King's Chapel and Orchestras

I went to listen to a performance of Elgar's The Apostles at King's Chapel last night. Overall, I enjoyed it, although I have to say that King's Chapel really isn't the best place for such a performance. Performing in the chapel is like performing inside a cave. The acoustics are quite bad on two accounts:

1. We could hardly hear the words spoken. There was so much echoing that I could hear the voice reverberating through the whole chapel. I just couldn't make out the words. So, it's probably useful for conducting services, but not very suitable for singing a proper work.
2. We couldn't hear most of the higher pitched instruments simply because the lower frequencies are amplified too much. So, when the percussions or brass section plays, they drown everyone out. This is rather sad, considering that the bulk of the orchestra was strings.

But I still found it an enjoyable performance. They had a bunch of professional British singers singing the solo parts. These singers had a few centuries worth of singing experiences, collectively. Luckily, we were all given a programme. So, I could follow the flow of the performance and get my camera out during intermission and at the end.

I got a bunch of good pics, but I do believe that this is the best one of them all. Composition, colour and all that. It was shot sitting down on my seat, one-handed, over the head, under extremely low-lighting (the lights on the stage were the only lights in the chapel). Good thing it turned out as well as it did. It was taken right at the end of the performance.

PS: For £5, it was worth the money.

PPS: I particularly like a quote from the programme booklet:

"I know that the conception and creation of a beautiful thing is not without sorrow and pain, and I don't know if you have the joy of it at all."

How true... how unfortunately true...