Adrenalin-powered

Today is my choral conducting exam. This is what my studies of the year have been leading up to and it's the time to show what I have learned. Jani, my teacher, told me that I will just do my best and, whatever mark the jury decides to give me, I can't change it anyway, so I have to concentrate on myself and not of them. Yesterday, we had a rehearsal of three hours, where Kati, Mikko and I took turns conducting the choir. We went through almost all our pieces, and in the last hour, an orchestra I put together from friends and people I know came to play the 19th number from Mendelssohn's "Elijah"-oratorio, which is our obligatory piece for the exam. The choir is doing a great job, but some of the pieces are still scarily unsecure, and because of lack of time we couldn't go into them more effectively. However, as Jani says, the jury is not stupid and they will see what are our mistakes, and what are the choir's.
Conducting the orchestra, particularly as friends of mine were playing in it, was an amazing experience and I feel very confident about today! It sent an rush of adrenalin through the whole body, and in memory of that moment, here is a list of some moments in music which always create that same feeling. Everyone knows what I mean - if heard in a concert, these are the parts which make you either jump out of your seat or want to jump out of your seat, which suddenly make time stop still and make you become completely absorbed in what is happening. Here are some parts which always make it for me. I'll start with what I'm conducting today.
Mendelssohn: Number 19-20 from Elijah. There hasn't been any rain for years and the people are starving. Elijah sends a boy to search the skies for any speck of cloud. Repeatedly, the boy cries back that he can't see anything. As the people gather together to pray for rain, suddenly the boy sees a small cloud rising from the sea.. the sky gets darker... the wind starts blowing... and the people are covered in a torrent of rain. Hesitantly at first, each instrument joins the tremolos of the strings, mounting into a huge crescendo, after which the choir erupts into their jubilant praise and thanks. (Sadly, we will have to stop the music right at the part when the allegro con fuoco choir starts.... boohoo). The countdown to Dominante's performance with Sinfonia Lahti of Elias in October has begun!
Puccini: Obviously, Puccini's music is full of breathtaking music, but perhaps one of the scariest moments is the merciless hammering of the drum when we realise Madama Butterfly is going to kill herself. At the moment she dismisses her servant, the audience realises what they have actually known all along - the only solution for Butterfly is to die with honour - and the strings accompany the timpani with their haunting death-harmonies. This is the part where the sleeping grannies will be jolted out of their seats and which, if performed with style, never leaves a dry eye in the audience.
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro:
The finale of the second act must be some of the most exciting music Mozart ever wrote. Seven singers and the orchestra erupt into a passage in E flat major which lasts about five minutes. The sheer perfection of the polyphony, the dazzling scales up and down and the magnitude of so much happening at the same time surely bring a smile to the most stone-faced listener. And just when you thought it had reached its absolute climax, Mozart ups the tempo just that one little bit.....
Bach: This might not be hard to guess - while the B minor mass is a real rollercoaster, the part in "Et resurrexit" where the choir sings "Cujus regni non erit finis" (Whose reign shall never end) is some of the happiest music ever composed. Bach was able to make the choir sound almost instrumental with their jubilant triplets and ornaments. You have to hear it to know what I'm talking about. As for the orchestra? To quote Händel's Messiah: "The trumpet shall sound"
Rachmaninoff: The cadenza of the 3rd piano concerto's first movement. If you hear this on a recording or at a performance -wherever - you will realise at this part that the only thing you have been doing is listening to the gradual crescendo and the ultimate climax, which must feel like something of a live's achievement for the pianist himself. Best of all, you'll want the music to go on and on... until suddenly you realise that everything must end sometimes, and the flute playes its consoling melody.
Marcel Grandjany: The last two minutes or so of his Rhapsodie pour la Harpe. Brilliantly arpeggiated chords and glissandi on just about every string the instrument has, this is the perfect climax to this impressionistic work, making full use of everything that can be done on the harp.

Questions? Then what are you waiting for? Listen to these works NOW. Also available per Messenger from my computer ;)