The Fredösphere

Thanks to Alan the Wobegon Boy who sent me the link to MPR's review of the World Choral Symposium in -- where else? -- Japan.  As always, it's the train wreck that prompts the most entertaining review:

At one point in a particular piece it seemed as if the whole thing was going to fly apart. The choir was spinning off vital hardware left and right. There goes rhythm, now pitch—oops, now it’s ensemble. It was like watching your worst performance-anxiety dream unfold right there onstage, the one where you forgot to come to the rehearsals and the wrong music’s in your folder. The only thing missing was the inevitable I’m naked fiasco.

Meanwhile, on my beloved Choralist, some poor innocent opined that "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly."  Well, well!  Quite a few people had some choice reactions to that bit of wisdom.  Heh.  And let me point out that ChoralNet, host of Choralist, has an updated website with news and a choral blog (that's short for "web log," you know) and lot's o' cool stuff.