I don’t know about everyone else, but at last night’s rehearsal I thought that we were finally getting to grips with the Little Jazz Mass.  It has taken some time, but it was gratifying to feel that all the hard work which we – and more noticeably Carlos – have put in over past weeks is bearing fruit.

Last night was our twelfth rehearsal for this concert, and there are five more to go.

Anne and I we musing about rehearsals last weekend whilst listening to the final of the Young Performer of the Year.  The three soloists were stunning.  They may be young in years but they all displayed great musical maturity. It is a shame that only one can win, but we felt sure that they would all make successful careers in music.

But as for rehearsals, we thought not so much about the soloists but more about the orchestra.  They had to accompany three concertos at very short notice.  One, the Beethoven Violin Concerto, is well-known, and most orchestral players will have performed it several times.  But the other two works, a Weber Clarinet Concerto and a Prokoviev Piano Concerto, are much less well-known, and the latter piece in particular is fiendish to play.  I wonder how many rehearsals they had.  Two, perhaps, or maybe three…….and maybe some individual practice time beforehand.   That they played all three pieces flawlessly is a tribute to both their hard work and their innate musical talent.

In the five rehearsals we have left for Love, Peace and all that Jazz, we have to tidy up some loose notes and then really get into the spirit of each piece.  It’s all fantastic music, and, with Carlos’ continued teaching and encouragement, I am sure that we will do justice to it.