May 8, 2010 London!

Saturday, I went a concert by the Belmont Ensemble of London at St. Martin-in-the-fields. It's an incredible venue. I walked in and was completely awestruck by everything I could see. The high ceiling, the gold ornate decorations, the statues everywhere. It all takes my breath away. I sat right at the front next to the orchestra in these very old benches. :) The choir performed some incredible pieces!!!! We heard Handel's "Zadok the Priest" and a newly discovered "Gloria" by Handel as well. They also sang the final scenes from "Dido and Aeneas" by Purcell. We had an 'interval' of 20 minutes and then heard Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and his "Requiem". Everything was so beautiful I'm having a hard time describing how I felt.

Another thing I love about being here is that everyone is just as nerdy (if not more so) than me! Chris and I walked out of the concert wanting to sing. So we did. We sang through the streets of London. We discussed what we liked and didn't like about the concert. We talked about the conductors techniques. (London conductors are so completely different than any American conductor I've ever seen). We talked about how clear the sopranos were. I thought it was interesting that the choir had 8 sopranos and only 5 altos. At BYU, we tend to have twice as many altos (if not more) than sopranos to even out all the parts because the higher register is clearer and easier to hear.

Some notes on the music I heard and also how they performed it. :) I felt that even though there were many more sopranos than altos (same with tenor and bass, but someone else mentioned it. I tend to tune into female voices more), I didn't feel like the sopranos were too much. I really liked the sound. I was so impressed with the choir. Everyone was on top of everything. The pitch was impeccable. There weren't many choir members but their sound was full and loud and it surprised me. They also had very healthy voices. In the Gloria, I was so impressed with the soprano soloist. I want to be like her when I grow up!! She hit the high notes so effortlessly. She had a nice clear tone at the beginning and then let a little bit of shimmer in toward the end of the note. It was gorgeous. The instruments were wonderful. I loved the sound of the orchestra. In the Purcell, I noticed that not only did the singers have incredible voices, but their facial expressions were perfect for the pieces. When the music was sad, they were sad. When the music was joyful, they were joyful. I loved watching that so closely. Ok, so my favorite part of the concert was the Mozart Requiem. It was so incredible. While I was listening, I was so overcome with emotion. This is what I wrote on my program, "The Mozart Requiem takes me outside of myself. I feel like I'm in Heaven. The amazing sounds of the choir, orchestra and the soloists strengthen my testimony of Heavenly Father and the miracles He brings about in my life." Can you tell I really enjoyed that concert? :) It was amazing.