Hindemith - and my concerts

The following quote is from Paul Hindemith's autobiography, The Composers World:

“This life in and with music, being essentially a victory over external forces, and a final allegiance to spiritual sovereignty, can only be a life of humility, of giving one’s best to one’s fellow man. This gift will not be like the alms passed on to the beggar; it will be the sharing of a man’s every possession with his friend”.

I heard this on the Concert Programme last weekend (Hindemith was composer of the week) and thought it an interesting statement about being a composer. I've just been listening to the recording of the music that was presented at my first concert, back in late 2006. I haven't heard it for a while. It was recorded live, and there are occasional flaws (especially in the duet at the end) and some of the singers were under par (one was particularly unwell, as I discovered later - we rerecorded her music, in fact, at a later date). Some of the singing, however, comes as a surprise after this time: two of the young singers, Cally Hammond-Took, and Benjamin Kidd, did marvellous jobs with their songs.

My next concert is just round the corner: on the 12th Sept, about two weeks away. I don't feel as well prepared for this one, and neither are some of the singers. Colds and flu haven't helped. However, we'll make it. And the programme is as good as the last, if not better. It lacks the multimedia element we introduced last time, but that's okay. There's supper!