Back in the saddle

I started rehearsal last night with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for an upcoming series of performances of the Kancheli Dixi. Giya Kancheli is new to me; he’s a composer from Georgia who wrote the Dixi, apparently, partly as a memorial to his mentor, conductor Jansug Kakhidze. It’s going to be a fun work, with huge dynamic swings, lots of interestingly intricate writing for the chorus, and some meaty chromaticism. I’m also interested in seeing what the orchestration looks like—the one recording I have has some passages that sound like they might be written for Ondes Martenot…