'How to Play' - Messiah with the CBSO chorus

[Keraulophone]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001bkt1?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Simon Halsey prepares the choir for a performance conducted by John Butt. Brings back mixed memories of singing in an amateur symphony chorus - it's quite hard work, especially when the orchestra turns up in the final rehearsal and you can hardly hear yourself sing.

They did brilliantly in Mahler 2 on Wednesday with the London Symphony Chorus.

[oddoneout]

So why is a series called "How to Play"

The insiders' take on bringing great pieces of classical music to audiences in 21st-century Britain.EPISODES (11 AVAILABLE)

on R4 rather than R3? If it's for some educational purpose/audience widening purpose how come R3 ends up with Dumbtime, rather than something of intellectual worth?

[ardcarp]

Well, Simon Halsey certainly knows how to take a rehearsal. No messing about, just a quick demo and then back to bar so-and-so. How I wish some choral (and occasionally orchestral) conductors didn't waste so much time (a) talking and (b) taking an age to work out where to start again from. And that rehearsal pianist on the programme was right on the ball!

[Keraulophone]

How I wish some choral (and occasionally orchestral) conductors didn't waste so much time (a) talking and (b) taking an age to work out where to start again from.

Absolutely! Richard Hickox used to enter the rehearsal room, take off his jacket, ask the choir to watch the end of his stick and hardly utter a word until the end of the rehearsal; by which time he had transformed the sound of the choir as well as inspired an accurate and heart-felt account of the score. Only a very select few can get the best out of amateur/semi-professional choirs in this way. The Hungarian conductor and chorusmaster Laszlo Heltay was another.
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