Nearly two weeks...

... with no blog entries! It’s been a busy time: getting ready for Zone Plus, building a tomb for the Passion play, hospital visits for cousin Tony. So not a lot of time for Sustaining the Sacred Centre. I’ve looked at the list of activities again - "Listen to some music you've never heard before."

Last evening we went to the Aylesbury Choral Society’s concert at the Aylesbury College. They performed Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers – a piece of music I hadn’t heard before. The Choral Soc where joined by six professional soloists and were accompanied by the Gonzaga Band – a group of musicians playing contemporary instruments (contemporary with Monteverdi, that is) – sackbuts, cornetts (sic), a chamber organ and a theorbo. The whole evening was fascinating: the harmonics of the singers with the authentic sounds of the band. The entire work was sung in Latin – although the programme had a translation. It brought back a few memories of my O-level!

Contrasting with the 17th century music was the location of the concert – the atrium of the new Aylesbury College. Acoustically the space is variable – we sat in a low-ceilinged part of the atrium for an earlier concert but last night we were in the open area and the sound was much better. The space is very asymmetrical – a three- storey interior space between a flat wall and a curved wall with the now almost compulsory curtain wall suspended on a complex framework.

A very enjoyable – and sustaining – evening.