Musical weekend

It's been a good musical weekend. Friday I went out to Cohasset to see a couple of my church choir members in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This was well worth the trip! Joseph (one of my tenors) and the Pharaoh (another one of my tenors - yes, I have multiple tenors!) were both fantastic - Joseph in particular had a really charming stage presence and good facial expressions all the way through, in addition to a delightfully easy singing tone. And the Pharoah was appropriately hilarious. I was also blown away by the Narrator, a woman named Ann McCoy. She was totally fantastic. I rather feel she could have a professional career if she wanted to. I had a great time generally, and I have to say that Joseph is a really charming musical -I had forgotten. Somehow, although I have never owned a recording and have never been in the show, I knew all the music. A day later this is still a mystery to me.

Then tonight I went to the Back Bay Chorale's performance of Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choirs. The program was set up to imitate a mass service, so there were other works by French composers interspersed between the mass movements, which provided the overall framework. This worked really well - I thought it was very good programming. And the performance was very well-done. Solo soprano Shannon Salyards was wonderful on a set of pieces by Messiaen. My one quibble is that the soprano sound in the chorus was somewhat strained in the highest register. But I totally enjoyed the concert - really good tuning, good rhythmic accuracy, and a great blend. I hope they made a recording. It was also really nice to just listen to the Martin - I had only ever sung it, and music is different from the outside-in, as opposed to the inside-out!