Holiday Music Is PEOPLE!

[chaosvizier]

So the other day my good buddy angledge gives me a great Christmas gift: a ticket to join her in Lincoln Center for a Handel's Messiah sing-along.



Handel's Messiah out-and-out rules. Of the many pieces of classical music that can be recognized by anyone straight off the street, the Hallelujah chorus easily ranks in the top five overall, and for choral pieces might be second only to Beethoven's Ode to Joy. The rest of the Messiah, however, is almost as energetic and exciting and, I dare say, fun to sing. Even for those of us with sub-par voices.

The National Chorale hosts the Messiah sing-along every year in Lincoln Center. This was their 40th anniversary, and some folks in attendance had been there for a great number of those 40 performances. We, however, were new. And, as such, we did not know about the "bring your own score" aspect of the performance. So, we didn't sing much. But we still had a great time.

The four soloists were clearly enjoying themselves, most notably Sir Basso Profondo, who looked so stern and robust when performing that you could have slapped a lance and a suit of armor on him and sent him out to slay a dragon. The conductors were also having a blast; each piece was conducted by a different maestro, each of whom would take a moment to talk about the piece, practice a moment, or maybe just make jokes. All in all, about 25 pieces were done, about a third with soloists and the rest with the audience participation.

The audience was definitely there to sing. I was standing next to a talented soprano (not angledge, who is more alto really), and Ang was just a few seats away from an outstanding tenor. There was a high school choir in the back, and scattered throughout the audience one could make out strong voices leading the crowd. Again, without scores we could not fully participate, although I did know most of the words and phrases, and some of the music to boot. Don't be dissing all of my baritone powerz. Just most of them.

High points included the soprano's sexy green dress, the organist who took a turn conducting while playing the organ, the first conductor who got the audience loosened up, the very fabulous conductor who was... well, just fabulous, Sir Basso Profondo, and 2000+ voices singing "Hallelujah".

Low points were few, but most notably the audience's collective mauling of "The Lord Gave the Word". Also, we had the worst waiter ever at dinner just before the concert, and the National Chorale's ticket-ordering website mechanism was clearly programmed by, and then promptly staffed with, monkeys.

If we had known to bring our own scores to follow along, it would have been perfect. But hey, we're n00bs at this. It was still amazing, a lot of fun, and worth doing if you like this kind of musical venture.

Thanks, angledge, and merry Christmas!

Comments

[kokopellinelli]

You know what? I kinda want to draw a "group photo" of Sir James and the crew of the Omni. That probably means it'll never happen, but if by some freak of nature it DOES, would there be anything in particular you want in it, or any particular way you want the characters to look? I plan on going back through the chapters you've already done and skimming for physical descriptors.

Or you can tell me to bugger off and not lay pencil to paper.

Hugs!

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

I really liked your drawings from last year, and it would be awesome if you had the time and inkling to do it again. I'll email you so that you can better ignore the idea. ;-)

[kokopellinelli]

WOO!