Concert report!

Well sort of. I have been told off by one of my loyal readers for the sparsity of my posts and the lack of comment on the concerts after they have happened, I shall try to put that right now. I know many musicians can be a bit picky about the Albert Hall, I have only played there about half a dozen times and each time I get a real thrill out of being there, when you walk out the bull run onto the platform you are hot by the sheer scale of the place, this is certainly the largest hall I've played! From stage level you look up and the tiers of seats just keep on going, then you climb up the steps of the platform to the top level to sit down, then you look across to the podium and realise just the platform is larger than a lot of halls. Behind you is a choir of about 150 flanking the finest and most powerful organ in the country. You are now in my seat for last Saturday nights concert. The first half started with Shostakovitch Festive Prelude, I think this went well. We had five Brass (2 Trumpets 2 horns and a trombone) on either side of the organ a couple of levels higher than the orchestra, this gave a really good effect, although just as the piece goes into a slower pace as the climax, it feels rather strange to look around the rest of the orchestra and find that everyone else is playing - all bar the tuba - then a fff accented entry, and you realise why he was saving that last extra bit of sound to raise the excitement level just a bit further. Although this is one of my favorite pieces I think this is the first time I have played the original orchestral version rather than a band arrangement. The other Orchestral piece in the first half was the waltz Orient Express by Richard Rodney Bennett, I had not come across this at all before and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The second half kicked of with the John William Fanfare for Liberty, this was the piece I was most worried about and the one I had to get the EEb out for. The tuba part starts on a high B natural A natural ending up on a top D, I was more than a little nervous about this, but got way with it, while I did have a little stumble later the overall performance was very effective. If you don't know this orchestra it is a mixture of professional musicians, semi pros, amateurs and students; the musical and instrumental standard is very high, to the degree that as a rank amateur I rely very much on the indulgence of the pros surrounding me. However unlike any other orchestra I know every one is very much working together to the same ends, there is no "points scoring" or rivalries, and there is even socialising between sections! The main thing about these concerts though is not the orchestra performance, indeed not the performance at all, this is an event that is very much about lifting Gods name, as the title of the concert says, it is all about praise. I think the event was recorded and a DVD should be out before too long, in the mean time here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzLoN6COTY to one we prepared earlier!