Went to OT's concert on Saturday, enjoyed it immensely. The music was lovely, the group has a really nice balance. The basses and altos are solid, the tenors extremely nice, the sopranos need a little more work. There were two soloists; one good baritone, and the director himself did "Amazing Grace". He has a marvelous rich tenor and did an impressive job. I've always loved that hymn, and I was just blown away.
There was one persistant problem with the sopranos. They weren't cleanly on pitch, but there was no one flat voice. This cleared itself up on the last two songs, which were sung without sheet music, and the improvement was really noticeable. It's that fine difference between "almost right" and "right". Somebody(ies) can't hear the rest of the ensemble when her voice is reflecting from her sheet music.
The happiest face was on one of the sopranos. A blond lady with glasses, rather tall, toward the back of the section. She was clearly enjoying every minute of the music and it was a joy to watch her.
I enjoyed the second set of selections most, as they were all familiar. Except for the words in "Redet mit einander", which I learned as "Speak with One Another"; however, as the director explained, they're planning to do the Salzburg festival, something should be in German.
St Gregory is an amazing space. The pews are wood, the floor is stone, the walls are glass, concrete, and stone. Not a soft surface anywhere and the resulting resonance is marvelous. There was no echo that I could hear, even when they were warming up without an audience in place. Just fantastic.
It was a good concert, and we left smiling.
