13-Oct / 0 COMMENTS

 

This weekend was a complete 180 degrees turnaround from the last. I sang Handel’s Messiah with the Golden Circles Ensemble. I love Handel’s music. It just feels right from the first note to the last cadenza. The melodies stick with you for days after you sang them, and the writing makes complete sense, like there’s a perfect proportion to everything you do while this music is still going. This feeling might also be part of the fact that his writing is so idiomatic for the human voice.  Well, my voice anyway…

 

Along my study, I heard some heavy weight singers in my path saying they like Handel’s music when it’s – “Vintage Handel”, which I think can be explained as- they like the pieces in which Handel got it right 100%. Yes, sure, the guy recycled a lot of his material. We’re quite obsessed about being always original these days. At that time composers drew upon their own material and each other’s constantly. People would actually send you a thank you note for using their theme in your piece. Show me a blogger these days that doesn’t repeat at least one theme occasionally 😉

 

 

Back to the Golden Circles Ensemble, although it exists for only a year, it includes both people I’ve been singing with since I came to The Netherlands, as well as some new fresh faces (at least to me). You might wonder why I’m writing about the levels of familiarity here, but it’s a big point in ensembles. Often times, driven by the economical situation, ensembles are formed for a few rehearsals before a concert or a tour, and there is no time to create the connections and trust that are so important to this kind of music making. This time there was on one hand the comfort of knowing the work of my colleagues and building upon a relationship that was already there, and on the other the excitement and alertness for the new element in people.

 

Take a look at my interpretation of ‘I know that my redeemer liveth‘ >>