All the glorious works sung have been composed by these wondrous people and many others.

Can you pick them? Some are obvious, some aren’t. Mouse over and see.

harmony … in the msoc

One of the great stabilising factors of life is consistency in something you love.

As a tenor, singing continuously in the MSOC—Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus (and its predecessor, Melbourne Chorale)—for the past 40 years, it has brought me the joys of a second family with great camaraderie between us all, the fulfilment felt in singing (to our hearts’ content) and the buzz you get from performing well. Ifjyou could bottle the euphoria you feel, you have a great drug to savour for years to come.

Our last MSO concert before the Covid lockdown in 2020 was performing Beethoven Symphony No 9 ‘Choral’. Half the chorus, singing from memory and dressed in civvies, was located on stage with Circa acrobatic dancers,
interpreting the music, between us.

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the repertoire sung:

LjBach Mass in B minor, Johannes-Passion, Matthäus-Passion, Singet dem Herrn BWV 225

LjBeethoven Symphony No 9 ‘Choral’ ... sung from memory, Mass in C Major,
Mass in D Major ‘Missa Solemnis’

LjBenjamin, arr by Bernard Herrman The Storm Clouds Cantata … for the film,
The Man who knew too much

LjBerlioz La Damnation de Faust, Grande Messe des morts Op 5 (Requiem),
L’Enfance du Christ, Lelio, Te Deum

LjBernstein Chichester Psalms, Kaddish, Mass

LjBorodin Prince Igor—Polovtsian Dances

LjBoulanger Psalm 129

LjBrahms Ein deutsches Requiem Op 45 with Piano Four-Hands, and the version with Orchestra, Schicksalsleid

LjBritten Carry her over the Water, Chorale—after an old French Carol, Ballad of Heroes Op 14, St Nicolas, War Requiem Op 66

LjBruckner Mass in F minor, Geistliche Chore

LjCheetham Fraillon Eumeralla—a War Requiem for Peace, Dutala

LjChindamo Are There Any Questions—Requiem for the Vanishing Soul

LjDean The Last Days of Socrates

LjDi Lasso Timor et Tremor

LjDove The Passing of the Year

LjDun The Buddha Passion, Nine

LjDuruflé Requiem Op 9

LjElgar Spirit Of England, The Dream of Gerontius, Lux Aeterna—Nimrod, from his Enigma Variations, arranged for choir by John Cameron

LjFanshawe African Sanctus

LjFauré Requiem Op 48, Pavanne

LjGorecki Miserere Op 44, Amen Op 35

LjGrainger A Tribute to Foster, Danny Deever, King Solomon’s Espousals,
Marching Song of Democracy, The Bride’s Tragedy

LjHandel Athalia, Joshua, Messiah, Solomon, Zadok the Priest,
The Coronation Anthems

LjHaydn Missa In Augustiis H22/11 ‘Nelson Mass’, Theresienmesse H22/12,
The Creation (in English), The Seasons (in English, and Deutsch), Te Deum in C

LjHenze Jüdische Chronik

LjJanacek Glagolitic Mass

LjKancheli Styx

LjKodály Háry János

LjLambert The Rio Grande

LjLauridsen Nocturnes

LjLigiti Requiem Kyrie from 2001 : a space odyssey

LjMachuel Über dem Dorn

LjMahler Das klagende Lied, Symphony 2 ‘Resurrection’, Symphony 8 ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ ... performed at the Opening of the Sydney Olympics 2000 Arts Festival, and a year later in Melbourne, celebrating Australian Federation

LjMarlow (after Bach) Advent Responsory

LjMaskats Da ispravitsja molitva moja (Psalm 141)

LjMendelssohn Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Elijah, Mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen Op 78 No 3

LjMozart Coronation Mass K317, Mass in C Minor K427 (417a), Requiem K626, Dona nobis pacem

LjOrff Carmina Burana In 2001, we performed this with gestures, from memory 15 times in a row, on stage with the Australian Ballet, and with the Singapore Symphony & Chorus in Singapore in 2024

LjOrlovich The Listening Land

LjParry I was Glad, And did those feet in ancient time (aka Jerusalem)

LjPoulenc Gloria, Videntes Stellam

LjProkofiev Alexander Nevsky

LjPuccini La Fanciulla Del West (in Concert)

LjPurcell Hear my Prayer O Lord

LjRachmaninov All-night Vigil Op 37 ‘Vespers’, Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (Four parts), The Bells Op 35

LjRavel Daphnis et Chloë, L’Enfant et Les Sortiléges (in Concert)

LjRossini Guillaume Tell (in Concert), Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solennelle

LjRutter Gloria, Hymn to the Creator of Light

LjSchnittke Choir Concerto

LjShchedrin The Sealed Angel

LjSchoenberg Gurrelieder

LjSchubert Gesang der Geister über den Wassern D 714, Mass in G, Deutsche Messe D872—Sanctus

LjSchultz In Tempore Stellae

LjShelley Missa Ænigmata

LjShore The Lord of the Rings film music

LjShostakovich Symphony 2 in B Major Op 14 ’To October—‘a symphonic dedication’, Symphony 13 in B flat minor Op 113 ‘Babi Yar’

LjStanford Magnificat, Magnificat in B flat, Nunc dimittus in B flat, Te Deum

LjStanhope Exile Lamentations

LjStrauss II An der schoenen blauen Donau (the original version containing
anjSATB chorus)

LjStravinsky Symphony of Psalms

LjTaverner Song for Athene

LjTchaikovsky 1812 Overture Op 49

LjTippett A Child of our Time

LjTobias Jonah’s Mission

LjTwist How shall we sing in a Strange Land?

LjVasks Pater noster, Ziles Zina

LjVaughan-Willams A Sea Symphony, Dona Nobis Pacem, Serenade to Music

LjVerdi Four Sacred Pieces, Otello (in Concert), Requiem

LjVivaldi Gloria in D RV 589

LjWagner The Flying Dutchman (in Concert)

LjWalton Belshazzar’s Feast

LjWalker Mass of Deliverance

LjWeber Missa No 2 ‘Jubel-Messe’

LjWestlake Missa Solis ‘Requiem for Eli’

LjPlus … Backing Nick Cave and Warren Ellis in an MSO show of their film music, backing Barbara Streisand in concert, and various other non-choral gigs