Today the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble presents its winter concert at Furman’s Daniel Chapel. The program is entitled “Music for the Soul”, and the music was chosen to be both soothing and uplifting.
We start the concert with Gabriel Faure’s Requiem as the major work on the piece. I’ve performed this piece several times, and always enjoy it. We follow that with Mealor’s Ubi Caritas, which was written for the recent Royal Wedding, then a setting of O Sacrum Convivium by Dan Locklair. Next up are arrangements of two hymns, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need and Nearer My God to Thee.
The next piece is The Rune of Hospitality, and unusual piece by Alf Houkom that starts sounding like it has a secular text, but ends with a sacred message. That’s followed my Morten Lauridsen’s Sure On This Shining Night, which is a soaring, fabulous piece of music. We end the concert with the King’s Singers’ You Are the New Day, followed by a silly arrangement of The William Tell Overture, and we close with our signature tune, I Have Had Singing by Steven Sametz. It should be a good concert for a cold winter day.
For this concert I’ve been entrusted with making a recording. Every year we do a professional recording, but we wind up using the recordings I always do as a backup. This year they just decided to go with mine. No pressure there at all. Over the past two rehearsals I’ve been experimenting with placement and settings, and I think I’ve got it worked out. I’ll use two portable recorders placed up front, mostly toward the middle of the chapel. I’ll combine the output from both recorders for the final product so that I get a good balance. Here’s a taste of Monday night’s rehearsal recording of You Are the New Day…
I also had my GoPro going during rehearsal. We first wanted to try to get Bing to wear it on his head…
…but he wouldn’t go for it. Instead, I set the camera up on a tripod and did a time lapse. Here it is set to a sped-up version of the William Tell Overture…
And of course, this being our winter concert, there is always a chance of inclement weather. It’s gotten to be a joke. There is always a threat of sleet, ice, or something on our concert. This year it snowed…
But, today the sun is out, the snow is mostly gone, and it should be a great day for a concert. We hope to have a full house.
I’d defiinitely like a recording of this concert if available. I’m looking forward to being there shortly in person to enjoy your work.