kamala Calderoni who many in the choir had known for some time as soprano soloist. Like other choral conductors I've been lucky enough to know, she is very keen on teaching us all to sing, as well of course as producing good music; as it turns out she is also good at keeping us cheerful - there is humour alongside the serious business of accurate expressive singing.
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| during our concert in the Temple of St Jean du Gard | | | |
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But much of Bach's choral music needs high quality orchestral accompaniment, and so concerts can cost a lot. Like the Canonbury Chamber Choir with which I sang in London, we work with players of baroque instruments so there are no shortcuts, and although we are lucky in this area to have excellent players on hand, we are often short of money to pay them. No easy solutions, and to my mind you cannot get far in Bach choral music without brass and woodwind, so we are looking for sponsorhip.
Music has more or less stopped for the summer for both of us - my last choir rehearsal was a couple of weeks ago. We are just beginning work on the motet Jesu meine Freude, which I've sung several times over the years.
Tom Service is so often an inspiration in his explorations of music on the BBC
the Listening Service, and his piece on Thomas Tallis's
Spem in Allium is no exception. We listen to BBC radio 3 a lot (over the internet) with good sould from our Bluetooth speakers, but thanks to friends here I have also discovered the Sunday morning Bach on France Musique. So the hot summer days pass lazily on!
