Revisited.

I’ve been watching this performance quite a bit lately and thoroughly getting into the choral parts.  I think one had to perform this piece as I did — with Norman Scribner’s Choral Arts Society of Washington (CASW) and the National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall — in order to get into it the way I do and with the same enthusiasm.  This performance from Deutschland reminds me very much of our performance, at least from a choral perspective.  Then a year or so later when I was with the University of Maryland Chorus, the CASW performed the piece again and I remember hearing someone backstage in the Kennedy Center say, “Did you hear the CASW’s A Sea Symphony last night?  Best choral performance I’ve ever heard here.”  I thought:  Really?  That’s usually what is said about Dr Paul Traver’s University of Maryland Chorus, even though the Choral Arts Society was also superb.

I don’t think I paid much attention to the soloists when we performed it.  In this performance, I can put up with the bass soloist, but the soprano soloist, well, I just can’t take her and her harsh voice and her screaming.  Near the end of the piece (if not before), she literally screams over the entire Orchestra and Chorus.   Screaming is not musical.  It takes no talent to scream.  Any fool can scream. So who chose her?  Well, either orchestral management and or the conductor.  I noticed that they mic’d both soloist.  That woman did not need a mic.  Her voice could be heard in the next city over.  I suspect that the audience went home and talked about “the opera they had just seen” even though this piece has nothing to do with opera.  It’s a symphonic choral work, but because of her screaming (such as at 1.06.25 and from there on in the video where she with her bright, wobbling voice overpowers both Orchestra and Chorus) from the soprano “soloist,” that can confuse the audience who may not know much about music into thinking that they’re hearing opera.  That’s the problem with bringing in opera screamers/divas into symphonic choral performances.  What nut started that tradition?  But opera has costuming and scenery, unlike symphonic choral works.  And I’ve never heard an Opera Chorus that sings with perfect intonation as this superb Chorus does in this performance. The soprano soloist does not even attempt to match the sound of the Chorus.

This Chorus is outstanding in all voice sections, but I’m partial to their stellar tenor section.  Those guys are good!  But so is the rest of the Chorus.  As I have said before, Deutschland seems to have the finest Orchestra Choruses of anywhere I’ve heard, and this superb Chorus is one of them.  And the SWR Symphonie Orchester is superb as well.  The performance is conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

Because of the length of this piece, there can be some weak places for the Chorus, but that’s not at all the case for this Chorus.   They are solidly trained throughout and their English diction is excellent, although that’s not at all surprising.  I’ve found that many people in the EU — whose speak multiple world languages and their first language may be Deutsch, for example — speak much better English than many people in the US.  With few exceptions, most people in the US only speak one world language.  The current White House resident has trouble completing a single thought in US English, if that’s the language he pretends to be speaking.  One never knows!

As for the Chorus, they are the Gächinger Kantorei Concert Choir (founded in 1954 by Helmuth Rilling), and their current Director is Hans-Christoph Rademann of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart.  They sing with absolute perfect intonation.  I find them thoroughly enjoyable to listen to and to watch.

Which leads back to the question I keep asking:  With few exceptions, what is wrong with US Choruses today that they can’t sound like this example of choral excellence and the other Choruses I feature?

For example:  Why can’t the wobbling and fluttering — and in some cases — cackling Choruses of “Fluttering and Wobbling Vibrato Boston” sound like this?  I’m thinking of the cackling and screechy soprano section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus under John Oliver.  Are they still sounding like that?  I’m also speaking specifically about the New England Conservatory choral ensembles and Boston University’s Symphonic Chorus, and other Choruses in the US.  Perfect intonation doesn’t seem to be a musical term that they know well in Boston, except for the BSO, Boston Pops and NEC Symphony Orchestra of course.  But unfortunately, the choral ensembles at NEC do not match the level of excellence of the NEC Symphony Orchestra.  The Boston Choruses certainly don’t sound like the Choruses I feature in the Conservatory, including the superb Orchestra Choruses from Deutschland and the Anglican Collegiate Chapel Choirs of the Church of England, such as The Trinity Chapel Choir of the University of Cambridge (UK).

The Chorus Directors in Deutschland are doing their job.  That woman at New England Conservatory (NEC) is not.  NEC is not getting their monies’ worth from her as she rides on the coattails of Westminster Choir College.  The TFC’s James Burton is doing his job but he can only do so much with what he has to work with, poor guy.  Does he feel like going back to the UK?

We — Norman Scribner’s Choral Arts Society of Washington and the National Symphony Orchestra — performed RVW’s A Sea Symphony in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall during my first season with the Choral Arts Society.  Our performance sounded very much like the performance above from Deutschland.  I enjoyed performing the Vaughan Williams.  I remember when Norman had us begin rehearsal on the piece.  The Choral Arts Society had such good sight-readers that I remember that our sight-reading of the piece sounded practically performance-ready.  It was a glorious sound in the rehearsal hall, and really thrilled and inspired me since it was my first season with them.  I was finally doing what I really wanted to do, to be in one of the finest Orchestra Choruses around.

With A Sea Symphony, in the choral writing you should hear the stormy sea with the waves of the ocean, turbulence, ocean spray, and so forth.

I haven’t heard this piece in years and I don’t remember it having so many vocal solo passages in it.  Way too many, in my opinion, but that’s the way RVW wrote it.  Even when we performed it, I must not have paid that much attention to the vocal soloists because I don’t remember thinking — when we performed it — about all the solo passages.  As I remember, Norman conducted our performance.  He must have been the guest conductor since, as I remember, it was with the National Symphony Orchestra.  As opposed to a “pick up” orchestra (meaning members of the NSO, but not officially the NSO).  Then the Choral Arts Society performed the piece again when I was with the University of Maryland Chorus.

As I said, the Chorus is superb in this performance.  I wish I could say the same about the vocal soloist.  Neither one of them do anything for me, especially the soprano when she belts out and mistakes screaming for singing beautifully.  This piece is not opera, woman, but you wouldn’t know that when having to endure the soprano soloist with her screaming and wobbling vibrato.  She makes absolutely no attempt to try to match her bright voice with the Chorus.  No, it’s as if she thinks she’s on the Metropolitan Opera stage where they’ve never heard the phrase “blend your voice with the other voices.”  The bass isn’t much better but I can somewhat put up with him.

It seems that most people have been brainwashed to think that screaming is music and they can’t tell the difference between screaming and a beautiful singing tone.  Unfortunately, some people mistake symphonic choral works for opera because opera divas are hired to perform the solo passages in symphonic choral works, so when the audience hears that, they mistake what they’re hearing for opera.  But opera and symphonic choral works are two very different things.  A symphonic choral work has no costuming or scenery, unlike opera. Hopefully, the Chorus is singing with perfect intonation and choral excellence in a symphonic choral performance.  Whereas, I’ve never, ever heard an Opera Chorus sing with perfect intonation.  Someone online was saying the same about the Metropolitan Opera Chorus.  It’s as if Opera Chorus Directors have never heard the term “perfect intonation.”  Or, they think that wobbling, fluttering, cackling and screaming sounds good.  I suppose a jet engine sounds good to them too.  If so, one wonders where they trained?

Then there’s the 200-voice Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus performance below:

In the performance below from Atlanta — for comparison purposes — I enjoyed Brett Polegato’s (baritone) voice which you can hear with the outstandingly superb Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.  The Chorus Director was/is Norman Mackenzie who became Director of Choral Activities for the ASO after the death of Robert Shaw.  Robert Spano is the conductor for the performance below.

Norman Mackenzie worked closely with Robert Shaw; he was the piano accompanist for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus under Shaw.  As an aside, my choral friend trained his “choral ear” on Robert Shaw’s stellar ASOC.  By the way, listen to their tenor section.  Those tenors!…the envy of all credible Chorus Directors.

That’s how I read it, reading between the lines.  Well what did people expect — that his name would be removed? — from this 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assaulter (“grab ’em by the pussy”) and war criminal?  This guy is absolute trash, as well as a chronic liar.  The same for the lying scum around him in his fascist regime.

That’s why those guys on the scaffolding back in June looked like they were just fucking around as some people pointed out online.  They were certainly not rushing and didn’t look like they were in any rush.  It looked like they were just stalling to conveniently miss the court-ordered deadline — they did miss the deadline — for when the dictator’s name was ordered to be off the Kennedy Center.

This article from National Public Radio.

8 July 2026:

Appeals court denies tr*mp’s request to halt removal of his name from the Kennedy Center

“In their decision, three judges from the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the president [sic] had failed to prove that the arts center would be “irreparably injured” without [Redacted] name attached to it.”

The US dictator claims that the Kennedy Center can’t exist (financially) without him (and his big head).  That’s another lie, considering the Kennedy Center has been doing just fine for decades without him.

During his first term, he didn’t attend one performance there.  He claimed there was nothing there he wanted to see, despite the Kennedy Center’s variety of programming before he showed up.  I thought maybe he didn’t go to the Kennedy Center during his first term because his bone spurs were acting up.  Sarcasm intended.  Well, his lie of bone spurs helped keep him from serving in the US military.  Now, he likes to play “military” at every opportunity.  Fraud.  Just like he’s a Christian fraud.

“Everyone” seems to have believed the lie that his name has been removed.  Why would anyone believe that?  I wrote somewhere that I won’t believe his name is gone until I see it gone and as of this writing that tarp is still up.  Reading between the lines:  The tarp is hiding his name that has not been removed.

Even judges — for whom the US dictator has zero respect — believe his name is gone.  What gullible judges!  Judges don’t need proof that his name is gone?  They just believe what they’re told by this chronic liar and his scum of the Earth, trashy regime?  Judges don’t do that at their bench.

I’d also like to point out this part from the article:

“The center’s current executive director, Matt Floca, specializes in physical plant management.”

As expected by the people that the US dictator hires; people with no experience for the position he’s hiring them for.  Matt Floca has zero experience with the arts, the performing arts or a performing arts centre.  And he knows nothing about music or the arts.  It’s always appropriate and good to have someone like that in the position of Executive Director of a world-renowned performing arts centre.  [sarcasm intended of course]

So he’s ruined the Kennedy Center and the Reflecting Pool.  Anything he touches he ruins.  How’s that Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool doing about now?

Hola a todos.  Well, I saw the Stanford Service in G listed for this Choral Evensong on 10 July 2026, and I know that canticle setting to have a treble solo during the Magnificat so I wanted to hear the treble singing his treble solo.  He was splendid.  I’ve seen him before with the rest of the Choir of course, and he has a lovely, marvelous voice.  Very well trained in the Westminster Abbey Choir School.

I linked to the Service Leaflet up above, but I don’t know how long Westminster Abbey keeps those.

I mentioned this elsewhere, somewhere:  Westminster Abbey is not a Cathedral — even though some people would say it looks like a Cathedral — but it’s not, because it’s not the seat of a Bishop.  It’s one of the Royal Peculiars (there are about 15-17 of those), meaning that it is a specific Church of England Abbey that falls under the jurisdiction of the Crown, King Charles III, the British Monarch, and not a Diocesan Bishop.

My choral friend said, “That’s not the voice I would have expected to come from him.”  Really?  I said:  That’s one of the reasons for a renowned Choir School.  The chorister had the voice I expected to hear from him, but my experience is different than that of my choral friend who doesn’t have my Anglican Church experience.  He (the treble) seemed comfortable singing the solo and he should feel very good about himself.   I found his solo very moving for me, and almost brought tears to my eyes because of that level of excellence at such a young age.  Rather amazing actually, and I don’t usually use the word “amazing” because it’s so overused these days in pop culture to describe the most mundane things; that along with the overused word “awesome” to describe things that are not the least bit awesome.   But my use of the word “amazing” is in its original sense.

The Stanford Magnificat begins at around 22.10 in the video above. The Nunc Dimittis begins at around 28.50.

There’s a bass-baritone solo in that, and I enjoyed the Lay Vicar who sang that.  He’s excellent as well.  He had a slight amount of noticeable vibrato but I think it was really slight nervousness — and a slight bit of nervousness is always good in a performance, and I was trained the same way he was trained vocally, so I’d probably sound the same way.   (For those who don’t know:  The Lay Vicars consists of the altos/countertenors, tenors, and basses).

I think the Choir School closes for the Summer on Sunday 12 July 2026.  I also see that for the Choral Evensong for 11 July they sang Howells’s Gloucester Service.

The trebles sang a descant on the final hymn, “Love Divine, All Love Excelling” (Tune: Blaenwern 408i NEH) which is a hymn I enjoy.  If you listen closely, you’ll hear the descant on the last verse.  As for that hymn, I think there are about three different tunes for that particular hymn, and in the Anglo-Catholic parish where I was Organist/Choirmaster we didn’t sing Blaenwern, although I wish we had.  We used the tune Hyfrydol.  The boys changed the descant — well it was really the Choirmaster — from the way I’ve heard it sung in the past — such as at William and Kate’s wedding.  It’s essentially the same descant but they changed the sections that are sung in their upper register (at the wedding).  The congregation did a good job of singing this hymn as opposed to the “stand and mumble” congregations one hears elsewhere.

The pathetic “leaders” in the EU

Nearly all of the performances I feature are from the EU, particularly from Deutschland.  I have written in the past that Deutschland seems to have the finest Orchestra Choruses anywhere these days.  The same cannot be said about the so-called “greatest country in the history of the world.”  What a bunch of chest-beating and delusional wishful-thinking bunk that is.

And another ‘greatest country in the history of the world’ (Belgium) defeated the fake “greatest country” (US) in FIFA 2026.  Who’s “the greatest country” now, arrogant US?  Have I told you how much I can’t stand these “the US is the greatest country in the history of the world” ignorant trash?

As for the politicians in the EU, there was a time where I had some respect for most (or should that be some?) of the political “leaders” in the EU until I saw them take up residency in the upper colon of the 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assaulter and now US dictator.

One exception: Pedro Sánchez of España.

A comment someone wrote online:  “Viva España!  tr*mp is a bully, convicted criminal and narcissistic conman. The only way to beat a bully is to stand up to him. Be strong Europe, take note that Denmark and España are leading the way.”

The US dictator — the 34 count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assault (“grab ’em by the pussy”) — went to the G7 to, as usual, go ape at them to make his pathetic self feel important and bullying,  which is something he enjoys doing.  At the first meeting of the G7, this piece of trash from the oval office blasted the EU “leaders.” He particularly went ape at Pedro Sánchez.

Then, at the second meeting, the dictator was a completely different person.  Multiple personalities?  Or was it his drugs kicking in?  That person was just the opposite of the person at the first meeting that went ape.   After the second meeting, the US dictator talked about “there was so much love in the room.”  (Eye rolls)  jesus fucking christ.

Insanity.

It has been clear for some time that the so-called “leaders” in the EU are terrified of this piece of fat trash from the white house.  Except for Pedro, none of them have ever learned how to deal with a schoolyard bully, so they remain residing in the dictator’s upper colon, close to the entrance to the lower stomach.  This was the case at the second meeting.  The EU “leaders” ate his ass and believed every word he said, apparently.  Why would they do that?  Don’t they know he’s a chronic liar?  One can’t believe anything he says.  They have learned nothing from the past.  Don’t they expect him to say just the opposite the next time they see him or hear him go ape on them?  They haven’t learned that he does that?  WTF?

Insanity.

They’re like my dense neighbour who learns nothing from the past.  These EU “leaders” don’t learn from the past in how the US dictator behaves.  Again, he goes ape with them and bullies them one moment and then is a different person the next.

In that sense, he’s just like Hypocrite JD, who stands for nothing other than what will serve him well in the moment going forward.  JD has no principles and is a Christian fraud, like all of these septic trash of this criminal regime.  There’s nothing “Christian” about any of them based on their despicable and criminal actions and behaviour, and ugly language.

I was disgusted that the EU “leaders” are still falling for the US dictator.  They’re still terrified of him.  What pathetic people.  I don’t understand that.  Again, with the exception of Pedro Sánchez of España, as of this writing.

And why was another piece of trash Keir Starmer there when he’s already resigned as Prime Minister of the UK?  I guess he went to eat the US dictator’s ass one last time.

These are pathetic people.  I wouldn’t walk across the room to see any of them, other than Pedro.  Although I wouldn’t talk politics with him.  I’d instead ask him questions about España.  He seems like a very nice guy.

A brief aside:  Someone might be asking:  You wouldn’t want to meet all of these “celebrity” politicians?  Absolutely not.   (I’m not “wow’ed” by celebrities).  And that may be because I lived in the District of Columbia for a number of years and worked across the street from the white house.  I got very tired of the intense, snotty political atmosphere.  I also worked in some of the government offices, including near the US capitol building.  To me as a former District resident, they’re just like any other place and I don’t have any respect for most politicians, with few exceptions regardless of their cult/party affiliation.

I did like Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, at one time, until I saw her sitting next to the dictator, and she did this grand over-exaggerated, ass-eating handshake with the convicted felon and US dictator.  That did it for me with her.  I thought:  Doesn’t the woman have any self-respect?  You’re shaking hands with a war criminal and a 34-count convicted felon who has no respect for the law or for anything else.  Don’t you know that he can’t stand the EU?  Your ass-eating of him is never going to change his mind about anything, even though that’s what you all think, it appears.  You don’t learn from the past.

It seems that one goes into politics when one realises one can’t do anything else in life.

Overheard in the Conservatory:

It should be the US’s 250th.  Not “America’s 250th” because the entire hemisphere called America is not having a birthday to celebrate independence from the Crown, nor are the three Americas.  It’s just the United States of North America that is celebrating 250 years of independence from the Crown.

But as is usually the case in the US, many things have the wrong name. And since the US never had the intelligence to choose a name for their country like all other countries did, this is what can happen when the US steals the name “America.”

Also the US dictator who is currently the white house resident is using the event to make it all about himself, as expected. The guy needs constant attention.

As for “America’s 250th,” I read on National Public Radio’s site that half of the people in the US have no idea what this “America’s 250th” is about, and I had wondered if that were the case.

Each year I wonder:  Do most people even know what the 4th of July commemorates?  I think not. To most people, it’s just a day off in the early part of July.   Most would have no idea this holiday means 250 years of independence from the British Crown.

The US dictator is currently having the “Great American State Fair” in the District of Columbia, which is not a state. But I wouldn’t expect that to ever occur to the dummy.

How can one have a “State Fair” on land that is not a state?  Doh.

Evensong of the Birth of John the Baptist at Westminster Abbey

I deliberately indicated in the title that Westminster Abbey (Church of England/Anglican) is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, which is Roman Catholic.  The latter is the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales and serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.

Whereas Canterbury Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Church of England and the symbolic centre of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Spiritual Head of the Anglican Church.

The music for this Choral Evensong includes:

Palestrina: Fuit homo missus a Deo

Clucas: Responses

Canticles:  Sumsion: Evening Service in A

Farrington: Rejoice

Andrew Nethsingha is the current Organist and Master of the Choristers, and Sub-Organist: Matthew Jorys.  Assistant Organist: Paul Greally.

The Farrington anthem “Rejoice” — which begins around 39.30 in the above video — is quite difficult and quite a sassy anthem for both the choristers and the organist.  These trebles/boys didn’t seem to have any problem with it, even though I think most adult choristers would find the piece a challenge to perform.  The organ accompaniment is just as difficult.

The boys are trained at the Westminster Abbey Choir School which is located beside the Abbey in Dean’s Yard.

The Organ Voluntary is the Toccata in G, Johann Adam Reincken (1643–1722)

I think most people who see Westminster Abbey would erroneously refer to it as a Cathedral.  But it is not a Cathedral because it’s not the seat of a Bishop.

Westminster Abbey is one of 15-16 Royal Peculiars, meaning they are under the jurisdiction of  the Sovereign, King Charles III,  the Head of State and the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

There are roughly 15-16 active Royal Peculiars in the Church of England. Because they are governed directly by the Monarch rather than a local diocesan Bishop, the exact list can fluctuate. The most famous are Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Other Royal Peculiars include:

• Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace and The Queen’s Chapel
• Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace
• [King’s Chapel of the Savoy] (duchyoflancaster.co.uk estates/the-savoy-estate/the-queens-chapel-of-the-savoy/)
• The Queen’s Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park
• Royal Foundation of St Katharine
• The Temple Church in London
  

The City of Westminster is home to the United Kingdom’s government and houses some of the world’s most famous landmarks, including the Abbey of Westminster.  Westminster takes up a large area of London’s West End.

Maybe at some point the Abbey will install a camera by the organ console.  The cameras show the Organist at a distance in his red cassock.  As with many/some Anglican Churches the organ console is high up on the Quire screen (often called the Organ Screen).  The pipe cases are built on top of this screen on either side.

Well, the gender has changed to King with the death of Queen Elizabeth II and with King Charles III now as Sovereign and Supreme Governor of the established Church of England.

As for the National Anthem, those who know nothing about music, usually ask why the Sir David Willcocks’s arrangement (performed above) is not performed more often?

Can anyone take an educated guess?  It’s a rarely performed arrangement because of the large musical forces required to perform it.  In this performance, the camera doesn’t show all of the performers.  In another part of the Cathedral, there was a full orchestra (not shown), The Bach Choir (not shown), the State Trumpeters and the Cathedral Choir (Men and Boys) of Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, and the Cathedral’s Great Organ.

Despite it being the first time this arrangement was performed/heard, The Queen looks a bit sour, if not utterly bored.  This Willcocks’ arrangement was specifically written for the wedding of Charles and Diana in Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral (Church of England).

Reading the comments under the video, most people seem to know nothing about this version.  They seem to think that this arrangement has always existed, when it was Sir David Willcocks who was commissioned to write this arrangement specifically for the Wedding of Charles and Diana as I said above.  One commenter wrote, “I can see why they went with this arrangement” implying it wasn’t new.  Don’t people research anything?  No they don’t, and they don’t seem to know how to use a search engine.  That’s especially true for the people who seem to know nothing about music.  The pretentious ones think they’re supposed to use the word “sublime” — every performance is described as “sublime,” and “maestro” (a word I never use) in their comments to give the impression and keep up appearances that they know something about classical music even though they don’t.  Those two overused words are apparently supposed to give them credibility of knowing something about music.

They also put conductors up on pedestals (conductor worshipping).  I don’t put conductors on any pedestal because I see conductors no differently than the rest of us having worked and performed under many celebrity conductor.  It’s interesting because when I was performing I don’t remember anyone ever referring to a conductor as “maestro.”  We just used their name (Mr or Dr. ____ or Ms Hillis, for example).

I agree with Nigel Kennedy:  Conductors are so over-rated.  From my symphonic choral experience, some conductors are not all that great in working with a Chorus, but you’re stuck with him even as he disrespects the thoroughly well-prepared Chorus.  That happened to us with one conductor when I was in the Choral Arts Society of Washington when we were invited to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra because they were not touring with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.  Lorin Maazel was the conductor.  He was difficult to work with even though we (the Choral Arts Society Chorus) were thoroughly prepared by Norman Scribner.   I remember walking off the stage after the dress rehearsal asking, “What just happened out there?”  Maybe he was pissed off that the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus did not tour on that occasion with the Cleveland Orchestra.  We didn’t know what his problem was but he was a real piece of work.

By comparison, conductor John Nelson was outstanding in working with the University of Maryland Chorus for our performance of the Berlioz Requiem out at Wolf Trap with the National Symphony Orchestra.  At the end of the dress rehearsal on the campus he was so kind.  He said, “This Chorus is the best prepared Chorus I have ever worked with.”

Stupid is in:  On Reddit someone was asking:  Is this arrangement not performed often because the Queen died?   And what does that have to do with anything?  (One wonders how some people get through the day?)  Again, they know nothing about music or this very elaborate arrangement.  I’m not registered to comment on Reddit to tell this fool that the Willcocks’ arrangement is not performed often because of the large musical forces it requires to perform it.  It has nothing to do with the gender of the Head of State.  You just change the word Queen to King.  Doh.  Dummy.  The piece is best performed in a large Anglican Cathedral since it was composed for that.  It could be performed in a concert hall but it would not sound the same because of carpeting and “dry” acoustics.

Someone wrote in the comments, “One of the slowest versions I’ve heard…”  The tempo of the piece was deliberate per the Willcocks’ arrangement, with a packed Cathedral and to accommodate the Cathedral acoustics.   The echo/reverberation time at St. Paul’s is 11-13 seconds.  If one looks closely in the Quire area, there is a chorister on the second row within camera view very precisely conducting (beating time).  There was the Cathedral Choir in the Quire area and The Bach Choir and Orchestra in another part of the Cathedral and the State Trumpeters in another part up on essentially the second story, and the organ console is up above the Quire area also on the second story. One can’t race through a piece and keep the ensemble together in those circumstances and with those musical acoustics.  It was also a slow temp because this arrangement is “grand and glorious” and one should not rush through it.

The Willcocks’s arrangement was performed in 2009 for the BBC Proms.  It says, “BBC Symphony Orchestra.”  So the Orchestra stood and sang the piece as well as playing the orchestral parts?  This is another instance of not crediting the Chorus.  It should say the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus.  I get so tired of this and it’s another instance of treating choristers as second-class musicians.  The tempo for this arrangement is faster in the Royal Albert Hall, in part, because the Hall is a much drier acoustic than St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral.  The descant is easier to hear in this acoustic.

The Musicians:

From the University of Cambridge (Oxbridge) Colleges:  The Choirs of King’s and St John’s Colleges, the Choirs of Clare, Gonville and Caius, and The Trinity Choir, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus with Sir Andrew Davis, conducting

Whilst writing this, I watched another video of the Willcocks’s arrangement where the camera view showed the other part of the Cathedral where The Bach Choir was and where the Philharmonia Orchestra was.  But I can’t find that as of this writing.  Perhaps that video was removed.

Sir David Willcocks was chosen as Director of Music for the Royal Wedding.  He conducted the massed Choirs (which included The Bach Choir) and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Barry Rose conducted the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, and Colin Davis conducted the Royal Opera House Orchestra alongside Willcocks.

“God Save The Queen/King” is a far better National Anthem — much better written; it is in hymn style and much easier to sing — than the tacky “Stars Spangled Banner” (which I can’t stand) that the US has which celebrates war (that text about “bombs bursting in air”) and other rubbish.  That anthem is difficult for anyone to sing because it’s all over the musical scale, and out of the range of most people’s voices.

By the way, the US stole the music of the British National Anthem to come up with that tacky piece they named “America” (text:  “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”).  By the way, what does “‘Tis of Thee” mean?  Since there are three Americas, one wonders which “America” they were referring to.

Things certainly do change.  There was a time when the fake-progressives led a campaign of sorts.  They said, “Do not use the word ‘America.’  Say US instead.”  They pointed out there are three Americas:  North, Central and South America.   Well, all of that thinking has vanished.  These days, no matter who it is, all I see and hear is the word “America” used over and over.  Hardly no one says US or United States, including the fake progressives, who are really just Democrats at election time.  So I guess their, “Do not use the word America” was just a silly fad for them and they’ve abandoned that themselves.  With few exceptions, the fake-progressives use the same language as the far-right whose language they once mocked.

Your Conservatory training:

I previously addressed the words Chorus versus chorus here.

Some people say “it doesn’t matter what you call things,” including in classical music — well in anything really in our increasingly, stupid, dumbed-down society where some people have completely ruined their speech by saying the pop-culture word “like” every other word and making every statement they make sound like they are asking a question — but the classical music field is just as detailed with words and language as the legal or medical fields, if not more so.

A brief aside:  I recently had a medical appointment with one of my physicians and I mentioned something I read on the NIH site, and he asked me, “Do you work for the NIH (National Institute of Health)?”  He asked that because I was using medical terminology — I take it that most of his patients don’t — that his colleagues would use with him, and not the language used by his average patients.  We have a really good rapport, which may be, in part, because I use medical terminology with him.

It’s similar to Ophthalmology.  There’s a Visual Field test that is given to the appropriate patients, that, I think, most patients call “the clicking test.”  The correct name of the test is the Visual Field test.

So, if you really want to have any credibility when talking about music — and don’t want to come off as an amateur or a complete idiot — with another trained musician, use the correct language.  It takes work, but you’ll be learning something, and be more respected because one is using the correct terminology.

I’m not talking about the usual conducting worshipping rubbish or calling the conductor or any other musician “maestro,” an extremely overused word used by many pretentious commenters under YT videos who like to give the impression they know something about music, when “maestro” is the only word they know.  Or the overused descriptor “sublime,” again, to give the impression that they know something about music, even though they occasionally slip up and unknowingly reveal that they don’t.  With them, every performance is “sublime.”  Then others start using “sublime” in a copy/paste.

Now, is it Choir or Chorus?

When I trained at the Conservatory, we were taught that the word Choir is an ensemble connected with a religious organisation, such as [name of church] Church Choir.

Whereas, the word Chorus is an ensemble connected with a secular organisation, such as the San Francisco Symphony Chorus or the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus (in the UK).  Or the University of Maryland Chorus, when they were around.

But since I trained, I’ve noticed that some people apparently didn’t get the same training I did, and those definitions have become foggy/blurred with some choral ensembles calling themselves a Choir even when they have nothing to do with religion.  So it’s the word Choir that has changed by (incorrect) usage.

I have always preferred the word Chorus, and sometimes I refer to a Choir as a Chorus because they are a secular organisation, but somehow there were mis-named a Choir.

I remember noticing when James Burton, the Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus referred to his Chorus as “the Choir” in an interview — he said, “so what I tell the Choir is that…” — even though the word Chorus is part of their name:  Tanglewood Festival Chorus.  But James is originally from the UK and I think the word Choir is used more often in the UK, so that could explain why he said that.

Also, James Burton had The Hallé Choir (a large adult Symphony Chorus) in Manchester before he moved to Boston, and they performed for the BBC Proms.

Directly above:  The Hallé and Hallé Choir perform Händel’s Zadok The Priest, conducted by Matthew Hamilton in the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

By the way, a reader told me fairly recently that he had heard the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and they sound no differently today than they did when I was complaining about them.  Assuming that’s true and I have no reason to doubt him, it’s like I’ve said repeatedly:  James can only do so much with what he has to work with and with the choristers who audition for the TFC.

As for Choir versus Chorus:

The Oxbridge Collegiate Chapel Choirs are correctly named a Choir since they are part of a religious organisation, the established Church of England/Anglican. I always refer to them as a Choir, using an upper case C to denote respect for the Choir.

Some of the Orchestra Choruses in the EU use the word Choir as part of their name, such as the Bavarian Radio Choir, that I’ve been featuring. They’re part of the public broadcasting media and not connected with any religious organisation.  Sometimes I refer to them as the Chorus since they should be named the Bavarian Radio Chorus, so I’m not sure why the name Choir was chosen for them, or did anyone give any thought to that when they were founded.  Perhaps someone used the word Choir for them, and it stuck.

Repost.

Update:  27 April 2026:  The word amazing is so overused these days in pop culture, where everything (literally) is described as either “amazing” and/or “awesome,” when in reality what pop culture calls “amazing” and “awesome” is really quite ordinary and mundane. 

But I need to use the word amazing in its original usage for something that is truly amazing and that’s with this Chorus from Bavaria.    From my understanding, Simon Rattle prepared the Chorus and I was listening to their Osanna in excelsis section of the Missa Solemnis (particularly from 1.01.25 in the video to 1.03.19.  Now that section was rather amazing to my choral ear particularly their powerful tenor section’s entrance with their part and the same for the soprano section — all with perfect intonation — and then their perfect diminuendo to the final chord.  For those who don’t know:  Getting piano (soft, or pp or ppp) gradually as an ensemble and staying absolutely on pitch and blending perfectly is especially hard to do in one’s upper range (as the soprano section was, on their high A).  And of course the First Concertmaster’s solo was lovely.  I keep playing that section over and over because of how masterfully it was done.

Updated 19 April 2026: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is a work I always wanted to perform, but it was never programmed — the same for Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast; I would like to have performed that — during the three seasons I was a chorister with the Orchestra Choruses.  The Missa Solemnis is “muhduh” for the Chorus, such as the soprano section being at the extreme of their high register, and only the finest Choruses can perform the Missa Solemnis with the highest level of choral excellence as is the case in the performance above. I’ve said many times that in my opinion these days Deutschland has the best Orchestra Choruses anywhere.  And this is another performance to confirm that from a choral excellence perspective. So again, I have to ask:  Why can’t some of the Orchestra Choruses in the US sound like this Chorus from Bavaria? That answer is rather complicated.  First, it depends upon who auditions for the Chorus and the caliber of the choristers who audition. It also depends upon whether the Chorus Director does his/her job properly and has an ear for choral excellence. Not all do. I’ve written repeatedly about the Director of Choral Activities at New England Conservatory — her riding on the coattails of Westminster Choir College — and she apparently loves to hear her sopranos and altos wobble and flutter their way through pieces as if they’re extremely nervous. Who likes that sound? I guess she does.  Either that, or she’s too damned lazy to work on the women’s perfect intonation.  As I remember, the tenors and basses mostly sang with perfect intonation. They were better than the sopranos and altos. The same is true at Boston University’s School of Music with their Symphonic Chorus, and the same is true (or was; I haven’t heard them in some time) with the BSO’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus.  Someone told me recently that the Tanglewood Festival Chorus sounds no differently today than they did when I was complaining about them. I’m not too hot on the US Orchestra Choruses these days. Someone wrote a comment that the “sound” of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus has changed — and Robert Shaw would not be pleased — because they’ve been doing too much opera.  One wonders:  Why is a Symphony Chorus doing opera? Doh. Opera is best left for an Opera Chorus and I’ve never heard an Opera Chorus sing with perfect intonation, as if they’ve never heard the term. Perfect intonation is one of the foundations of choral excellence. The only live performance I’ve heard of the Missa Solemnis was in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with Dr. Paul Traver’s absolutely stellar University of Maryland Chorus and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam with Claudio Abbado conducting.  (Would you tell me:  How many University Choruses get to perform with them?) 

Paul Traver music director

The University of Maryland Chorus gave a superb performance, as I had expected they would do, having heard them before.  Their performance reminded me of the recording I have of the work by Margaret Hillis’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus.  A couple years later after I sang with The Maryland Chorus, Dr. Traver told me (after I asked him) that they got that engagement after Margaret Hillis recommended them to Claudio Abbado.  He had called Hillis in Chicago asking for her recommendation of an Orchestra Chorus in the DC area.  She had previously done a choral workshop on the Maryland College Park campus so she was very familiar with them.  It had nothing to do with the jealous rumour that, “Did you hear that Paul Traver went storming into the Kennedy Center and demanded that his Maryland Chorus perform with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam?”  That was a lie promoted by one of the jealous basses of the Choral Arts Society of Washington that I heard during a rehearsal break.  Dr. Traver would never have done that.  He accepted engagements he was offered — if he were interested in them — but he didn’t go around demanding that the University of Maryland Chorus be offered engagements.  He would know that Maryland wouldn’t be invited back again if he had taken that uppity, arrogant and rude approach.  And Dr. Traver was very down-to-Earth, a superb musician and Chorus Director and he’s one of my choral mentors. The local classical music station (WGMS) interviewed Sheila Armstrong who was the soprano soloist for the Missa Solemnis.  The interview was all about her career — it wasn’t about the Missa Solemnis at all —  but out of nowhere she said, “I’d like to make mention of this Chorus.  This is one of the finest Choruses I’ve ever heard.”  The interviewer said:  Yes, we should mention that the Chorus is that of the University of Maryland. Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony, as well as the countries of Austria and the Czech Republic. Its capital and largest city is Munich and other major cities include Nuremberg and Augsburg. The Bavarian Radio Choir and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra are superb in this performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Their Chorus Director, Simon Rattle, does his job.  Simon has been the principal conductor of the BRSO and the BRSO Choir since 2023.  The Choir also performs with other major symphony orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Staatskapelle Dresden.  That’s interesting because I can’t think of an Orchestra with its own Chorus in the US where the Chorus performs with other Orchestras.  The only exception that comes to mind is when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus went to Deutschland to perform the Brahms’s EDR with the Berliner Philharmoniker.  But that was a one-time thing. Some more information about the BRSO Choir from AI: Quote: The Bavarian Radio Choir (Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks), founded in 1946, is a world-renowned ensemble based in Munich, Germany, celebrated for its stylistic versatility ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. Associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) under principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the Choir specializes in choral symphonic works, oratorios, and premieres, frequently appearing at major international festivals and venues. End Quote The vocal soloists were: Lucy Crowe, Soprano, Gerhild Romberger, Alto, Julian Prégardien, Tenor and Tareq Nazmi, Bass, and the performance was conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. I appreciated John Gardiner placing the vocal soloists over on the right side of the stage behind the strings.  It’s rare to see that but that’s where they should be since the Orchestra and Chorus are the “stars” of the performance since they perform the majority of the work. This performance was at the Herkulessaal at the Residenz in Munich.  It’s a beautiful Concert Hall.  Built in 1953, it is renowned for its excellent acoustics and is a top venue for classical music, often hosting the Munich Philharmonic and international orchestras. From AI: “The organ at the Herkulessaal (Hercules Hall) in the Munich Residenz is a major concert instrument, originally built in 1962 by Steinmeyer and extensively renovated in 2017/18 by Orgelbau Kaps. It features 79 registers and is known for its power, including specialized additions like a Bombarde unit and a new console to support both symphonic work and sacred choral music.”

I read that one of the consistent tr*mp ass-eaters in the EU, French president Emmanuel Macron, (to US readers:  the “r” is not pronounced/it’s silent when pronounced correctly) invited the septic-looking, barbaric US dictator to the Palace of Versailles.  This redneck dictator had probably never heard of the place until now.  Of course the dictator/34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assaulter/rapist of the Epstein Class accepted the invite because he said, “I like beautiful things.”  Well, what he really likes is tacky things; not that the Palace is at all tacky, but tacky is what he’s saturated the oval office with all that gold leaf nonsense everywhere you look.  And he’s ruined the Reflecting Pool.  He’s really made the algae-filled Reflecting Pool in the District of Columbia “beautiful.”  That turned out real well, hasn’t it?  It’s now solid green with algae and large chunks of the dark blue paint coming up and floating to the top.  The Damn fool.  Anything this barbarian/war criminal piece of fascist/nazi trash touches, he ruins.

Is the tarp still up at the Kennedy Center?

Unfortunately, obviously Macron has no standards for what piece of septic trash he’ll get together with.  Macron even rearranged/rescheduled the meeting of the G7 to accommodate the US dictator so that the dictator could have his barbaric caged fights on the grounds of the white house as planned.

The world is observing the barbaric way that some people in one nation — whose barbaric dictator is full of himself — are celebrating their 250th anniversary. Others in the same nation couldn’t care less about said anniversary and the plastic patriotism involved from the “maga” cultist trash.

The people I know are asking:  How are caged fights a way to “celebrate” the anniversary of a nation?  What does fighting have to do with the anniversary of a nation?  Fighting is celebrating?  What message does that send the world about a nation, that they see caged fights as celebrating the nation?  This is more insanity.

So I asked:  What would be the mature, appropriate, civilised, non-barbaric and international way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of a nation?

I think performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”) would be appropriate, in part, because the text, adapted from Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem “An die Freude”, celebrates human unity, friendship, and the embrace of all people.

And Beethoven’s Ninth is one of The Big Three, meaning it’s one of the three symphonic choral pieces having survived to date.  The other two pieces are Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Georg Friedrich Händel’s Messiah.  With occasional/few exceptions, they are the only three pieces being performed these days when orchestras decide to perform something symphonic choral on the odd occasion.

Unfortunately, the barbaric rogue regime in the white house is not about any of that.

But if there were any adults in the room at the white house (wishful thinking), they would insist that performances of Beethoven’s Ninth be presented at the — now seemingly closed — John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna Virginia (which is in Northern Virginia), just outside the Capital Beltway.

These performances would be by the National Symphony Orchestra, and assisting:  the combined Orchestra Choruses of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, The Washington Chorus and the University of Maryland Concert Choir.

There would also be performances of other appropriate world music.

I think most people would certainly relate to performances of Beethoven’s Ninth rather than to corporate productions instigated by the barbaric, fist-pumping, finger-pointing, draft-dodging (bone spurs) out-of-control child US dictator on the white house grounds.

Of course the 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assaulter/rapist of the Epstein Class as well as the “maga” trash around him and on Capital Hill love to play plastic-patriotism, phony-Christianity and militarism with their meaningless phony salutes.  These are all very shallow and superficial trash.

Since this man-child, piece of bully trash likes to pretend he’s so big and tough — well he is big — with his juvenile fist-pumping and finger-pointing routine, why doesn’t he get his big diapered ass in the ring and have a go at it with the “professional fighters?”  What’s he afraid of?  That they’d punch him out and bloody his face?  Then he wouldn’t look so “big and tough.”  They’d take him down a notch or two or knock him out entirely.

Being “maga,” the dictator is such a glaring hypocrite, which is a requirement for “maga.”  Just like that finger-pointing JD piece of trash, he’s another example.  He stands for nothing other than what will benefit him in the moment, and rushes to the defence of the dictator.  I’d like to remind readers that JD opposed the dictator until he (JD) was chosen as vp.  He called the 34-count convicted felon “America’s Hitler” and said he (JD) was “never tr*mp.”  Yeah right.  Related:  Sleeping with the Enemy: Is Usha Vance a Hypocrite or a Survivor?   JD has a new sloppily-written book out that he’s promoting — how has he had time to write a book? — which by all accounts is best used as a toilet.

JD is also very full of himself, just like all of these “maga” trash.  He’s arrogant and thinks he knows more than others.  Remember him lecturing the Pope awhile back about Catholicism?  The guy is a fake Christian.  One cannot be a genuine Christian and support this the fascist policies of this white power/white nationalist rogue regime.

But back to my suggestion:  Unfortunately, performances of Beethoven’s Ninth will not take place in the District of Columbia at the Kennedy Center, or at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia because there are no adults in the room of this childish, out-of-control, far-right rogue regime dictatorship in the US government.

Did everyone see that image of pathetic mike johnson (the speaker of the house of representatives) literally bowing to the dictator as if he were a god?  I would post the image of it but I don’t put trash on this site.

mike johnson pretends to be a Southern Baptist.  People pretend to be a lot of things.  I’ve known lots of Southern Baptists.  I didn’t agree with their theology or their “worship service” but they were all very nice to me as people.  I served as a musician in churches of the Southern Baptist Convention for years.  None of the people I met and knew in the SBC were like mike johnson.  johnson is a fraud across the board.  He resides far up in the dictator’s upper colon.

All of these “maga” trash are the scum of the Earth.

In the performance below of Beethoven’s Ninth, the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir is a model of choral excellence, including their excellent Deutsch/German in this performance.

The conductor, Krzysztof Urbański‘s, interpretation of parts of the choral section are unique to him, such as having the tenors and basses of the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir softer in places.

I like Krzysztof‘s conducting style.  I’ve sung under many conductors during my time in Orchestra Choruses, so watching Krzysztof conduct, I find him very easy to follow.

The one thing I never like about Beethoven’s Ninth is always the quartet of vocal soloists (also called vocal screamers on some occasions).  Someone online said they sound like “a train wreck.”  That’s usually the case.  They never try to blend their voices together with each other — where did they train? — and the soprano soloist is usually screaming over the other three with heavy, wobbling vibrato.  (And the soprano is usually wearing some getup that looks like it was made out of somebody’s drapes with the rod still attached, although in this performance that person is the alto soloist).  As for the soprano vocal soloist, did no one ever train her to blend her noticeable vibrato voice with the other three in a quartet arrangement?  I normally don’t comment much or at all on the vocal soloists because, well, frankly, I’ve learned not to listen to them if I can avoid them.  They don’t try to remotely sound anything like the Chorus which is singing with perfect intonation (the perfect blending of voices), at least the ones I feature.  And when I do choose to listen to the vocal soloists, they usually sound just as I thought they would, unfortunately.  The tenor soloist in this quartet was a bit better and easier for me to listen to, the brief amount of time I heard him, that is.

This performance is by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Krzysztof Urbański – conductor and Music and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic.  Also assisting:  Sophia Brommer – soprano, Sophie Harmsen – mezzo-soprano, Martin Platz – tenor Andrew Moore – bass-baritone.  The Chorus Director is:  Bartosz Michałowski.

This was the Closing Concert of the 2024/2025 Season.

Despite being somewhat burned out on hearing the Ninth, I enjoyed this performance from Warsaw.

Historically, the best performance(s) I ever heard of the Ninth was in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with Dr. Paul Traver’s superb University of Maryland Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra.  The Maryland Chorus — as they were also known — was also invited to perform the piece with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

The University of Maryland Chorus performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 over (at least) 36 times.  And The Washington Post music critic said the same when he wrote:

National Symphony Orchestra & University of Maryland Chorus

“…an excellent performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was presented to an overflow audience Saturday night at Wolf Trap. This excellence, however, was a last-minute development, and primary credit goes not to the National Symphony, which was the orchestra for the occasion, but to the University of Maryland Chorus, which came to the orchestra’s rescue. The Chorus—one of the best—celebrated its 20th anniversary and its 36th Beethoven Ninth by singing the final movement as well as I have ever heard it sung, live or on records.”
Source: National Symphony Orchestra & University of Maryland Chorus (Joseph McLellan)

It’s 36th Beethoven Ninth:  That has got to be a world record.  I’m not aware of any other Chorus having performed Beethoven’s Ninth over 36 times, as of that writing.  The thinking at that time seemed to have been (within professional musical circles):  If you’re performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, get the University of Maryland Chorus, unless an Orchestra has their own Chorus.

I do remember being on the stage of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and we (the Choral Arts Society of Washington) were performing Beethoven’s Ninth with the National Symphony Orchestra.  In my mind, I remember hearing, “What are we doing up here performing this piece.  The University of Maryland Chorus should be up here; they own this piece.”  Of course, we were up there on the stage behind the NSO because of the invitation from the National Symphony Orchestra.  I guess they wanted to hear how we would perform it.  But at that point in time I had heard The Maryland Chorus perform Beethoven’s Ninth probably 2-3 times and that’s why I was thinking that.  Maryland always gave a stellar performance of it every time I heard them.

My choral friend said about my proposal:  It’s not about to happen.  This rogue dictatorial bullying regime in the white house is about violence and the promotion of violence, fighting, words of war, constantly threatening someone and dropping bombs on innocent people.  Beethoven’s Ninth is the opposite of all that.   He is correct and I live under no illusions that my suggestion at the top of this article is about to happen.

But it seems to me that since the US dictator is all hot on this barbarism he’s bringing to the white house, that he should be in the cage/ring himself and taking part in the fighting, since he loves fighting with people and bullying them.  That’s what he’s about and thrives on.  So what’s he afraid of?  Or is he privately afraid that someone would punch his ass out and he would no longer look so “big and tough?”

JD was on the programme “The View” recently.  The hosts were very well informed about what the dictator has done, much of which JD seemed to know nothing about.  (Too busy writing that book?)  The hosts did not bow and scape to his ass, as I would have expected them to do.  So he sat there making excuses for or denying their claims about what the dictator and this disreputable and lawless regime has done.  At the end he was ask:  Are you his interpreter or his vp?  Well, clearly he’s the dictator’s ass-eater, just like that pathetic excuse for a speaker of the house, mike johnson.  That’s what cultists do and “maga” is a cult.

Readers might be interested in this:  MAGA Erupts in Fury as Full Text of tr*mp’s Iran Deal Is Revealed