This was my first time singing Stanford, and although we are not Anglican I think our mainly Germanic choir did okay with is pretty pieces. I do feel the these beautiful reflections of Mary, the Magnificat, are lovely words to sing out during Advent.
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| Maestra Jane Glover, this concert was my 3rd with Glover whose gaze can cut you to the quick. |
The second of my concerts was with the CMU Festival Chorus as guests of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, under the baton, make that, under the baton-less hands of the indomitable Jane Glover! Jane performed the entire Messiah without baton and score! She took some glorious liberties with tempo as in a grand ritard (not at the end) in the Hallelujah Chorus which she described as 'vulgar and Victorian" and thanked us for indulging her. She called the opening of Worthy is the Lamb a choral recitative and declared there was no regular tempo there so we would all just have to watch her. To the orchestra she said, 'I am still hearing bar line. I want to hear syntax. This is choral recitative."
Her lovely expressive hands, body and face conveyed everything instrumentalists, soloists and choir required. During "they rebuke" Ms. Glover's face was near collapsing, whereas in the "he trusted" movement she looked so vile and horrid that it scared even the basses in the back row! Jane pays homage to Handel with every movement. During, the soprano aria, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" Jane looked completely radiant. She gave much of herself and expects, nay demands, the same from all of us! She can be completely terrifying and is not one to mince words. At the dress rehearsal, where conductors are always pressured by the union clock, she stated at the end , "there have been a lot of intonation problems in the orchestra tonight and if I had the time I should like to go over then but I trust you to take responsibility for intonation when you are getting paid." Of course, this kind of talk gives a little boost to unpaid amateur choristers.
At the opening of our concert at the Centennial Concert Hall, Saturday December 7, 2019 the Symphony's executive director, Trudy Schroeder actually thanked the choristers for giving their time and talent to this Messiah. This is the first time, that I can recall, the Symphony publicly thanking us like this. It was very appreciated.
The CMU Festival, although able to perform great works, is a collection of amateurs who are all busy with their day to day lives and who sing for pleasure. They spend a full work day at their real jobs and then come together to rehearse works as a labour of love. When we perform, it is our happy place. This is in contrast to the WSO players who are actually at work when performing and do other things for fun.
Soloists for this performance were Andrea Lett, soprano, Andrea Hill, mezzo, Zach Finkelstein, tenor and Stephen Hegedus, baritone.
You can read a review of the performance here.
MANNO, I MEAN, MENNONITE VS. LONDON ACCENT
A little tidbit from our first choral rehearsal with Ms. Glover: Anytime we were singing a long U vowel sound such as in Hallelujah or the to of Unto Ms. Glovers discerning ears heard an umlaut. She was quite visibly affronted by this sound. She asked, quite incredulously, if this was a Manitoba accent and without waiting for an answer said to, "get rid of it." Then it led her to tell, what she thought was an utterly hilarious anecdote about the mezzo Janet Baker who was so accustomed to singing Lieder that when needing a ride to the concert hall in London asked for someone to call her an Über. Some of us offered some polite laughter but inwardly we puzzled, "you mean its not pronounced Über?"
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