Oakland Symphony Chorus

This is a MIDI file for the Poulenc O Magnum Mysterium, written in 1952. (The piece, not the MIDI file.)

More review on Porgy and Bess.

We did a final runthrough of everything in Porgy and Bess. We had some minor issues, but overall, the sound is great!

We went over the notes that had been given by Michael Morgan at Wednesday's rehearsal, related to tempo and interpretation of Porgy and Bess. There are additional cuts. I did not record either the Wendesday or the Tuesday rehearsals of this week.

All Norman. We'd expected Michael Morgan to appear, but he did not. We finished at 9:30pm.

Lots of focus on the details, primarily on Porgy and Bess.

Porgy and Bess and Norman, once again. Michael Morgan will be at the rehearsal on the 11th to go over the Norman

Run through Porgy and Bess, followed by detailed cue notes from the Norman -- we learned which instruments will be playing our notes for entrances.

Detailed massage of difficult men's sections in Porgy and Bess.

A full runthrough of Porgy and Bess, followed by about 15 minutes of notes on the Norman, based on the full score.

Another careful runthrough of much of Porgy and Bess, then a complete run of the Norman, starting around 9:35 pm.

Norman and Ravel primarily, with some Porgy and Bess.

We ran through all of the major choruses in Porgy and Bess, in preparation for Saturday's Discovery Day.

We spent the entire rehearsal on Porgy and Bess.

An MP3 of the MIDI export of the Finale score of River of Mercy, by Andrew Norman.

The entire rehearsal was spent on the Norman. Because cutoffs and rhythm are so important in this piece, this is a difficult rehearsal to digest without actually seeing it.

Porgy, Norman, and Ravel again. I'm writing this description enough after the fact that I can't remember in what order.

Brandon Adams guest-conducted this rehearsal, where we went over Porgy, Norman, and Ravel.

A MIDI export of the Finale score of River of Mercy, by Andrew Norman.

The first half we reviewed our work so far on Porgy and Bess, then spent most of the second half on the finale to the Ravel, returning to the ballads from Porgy and Bess at the end.

The first half we worked on Porgy and Bess, and the second half on Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe.

Excerpts from Acts 2 and 3 of Porgy and Bess, put together from the October 26 rehearsal. Thank you to Rena David for putting these together.

Excerpts from Act 1 of Porgy and Bess, put together from the October 26 and January 24 rehearsals. Thank you to Rena David for putting these together.

A brief discussion of the Gasser, and a read-through and first polish of several sections of Porgy and Bess.

Full run-through of the Gasser, plus detailed section review as needed by the section leaders. We also sight-sang pages 60-69 from Porgy and Bess, the "Oh, I can't sit down" song.

We ran the Gasser in reverse, and worked through all of it in detail. It's really coming together! We also sight-sang a bit from Porgy and Bess.

We rehearsed the Gasser in depth.

A runthrough of Black Suit blues, from the October 7 rehearsal.

The dress rehearsal for the December concerts, at St. Joseph's Basilica Church in Alameda.

A review of most of the pieces from the December concerts.

This MP3 has run-throughs of all of the December music from the November 8, 2006. The order is: Kay Alleluia, O Sifuni Mungu, Simple Gifts, Quiet Alleluia, In the Bleak Midwinter, Home for the Holidays, Es Ist Ein Ros', S'vivon, Oh Chanukah, Maoz Tsur, Cantate Domino, and the Poulenc. Thank you to Rena David for putting this together.

A complete runthrough of the entire holiday concert, including the soloists selected last week.

This MP3 has run-throughs of all of the December music from various rehearsals through November 7, 2006. The order is: Kay Alleluia, O Sifuni Mungu, Simple Gifts, Quiet Alleluia, In the Bleak Midwinter, Home for the Holidays, Es Ist Ein Ros', S'vivon, Oh Chanukah, Maoz Tsur, Cantate Domino, and the Poulenc. Thank you to Rena David for putting this together.

Solo auditions and LaRocca's Cantate Domino. This recording is incomplete -- we got about 90 minutes of the rehearsal, due to problems with the new recording rig we're using while the Firepod is being serviced.

A first runthrough of Porgy and Bess. This was recorded on the Macintosh's internal microphone, and the quality of the playback reflects that, unfortunately.

This MP3 has run-throughs of all of the December music from various rehearsals through October 25, 20006. In some cases there are sections repeated. The order is: Kay Alleluia, O Sifuni Mungu, Simple Gifts, Quiet Alleluia, In the Bleak Midwinter, Home for the Holidays, Es Ist Ein Ros', S'vivon, Oh Chanukah, Maoz Tsur, Cantate Domino, and the Poulenc. Thank you to Rena David for putting this together.

This MIDI file was put together by Rena David and Karen Ivy for use by the altos.

Run throughs of much of the concert music, not including the La Rocca, which will be here next week. The Chanukah pieces need attention -- they will be memorized!

Run throughs of much of the concert music, not including the La Rocca, which will be here next week. The Chanukah pieces need attention -- they will be memorized!

Poulenc, O Sifuni, a whole bunch of announcements, and more.

An in-depth run through of Nolan Gasser's Black Suit Blues.

Simple Gifts, the Home for the Holidays medley, and some sad news from Tina about her mother.

We did a close reading of the Ulysses Kay Alleluia, and read and ran through one of the Hanukah pieces. We also got spoken Hebrew pronunciations of the Hanukah pieces, read slowly. Those pronunciations can be found around the 1:45:00 mark on the recording.

This is a MIDI file for the Poulenc Quem Vidistis Pastores Dicite, written in 1952.

This is a MIDI file for the Poulenc Videntes Stellam, written in 1952.

This is a MIDI file for the Poulenc Hodie Christus Natus Est, written in 1952.

We did a second reading Frank Bennett's A Quiet Alleluia, The McTigue and Langley arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter/Take Shelter, and their arrangement of Home for the Holidays, and then read the rest of the pieces for the holiday concert, including three with Hanukah themes sung in Hebrew.

We sight read a little more than half of the chorus' music for the holiday concert, among them: Alleluia, by Ulysses Kay, O Sifuni Mungu, Simple Gifts, arranged by Dale Warland, Francis Poulenc's Four Motets for Christmas, including his stunning O Magnum Mysterium, Frank Bennett's A Quiet Alleluia, The McTigue and Langley arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter/Take Shelter, and their arrangement of Home for the Holidays. See the chorus notes section of the web site for details and links related to several of the pieces.