cute finnish boys

Wow, that was one fabulous reception. Ok, the food was sub-par (more of a quantity issue than a quality issue) but the red wine was quite tasty, and the music! oh, the music!

They only did a couple of the songs from last night's program. Sadly, they didn't do the Tormis piece...I can agree that lighter music was more appropriate for a reception, but I was still a little disappointed. The first song they did was some student song - yknow, tuneful and rousing - that they just did from wherever they'd been standing during the cocktail hour. So the first tenor I'd been chatting with was right behind me, and everyone was just scattered through the crowd. That is the way to listen to a choir - from the middle of it, surrounded by sound, but with individual voices audible, too. You have to really know the music and know your part to pull that off. If you hesitate and listen for anyone else, you'll drag the whole group down.

For most of the performance, they stood on an open staircase and along the balcony. The soloist didn't get drowned out like last night in the concert hall. I could see all the singers and distinguish all the parts.

They added four quartets - most amusingly, a tango (in Finnish) about a sailor who goes to Rio. One quartet did a barbershop tune, too, and one did a Turtles song. The barbershop tune was...well, the tone was lovely, but the vowels were pure Finnish. (I have strong opinions about how the word "you" should be pronounced.)

The last piece they did was a serenade, and they all fanned out into the crowd and sang to the women. Mine was a *cutie*. His name is Mikko and he works for Nokia - can ya get more Finnish than that?