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Tenor Viol's musings

Good to hear they’ve finally got a foothold of the situation (I’ll get my coat)
 
Apparently netflix are showing the complete series of Das Boot on TV.
 
Finally, after 14 weeks the boot/splint has come off and the crutches have been replaced by a walking stick. The physio is pleased with the 'repair' saying that minimal scar tissue has formed on the Achilles' tendon and no excessive thickening. Seems to be all connected. Walking is stilted and awkward, but it is working.
 
Currently escaping cold damp dismal British weather for colder Norwegian weather
 

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Today was furthest north I’ve ever been - beating previous trip to both Yukon and Alaska. Today was over 72 Deg north at North Cape in Norway .
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Well, after a week cruising long the north Norwegian coast and its spectacular and dramatic scenery, I am back home.
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Due to an ongoing battle with a)Apple's iCloud, b)Adobe's Photoshop Elements, c)Adobe's Lightroom CC, and because of that, d)Adobe's Lightroom Classic, e)setting up NAS on my system, I still haven't processed my pics from the Norway trip. This is a poor version of an aurora pic. It was taken on deck on the ship whilst underway, so tricky to take long exposures. I was using a Nikon Z6 with a 24mm lens at f/4 with a 2 second exposure and the ISO set to 6,400. Camera was on a tripod and I used a wireless remote to trigger it.

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OK, thought I would just write some observations on the recent 'music from the musicals' concert. I've always been of the view that a so-called 'macaronic' programme (i.e. one made up of a lot of disparate music, rather than say music in one style / era / composer) is much harder to perform.

I know that as a choral singer, Christmas concerts for example are hard work as typically you're singing works by a dozen or more composers scattered across 400 or 500 years' of history such as Palestrina, Schutz, Mendelssohn, Rutter, Lauridsen....

With orchestral playing it's very similar: a programme of stylistically similar music is much easier than one made up of many different styles. This is the challenge when playing say film music and of course music from musical theatre.

Our programme was very varied with various suites and medleys from Sound of Music, Chicago, Hamilton, Wicked, The Greatest Showman, Rogers and Hammerstein, Phantom of the Opera, plus various single items such as Over the Rainbow, Bohemian Rhapsody etc.

Most of this music is enjoyable to play and also really nice to listen to. I do have some reservations about some of the more recent examples such as Hamilton which seems. to focus on really awkward rhythms.

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That subject might make an interesting standalone thread. Shall I move it?

Jx
 
The orchestra's MD has a sense of humour... I think...

Yesterday in lieu of a 'normal' rehearsal, the last rehearsal of the term was badged a 'play day' to be followed by Christmas social. So venue was the function room above a Birmingham city centre bar.

So, we had a play through of the whole of next term's programme... Weber's overture to Die Freischutz, Elgar's Sea Pictures, and Dvorak Symphony No. 9.

On top of that, people had a chance to be soloists, so we ran the opening movement of Prokofiev violin concert #3, and an Andante and Rondo for bassoon by Weber.

To finish, a medley from classic Bugs Bunny cartoons with arrangements by Carl Stalling and others...

That was a lot of sight-reading... three solid hours...
After that, we retired downstairs to sit down to dinner...
 
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