Hanoi Mahler Eighth Symphony Videos

[mike bosworth]

Here is the opening of Part I:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaaFaxYrp88

In the video of the very conclusion of the symphony you
will first see our Bass section from Choir II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkbcObmM9SE

The offstage brass were to the right, above and behind the video taker. 
The last few tam-tam smashes are just visible at far right.

On stage at the end are the conductor Tetsuji Honna, and our chorus master
Graham Sutcliffe.

You will also spot the many empty seats that I described in my earlier
report; indeed the applause sometimes sounds more like a smattering.

Mike Bosworth
Hanoi

[barry guerrero]

Mike,

I would not call the audience response as being tepid. It just takes them a while to get going.  Anyway, not bad  .     .   not bad at all. A bit slower tempo at the end would have helped a bit. But I like the fact that the crash cymbals didn't cover over the tam-tam. In fact, I think your conductor might have added bass drum strokes at the start of each of those tam-tam smashes - just to give a bit more "oomph" to the beginning of each stroke. I thought the chorus sounded quite good! The men certainly sang with lots of enthusiasm.  Obviously, the microphone for this video was somewhere close to  the offstage brass, which made one or two minor "clams" in the offstage trumpets - along with a touch of sagging pitch when those same trumpets had to reach up high - clear as a bell. But those are difficult offstage parts, simply because they have to reach up high when there's already a ton of noise going on. It's not terribly unlike playing trumpet in a loud jazz band, only having to play your part from a distance. Regardless, I thought these two excerpts sounded pretty darn good.