Whew, that was some weekend...

Just as well I had a thoroughly relaxing time en seule in France for a few days, because this weekend has been a thoroughly draining emotional roller coaster.

For those of you unaware of the fact, I am involved with a small chamber choir (www.dodecantus.org.uk); but before anybody starts thinking we skip around singing piddly little madrigals and more of the same sort of navel-gazing musical self- indulgence, let me disabuse you. Dodecantus, from its inception, has always striven to be 'different' - we put on things which even large choral societies would think twice about. And by some miracle 99% of the time we manage to pull it off, possibly the prime example of this being our rendition of Poulenc's Stabat Mater which, for the uninitiated, is a hideously difficult piece of music. We are, to our knowledge, the only chamber choir to ever even think about doing it and so far, thankfully, we have had rave reviews at every outing.

Anyway, to get back to the point, this Friday and Saturday saw us presenting our Spring programme, which in the general scheme of things tends to focus on music lifted from the more serious side of the spectrum. On this occasion we sang seven items from the Rachmaninov Vespers, a cantata by Karl Jenkins (Dewi Sant) and four anthems (Mathias' Let the People Praise Thee, O God, Bainton's And I Saw a New Heaven , Walton's Set me as a Seal and that old warhorse of the English choral repertoire, Parry's I Was Glad, for those who are interested). I admit to a certain amount of quiet back-patting when several members of the audience who hadn't been to one of our concerts before confessed when they saw only 15 singers trot out at the start they wondered whether they should have come, as there is nothing worse than sitting in a seat squirming in embarrassment as you watch people make fools of themselves on stage, but they were completely won over before we'd even finished the first number. We were indeed in good form, and I think last night in particular was one of the best performances we have ever given.

Which is especially good, because it was our conductor's last concert leading us; unfortunately he's had to bow to work pressure following a promotion and we were the sacrifice. Now, in the almost-three-year period of Martin's rule, it's the nature of the beast that it hasn't always been sweetness and light - musicians being what they are, there's been a certain amount of whinging and griping along the way from all parties. However, in the course of the evening, it was really brought home to me, both from the comments our members were making, and from observations from the audience, just how much of a team effort this choir is; and how much Martin has contributed to that team effort. In giving my farewell post-singing thanks I don't think there was a dry eye in the house, nor at the traditional expedition to the curry-house-opposite-the-church after the concert did the atmosphere alter. It really struck home to me how much the choir means to so many of the membership - we've all made it our 'second family' and just the sheer joy of making a harmonious (well, OK, 'MOSTLY harmonious'!) noise once a week has so enriched us all.

All of which has really made the headache of finding our next conductor more intense... Martin's successor will have to be exceptional... watch this space!