Mastersingers in Barcelona — 2005

    Saturday, July 16, 2005
First Rehearsal and Introduction to the Palau

How does a group like ours prepare for a trip like this and carry it off successfully?  Of the 34 pieces in this trip’s repertoire, two-thirds had been sung by most of us on past tours or even back in our college days.  We got the repertoire list in April, and many of us already had much of the music on hand.  The new music arrived in late May, and we got recordings of most of the music on CDs in June.  These were our resources to learn and memorize the music.  Not surprisingly, only a few of us came close to having all the music memorized by the time we reached Barcelona.  Still, experience and talent brought us quickly up to concert-readiness.

Our first rehearsal was on Saturday afternoon in the basement of the Hotel Reymar Playa, a short walk from our own hotel.  A significant number of us were not present, still negotiating the trek from the airport to Malgrat de Mar.  As always, we were warmed up by assistant conductor, Kerry Brennan.  Kerry’s warm-ups are very thorough, starting with physical stretching, proceeding to vocal exercises (for range, tone, vowels, consonants), and ending with exercises for improving blend.  We appreciated Kerry’s thoroughness so much that we applauded him on this first warm-up.

The rest of the rehearsal focused on the 13 pieces that we would be performing at the Palau de la Música Catalana on Sunday night.  Singing, even rehearsing, with this chorus is a thrill for each of us.  Many, perhaps most, are strong singers, and many are perceptive musicians, as well.  But all are dedicated to the task at hand and bring an intensity that results in quick learning and alertness in performance.  There is also a spirit rekindled from our college days, that comes through in our dynamic range from quiet and intense to a spine-tingling power that seems strong enough to fill any performance space.

But none of this would happen without the sensitive guidance, inspiration, and determined compulsion of our beloved director, Bruce McInnes.   Bruce, whom we’ve honored in the past as “born to make men sing,” has a sensitivity to phrasing second to none.  His sharp ear protects us against wrong notes and sagging pitch.  And like the organist that he is, Bruce plays this group like a magnificent instrument, cueing each part, giving clear cut-offs, bringing out melodies, and encouraging each to sing with the heart and not just with the voice.

After this first rehearsal, which lasted just 2½ hours, we had a couple of hours to prepare for listening to a concert.  The first 3 choruses, which had rehearsed and given 3 other performances each during the previous week, were to present a joint concert at the Palau this evening (our concert in the Palau, without the benefit of such extensive rehearsing would be tomorrow).

We were bussed to the heart of Barcelona where the 2000-seat Palau stood in glory of its colorful, ornate, modernist architecture.  We entered with the rest of the concert-goers and took our seats in boxes on either side of the first balcony.  Côr Meibion Colwyn from Wales performed first, singing 8 selections, nearly all by Welsh composers and nearly all in the Welsh language.  The Slovak Teachers’ Choir was next, with 9 Slavic pieces that nonetheless incorporated a variety of styles.  The Coral Santa Lucía then performed 6 selections that all seemed like Basque folk songs.  The audience did not fill the hall, numbering perhaps about 1500, but they were appreciative throughout.  We also noticed immediately that Barcelona audiences have the courtesy to cover with applause the complete entrance and exit of a performing group — no matter how slowly they move.

After the performance of the last group, the president of the Federació de Cors de Clavé presented each director with a gift (an engraved glass bowl) and made a short speech.  Then all three choruses assembled on the stage to sing the joint piece, “Jovenivola.”  This lovely music by Lluís Millet had been distributed to each group months before, together with a recording, to learn for this joint presentation.  The problem was mastering the Catalan words, especially in the faster section.  Language notwithstanding, the combined choruses sang the piece well, under the dynamic direction of a local music personality, whose name unfortunately was not in the program, and whom we only knew as “Ellie,” the sister of Olga, one of our guides from the FCC.

Through the evening we had been told by our hosts that there would be a “party” for all 6 choruses, those whose week was ending and those whose week was just beginning — and we were urged to attend.  After returning to our hotel and getting some dinner, many of us were curious enough to check out the party, which was held in a “square,” or more correctly a widening in the road, about a kilometer toward the heart of Malgrat de Mar from our hotel.  What we found was a stage, set up in the street with lights and blaring recorded music, to which a troupe of about 12 people performed a seemingly endless series of folk dances from a variety of Mediterranean cultural traditions.  About 500 people were assembled to watch.  Most of our group found this entertainment rather bland and left after a few minutes.