Today's program was arranged by Simon Carrington, the Director Emeritus of the School.
A number of conducting students led a very fine vocal ensemble in works by Victoria, Monteverdi, Legrenzi, Haydn, McDowall, Britt, Reger, and Ives. They were of varying degrees of expertise. All of them seem to want to conduct with cupped hands. This was always a no-no in my studies with various conductors. Elaine Brown, among others, told us that your choir needs to see a point of contact in your hands. We always extended the index finger which Elaine called our 'baton'. If these people were conducting a less professional choir, the result would have been quite different.
The choir had a very good sound. I don't like what the sopranos were doing on high notes: straight tone with no sense of messa di voce. This produces a shrill sound. Boys voices can do this beautifully; adult women have to hold the sound to achieve this, which I find very unattractive.
The soprano soloist, Sherezade Panthaki, sang in a held-back technique, making her sing just under the pitch much of the time. Her high notes were unpleasant. When she had fioratura to sing, she cut way back on her sound which gave a sense of unbalance to her singing.
The instrumental ensemble was excellent. Mr. Carrington conducted a première, House of Clouds, by Colin Britt, which was interesting but not exciting.
All in all it was a pleasant way to spend a Berkshire Sunday afternoon.
