Prep 2

Later that evening, I got to Igitur nos rehearsing at All Saints Ainslie for their performance of Bach’s Easter Oratorio and selections from Handel. I wouldn’t have attended the rehearsal, but I melt over Bach choral music and I have a clash with a gig on the day. This was all business: stops and starts; repeats from bar nn; advice on interpretation and introductions; comments and praise and jokes. It’s a working environment and the music is just in segments, but the beauty couldn’t help but show through. They sang in English, but the one soloist I heard, alto Maartje Seventer, was Dutch and her arias were impressive. She was telling me later that she’d lived a 1 hour train ride from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw: obviously a good influence. The choir is accompanied with a neat chamber orchestra of strings, bassoon and oboe, harpsichord, percussion and a pair of baroque trumpets. The trumpets were bliss in Handel towards the end of the night. All timpani and trumpet and exultant fanfares. I was about to leave but was called back by joyous 2-feel and rising sopranos of the Hallelujah Chorus. I usually close my eyes for classical music, but I was rocking my head and smiling for this one. Is this head-banging for the 1600s? I dread that I can’t make the gig but a taste is better than naught and I got the levels for Megan to record on the day.

Igitur nos were rehearsing Bach’s Easter Oratorio BWV249 and selections from Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Messiah at All Saint’s Anglican Church at Ainslie with Matthew Stuckings conducting.