The Planets
There are few pieces of music as atmospheric as Holst's Planets Suite. In the final movement you suddenly hear female voices emerging from the ether singing in wordless harmony. They blend in magically with the orchestra and they continue singing after all the instruments have gone silent, getting softer and softer until they vanish completely into thin air.
One advantage of being a bass is that you are never called on to sing this. I will try most things, but the idea of standing in a draughty corridor for three quarters of an hour wondering how I am going to get my top G would fill me with dread.
No doubt many singers of symphony choruses have their own tales to tell and here is one.
A few years ago, when the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus were between chorus masters, Nigel Perrin stood in to take rehearsals. He was coming to the end of one, when Marin Alsop arrived, later than scheduled and clearly exhausted after her journey. At the time she was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and needed to rehearse the ladies for an upcoming performance of Planets in Cheltenham Town Hall. So the men were sent home and Marin took over the rehearsal.
She had clear ideas about what she wanted and the chorus were, she thought, not doing it correctly. And as is the way, the more she asked for, the less acceptable was their singing. Suddenly Nigel stood up and said "They are tired and it isn't going to get any better at this time of night however many times you do it. You should let everyone go home - they will be fine tomorrow". Marin rather reluctantly concurred and the rehearsal finished.
The next morning she phoned the Orchestra's Concerts Manager and asked who this Nigel Perrin was that was telling her what to do. The answer she got was that he is one of the best choir trainers in the country and had just won a major competition with one of his choirs.
On concert day, the normal practice would be for the chorus to warm up before the start. However this was impractical as they weren't to sing for nearly two hours after it began, and there was no soundproof room for them to use while the concert was in progress. The only answer was to use the park next to the Town Hall. This caused great amusement particularly to a down-and-out who had taken up his position on one of the benches, and insisted on joining in.
And it was alright on the night!