One of the most striking moments in the Mother’s Day Concert with the Carthage choirs was when Mr. Noble, while introducing the Rutter “Mass for the Children” confided to the audience that he was nervous – and then went on to say in the same breath that he was delighted to be nervous because that said something about how much he cared about the Carthage Choir and this particular piece of music and this particular performance. I have said it before in this blog, and this weekend demonstrated all over again, how Weston Noble is incapable of going through the motions- of “phoning it in” – however you want to put it. Every step of the way, he has given so wholeheartedly of himself. . . and for all the trophies on his shelf and plaques on the wall and even medals around his neck, he still gets nervous- he still wants it to be good . . . and especially when he knows that his brother Joseph, also a choral director, is going to be in the audience, along with all kinds of dear friends – former Nordic members- choral directors, etc. It’s something I have read about over the years with singers who sometimes find themselves crushed by their own excellence and the need to equal their own greatness again and again and again. What makes that even tougher for someone like Weston Noble is that this greatness cannot be achieved alone. . . there has to be a choir of singers with you, ready and willing and responsive to the challenge of the moment. The greatest conductor in the world – Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein, James Levine – is still utterly dependent on who is playing and singing. Without them, greatness is impossible. A superb conductor can achieve greatness out of sometimes very unpromising circumstances, but they can’t possibly do it alone. That’s what I’m sure is so scary about that business. Anyway, I know it was disquieting to Mr. Noble when there were some unexpected absences at Saturday’s rehearsal in the TARC, where commencement was to occur- and the next morning was the unenviable task of getting two movements of the Rutter back together again- music which had been basically untouched since May 11th, with instruments and all. Mr. Noble wanted this to be really good- and I think he was especially anxious for it to be good so that everybody there would have a sense of the great things that he and the Carthage Choir had experienced together and accomplished together this year.
Which is why I am so thrilled to say that, in the end, to paraphrase the Creator as the world came into being day by day, IT WAS GOOD. As a matter of fact, it was very very good. The Rutter excerpts (the Gloria and the Sanctus) both went very nicely, and this time around with students as soloists: Kristen Barnes, Shannon Burke, and Jamie Wilson. And all I had to do was sit and listen, except that I decided instead to stand behind the choir and secretly sing baritone to help shore up the section which was missing the most singers. That was baccalaureate. And at Commencement, the choir sang Besley’s “Alleluia,” probably the trickiest piece on the spring tour program, and really nailed it. Mr. Noble had been pretty unhappy with the acoustics of the TARC at the Saturday rehearsal – and it seemed to him like certain voices were sticking out terribly. (The choir has to be amplified in a space like that.) Any way you slice it, the TARC is not exactly an optimal concert space, and it had to be terribly frustrating for him to think that his last music-making with the Carthage Choir was going to take place in a big barn where it was hard to hear and hard to see. . . but in the end, it went wonderfully well. The choir sounded great, was nicely together, energized by the occasion, buoyed not only by our fine saxophone player but also by two percussionists who added great energy to the proceedings. In the end, it was a joyous romp . . . and afterwards there was a surprise for Mr. Noble, but that will have to wait for another entry. . .
pictured: the last rehearsal for the Rutter, right before Baccalaureate began.