Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2013

Talks and reviews about Libera concerts or public appearances

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Yorkie
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by Yorkie »

1. Dies Irae
2. Gloria
3. Angel from on High
4. Wexford Carol
5. Sanctus
6. I'm Dreaming of Home
7. Voca Me
8. Away in a Manger
9. Hymn to Mary
10. In Dulci Jubilo

Interval

11. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
12. Orinoco Flow
13. Joy to the World
14. What Child is This
15. Carol of the Bells
16. The Moon Represents My Heart
17. Gaudete
18. Silent Night
19. Exultate

Encore: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Encore: Bayan Ko

So , this was the 'Pines set list and it would be very easy to perform this at St George's. I suspect Bayan Ko will be dropped which then leaves decisions on 'Orinoco Flow' & 'The Moon'. I would suspect that it will be 'Moon' that gets dropped but personally I would like to hear it so I would drop 'Orinoco' and replace it with 'Danny Boy'. Please Mr Prizeman?
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Lumi
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by Lumi »

Has Orinoco Flow been previously performed at (London) Christmas concerts? I can't recall for the life of me, but looking now at that set list it looks incredibly out of place. :lol:
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Yorkie
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

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Lumi wrote:Has Orinoco Flow been previously performed at (London) Christmas concerts? I can't recall for the life of me, but looking now at that set list it looks incredibly out of place. :lol:
I think that there has only been one St George's Christmas Concert in 2011 fo the first Christmas Album. It was a mix of normal concert & Seasonal, but no O-flow:

- Jubilate
- Libera
- Joy to the World,
- Still Still Still,
- Song of Life
- Sanctus
- Salva
- Stay With Me
- Veni Emmanuel
- Exultate
Interval
- Carol of the Bells
- Gloria
- Fountain,
- Eternal Light
- Sing the Story
- Ave Verum
- In Dulci Jubilo
- Glory to thee
- How shall I sing That Majesty
Encore
- White Christmas

I would not be surprised to see all three of the red songs go, in which case it would be nice to add 'Veni Veni Emmanuel' & I woul d still want 'Danny Boy' although of course it is no more appropriate for Christmas than 'Orinoco'.
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Lumi
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

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Yorkie wrote:I think that there has only been one St George's Christmas Concert in 2011 fo the first Christmas Album.
That is a very good point. :mrgreen:

Weather forecasts looking good so far. :)
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yllwfsh
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by yllwfsh »

Hi everyone,

Me and my mum arrived in London this morning. Nice and early for the concert huh :)

Tonight Billy, tomorrow Libera and friday front row @ Les mis. Busy program.

Weather here is a bit grey but dry, forcast for tomorrow is partly cloudy i believe.

Hope to see you all in the queue!

Renzo
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.
May the rains fall soft upon you, and the sun shine warm upon your face.
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tom413
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by tom413 »

I'm out of breath just reading that itinerary. :)

Hope you enjoy the show tonight, looking forward to meeting you
tomorrow whilst in line.

Tomorrow sounds like the last nice day. Appears weather might go to
seed starting Friday. I wish it would hold on a few more days.....
Choirfan
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by Choirfan »

Heading for the big smoke in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed Billy, Renzo. I have booked for Friday night :wink:

See you all there
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Lumi
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by Lumi »

After avoiding the seasonal flu for two months, it appears I have finally caught either that or just a nasty cold... Didn't help that the otherwise extensive heating system at my hotel went completely cold in the middle of the night. :mrgreen:

It's not too bad yet, but queuing outside for hours does not seem like the brightest idea ever. :lol: Well, what can you do. I'll try to get there around 1 PM.
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yllwfsh
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by yllwfsh »

Choirfan wrote:Heading for the big smoke in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed Billy, Renzo. I have booked for Friday night :wink:

See you all there
Yeah billy was amazing (saw it twice now). During the interval they decided to replace billy because he was feeling unwell. So i got to see two billy's, and they were both amazing!
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May the rains fall soft upon you, and the sun shine warm upon your face.
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danny-bulgaria
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by danny-bulgaria »

To be honest... I didn't expect to be such a great concert.
The truth is... My eyes were filled with tears of joy most of the time. It was fantastic, I've never felt that way before. It was unforgetable first concert for me and I just cant wait to go to another.
Karppoo
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by Karppoo »

The concert Was Great. It Was my and my partners fourth Libera concert and we take one friend With us from Finland. She likes It very much and cried all the time. And out friend from London Washington there second time. Voca me is always Great as yesterday, and Both encores...I missed Danny Boy too. And Dies Irea /Gloria are perfects songs to start. All songs were Great. today is BETM. And now see something in London.
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JimmyRiddle
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by JimmyRiddle »

Glad you enjoyed it Danny & Karppoo...

I wont' bore you with a long review but a few thoughts about Friday's concert;

Firstly this was a huge step forward in the presentation for audience attending UK concerts. As your probably aware they installed two massive rear projection screens for those seated in the side aisles and who would have their usual view blocked by the cathedral columns. I'm sure this was the reason, why there was more people seated in those areas than previous years. Also they hooked up two very large flat screen TV's for those towards the back of the church in the centre aisles...(and as I joined a queue that was already snaking round the outside railings, this was very much appreciated). The live in-concert filming was very impressive and professional. The camera focused on the relevant soloists and allowed you to appreciate the songs even more.

Corpus Christi Carol
TDL (Thomas Delgado Little) contributed in many fine solo passages throughout; his highlight (and probably mine, amongst many) of the whole concert was his complete solo in 'Corpus Christi Carol' . There's something very special when a lone treble sings into the near silence of a hushed concert venue. His floating upper register was very captivating and I noticed fellow audience members also bewitched by it. The soft low-level lighting helped set the mood.

Hymn To Mary
This was not listed in the program as we discovered on their Philippine tour - it was an impromptu solo by Isaac and sat between the last two songs of the first half. I was very happy to personally witness it live. I think Isaac knelt down whilst singing it and some of the other boys knelt behind him. There was only a soft accompaniment from the piano. Isaac's singing voice is very rich and meaningful and he paints a picture with the lyrics. This was another part of the concert which put the audience in a deeply reflective mood. We didn't have Danny Boy this time, but this more than made up for it.

Dreaming of Home
This is such a wonderful addition to the libera repertoire and I hope it makes it to CD. Libera's arrangement is stunning and there's a solo passage by Tom that is quite breathtaking and would have given his famous namesake of previous years a run for his money with the very impressive top notes. His control was exceptional. The film Joyeux Noël as obviously given it a sincere connection with troops going off to war with the high probability of never returning home, but you could easily associate it with being away from home in any circumstances. A favourite for sure.

Voca Me
Always ranks high on my list of favourite Libera songs. We all know how the song goes, and how the build up of momentum progresses to an ear splitting climax, but again, nothing can match being lucky enough to be there in person. No bats this time, but I'm sure anything alive up in the rafters would have been awoken from slumber. Probably would have created a talking point for those members of the passing public outside too.

The other Christmas songs were performed much like the Ireland DVD, and I detected little if any mistakes or slight imperfections. It was quite a flawless performance, one of the best I've been too. There was a little coughing towards the very end, but it was most likely due to being tired (remember they were at school that day). Libera have got some very competent young singers in their pack now, if they can commit to the cause, I'm sure they will become even better in years to come.

The programme was appropriately festive in appearance, and continued the high quality glossy layout and photographs we've evolved from since the A4 photocopied printouts of 2007.

I noticed a pickup in the amplification levels after a few songs of each half. It's a very tricky venue to service with limited speakers. So whilst some of the audience seated from halfway to the back would have greatly welcomed the extra volume (I know I did), maybe those sat at the front and nearest to the speakers could have found it a little loud at times. The sound mixing guys probably have the toughest job, full credit to them.
Last edited by JimmyRiddle on Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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john45
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by john45 »

JimmyRiddle wrote:
a few thoughts about Friday's concert;
Thanks Jimmy.
The four songs you chose to comment on in depth just happen to be my favourites too. I hope they are all included in the forthcoming CD. I share your thoughts about Tom and Isaac. Both were outstanding.
The sound at the front was fine by the way.

John
dani
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by dani »

This was my first Libera concert of the year and yet also the last of the year at the same time , i will have to try harder for next year :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Isaac has come on leaps and bounds since i last heard him and he is really stepping into his own - one of the highlights of the night for me was The Wexford Carol which he did perfectly and then he had a solo completely on his own Hymn To Mary which again he sung like a angel .

TDL was my highlight of the evening as he is always involved even if its just the high notes in a song , he has such a amazing voice and he blew me away on I am Dreaming of Home and then Corpus Christi Carol as it can never be easy to have to step forward and sing to 100's of people at age 10/11 .

Dies Irae opened the concert with the boys all walking down from the back of the church onto the stage and then in Gloria .

God Rest Ye opened the second half which was another highlight for me as its so catchy and fun . Gaudete with Matthew was also good but i love the old version from the Aled Jones cd :lol:

Also the encore involved Bayan Ko which was because of the recent typhoon in the Philippines and they was also trying to raise money in the interval which was a lovely touch as it is so close to there heart . Ben also spoke about it just before they sung and said a few words in Filipino to the crowd .
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tom413
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Re: Christmas Concert in St George, London, Thursday 28/11/2

Post by tom413 »

Sorry I haven't been around to chime in. Yorkie has been running me ragged in London. :mrgreen:
Thanks Jimmy for giving us some detail. Though in the front, I was a few seats off the aisle and
was wondering about the sound mixing in a few numbers; not with the overall sound as much as a
few singers who seemed individually louder than the rest, but this was quickly rectified. That small
quibble aside, I concur with John's opinion.

I was really happy to hear Bayan Ko, I'm Dreaming of Home and Corpus Christi Carol my first live performances
of each. Although I've seen the recording, Bayan Ko was pretty stirring live.

Seemed like there were more unsupported solos in the show. Though performed admirably, I hope this isn't a growing trend - I prefer more voices in the mix for each song.

Also have to mention how impressed I was with Alexander Gula. He definitely brought his "A" game to St George's
and sang his heart out. I hope he is able to maintain that enthusiasm as time goes on.

Was also nice to see past choristers Freddie Ingles and Michael U-R there among the audience.
Michael graciously conducted an impromptu meet and greet for many fans after the show.

All in all this was a great end to the Libera concert schedule for 2013. Can't wait for the
announcement of the next tour!
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