Purcell, Charles Andrews, Ives, Morley and Byrd for Lent

Posted on March 25, 2026 by vhk10

Meanwhile at Christ Church we sang evensong mid-March with more Purcell (Thou knowest, Lord) and the ‘faux-bordon’ canticles by one Carolus Andreas. I am suspicious of the provenance of these last. They have been reprinted by the RSCM (starting in 1900) and others, with English words that appear to be an adaptation from the Latin, but nowhere I have seen is there given a MS or published original source or even an editor. There is no independent evidence for the composer (Andreas Carolus the theologian does not seem to have composed). The name does not look English, and yet he has conveniently written a pair of canticles for the liturgy of Anglican evensong. So like the Fayrfax faux-bordons I think these are at best an adaptation of some other piece, and quite possibly a pastiche by someone called Charles Andrews (or maybe Andrew Charles). As I’ve said of other pieces, it’s a shame we don’t know because they are a lovely simple setting, and established in the repertoire (I have sung them with several different choirs). I’m throwing down the gauntlet to anyone who can prove my conjecture wrong.

Back at Bath Abbey we sang a Eucharist for Passion Sunday, slipping in the Sanctus from Grayston Ives’ Missa Brevis, and bringing out Morley’s Nolo mortem peccatoris, which we also sang last year. I assume the Morley must have been written for use in the home rather than in services; it suddenly sounds earlier than it is around bar 45, but maybe that is because it is in only two parts at that point. Morley omitted a number of rather graphic verses from the original carol.

Our motet was Civitas sancti tui on its own, which was followed by the Communion hymn Once again, ‘Thank you for the cross, my friend’.

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Purcell, Lotti and Byrd for Lent

Posted on March 2, 2026 by vhk10

For the second year in a row the Chamber Choir sang at the Abbey on Ash Wednesday. We opened with Purcell Remember not, Lord, used Byrd’s Four-Part mass as the setting, and during the Ashing sang Lotti’s setting of the Miserere, which I’d not come across before. It is a through-composed setting of the entire text, all very much on a level and not modulating far, so that you can stop at the end of any verse with no worse consequences than being in a different but closely related key to the one in which you started. Everyone in the congregation was ashed (very thoroughly) by about two-thirds of the way through, so that’s how much we sang.

For the second Sunday in Lent we sang choral evensong, with the Weelkes short service (like Byrd’s, I’ve sung this far less often than Gibbons Short) and a work I’d never done in a service: Byrd’s diptych of Ne irascaris and Civitas sancti tui. This last had long been on my wishlist, after I’d heard it many times on Lenten evensong broadcasts. I had sung Civitas sancti tui on its own, informally, at a Chantry Singers reunion event. So, what about that accidental in bar 96, eh? Editions and performers are split about this one, but we did it.

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six of the best

Posted on March 1, 2026 by vhk10

Three of us went on a birthday outing to hear the Gesualdo Six at the Wiltshire Music Centre, giving a programme called Nachtmusik, setting texts in English, Italian and German, with less emphasis on the early repertoire that features in their recordings, and joined by the cellist Josephine Knight. Although the first half did include pieces by Dowland and Monteverdi. In between those we enjoyed a recently-composed piece, The Horse enters Troy, in which Rebecca Farthing sets lines from Aeneid II, and noted her name.

The second half focused on German Romantic compositions. A number of the pieces were arrangements and the most substantial of these was Wo?, a short text set to music arranged from the slow movement of the String Quintet D956. This movement regularly turns up when people versed in classical music list their favourite pieces; I can understand what they see in it, although it would not make my own list. We didn’t feel the arrangement really worked for us as we found ourselves missing the strings.

The only piece I’d ever sung myself was Rheinberger’s Abendlied, only unlike in Ely Cathedral we were supplied with a translation. We also heard Reger’s Nachtlied (as with anything else by Reger, I can’t remember much about this), Schubert’s partsong Die Nacht D983c and Owain Park’s own Sommernacht (some imagination required here at the back end of February).

Not all the six sang in every piece, with the ‘spare’ singers standing at one side of the stage till they were needed again. Owain Park gave engaging introductions.

It was a well attended concert with several Bathonians I knew there. Early music mavens would have liked the programme slanted more in their direction, but the rest of us were happy. They can be heard again at the Bath Festival in May.

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a missed chance to sing Israel in Egypt

Posted on February 25, 2026 by vhk10

A couple of years before I started this blog I sang in a performance of Israel in Egypt with the Brandon Hill Singers. (It was I think the last performance with orchestra that the choir ever gave.) Apart from Deborah with the Chandos Singers, it is the only oratorio by Handel, other than Messiah, that I’ve ever done.

I was invited to sing it again in a performance in Oxford this month, but sadly had to pull out because of illness. I was sorry about this, not just because I had been looking forward to revisiting this work (although it’s a big sing, and I was doing the other soprano part this time with only hazy memories of any of it!), but also because of the venue. All Saints Lime Walk, Headington isn’t one of my spiritual homes from home, but I was confirmed there (it was known as All Saints Highfield in those days). It is notable for having had for some years the longest-serving parish priest in the Church of England; he was well into his 63-year tenure when I first came across him.

Back to Israel in Egypt. Handel’s oratorios, like Haydn’s Masses, are a big gap in my performing history. I think the problem may be the popularity of Messiah with audiences, which ensures it can be put on to fill the coffers. If you’ve done that, you probably don’t want to perform another Handel oratorio in a season with maybe only three or four concerts in total. I will continue to look out for chances to at least explore Saul, Judas Maccabaeus and the rest.

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Post-Christmas carol services (2): Candlemas

Posted on February 6, 2026 by vhk10

On into February, there was a Candlemas carol service in church, a service which we put on in some years. There was one new piece for me: David Ogden’s setting of Angels from the realms of glory. Not an arrangement fortunately, as I find the standard tune excessively repetitive, but with a strenuous first soprano part!

Elgar featured again, in the shape of Light of the World. We also sang Whitacre’s Lux aurumque, Tallis’ O nata Lux and the Nunc from Howells’ Gloucester canticles.

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Post-Christmas carol services (1): Epiphany

Posted on January 31, 2026 by vhk10

I sang in two carol services for the latter part of the Christmas season, both of which brought new repertoire with them.

First was Bath Abbey’s now annual Epiphany carol service. Among more standard pieces, we did Palestrina’s setting of Tribus Miraculis as an alternative to the more usual Marenzio, and Richard Allain’s Cana’s guest. The only previous music by Allain I’ve sung is his spiritual arrangements. Cana’s guest is a succinct piece, with some subtle symbolism worked into it.

Other music we sang included Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord (well known to many in the choir after singing it at ordinations), No small wonder by Paul Edwards and Warlock’s Bethlehem Down.

January is a quiet month for singing, but later on I sang a couple of evensongs, the most notable music being my first encounter with Grayston Ives’ evening canticles in D.

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2025 round-up

Posted on January 1, 2026 by vhk10

2025 was an odd year, both for what it contained and for what it didn’t. The outstanding feature was the two overseas choir tours in quick succession, with Bristol Choral to Latvia and Gloucester Choral to Transylvania. They just happened to come round in successive months. I sang in Prior Park Chapel for the first time. I sang Berlioz’ Te Deum for the first time. I heard a performance of Der Wein for the first time. I also got to hear Berg’s violin concerto and music by Boulez in Cardiff, Norma with Bath Opera and Makropoulos at the Royal Opera. Cathedral-wise, there were visits to Exeter, Llandaff and St Albans. The Llandaff weekend gave me a chance to revisit Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir and there were several pieces I sang in various services and concerts which I hadn’t done before. Major choral works I sang with orchestra were Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Brahms’ German Requiem.

But there were some things missing. I didn’t go to a Prom (apart from 2020, I have hardly ever missed a season totally for many years). I didn’t go to a concert in the Bath Festival. The only solo I sang was the first verse of Once in Royal in the atrium of the Royal United Hospital – quite a good acoustic as there is a lot of space above you. My opportunities to do so were reduced because I didn’t join the Cathedral Chamber Choir for anything (again, missing a whole year for the first time in a long while) and because the Bath Abbey Chamber Choir went through a transitional year (like most years in the choir’s short history) during which programming favoured straightforward pieces in four parts with no solos.

I also reduced my singing commitments by dropping out of Bristol Choral Society as of the autumn. So what should I expect or resolve for 2026? No choir tours are planned this time, and I may or may not be in the chorus for the Three Choirs Festival. Should that not happen, I gain an opportunity to return to Carlisle Cathedral for the first time in many years, but lose rare chances to sing with a professional orchestra. So I think my ambition for 2026 should be to get to sing in more orchestral concerts by whatever route (sadly the invitations to do so in London and Cardiff have dried up in recent years).

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Advent and Christmas 3: Rutter-tide in St David’s

Posted on December 26, 2025 by vhk10

We went as usual to the Nine Lessons and Carols in St David’s Cathedral. There was more John Rutter than usual, probably because as already mentioned he has a major birthday this year. It included what I think is one of his best pieces What sweeter music, as well as the Shepherd’s Pipe Carol and an arrangement of Noël nouvelet.

I have enjoyed singing many of his pieces (mostly sacred but also secular) over the years, although I’m not in a hurry to do any of his works that use an orchestra, as I find the orchestration works but is predictable. Looking back through this blog I see that Rutter was the subject of one of the earliest posts, and he was far from new on the scene then, so he clearly has enduring power, even though younger composers like Bob Chilcott have movd in on his territory. I wasn’t involved in his visit to Bath earlier in the year but did sing under his direction just once, when he did a workshop at Manchester University.

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Advent and Christmas 2: inclusive carols, the hospital lobby and Jethro Tull

Posted on December 19, 2025 by vhk10

My second tranche of seasonal music began with an inclusive service at church for our Open Table Network congregation. This began and ended with some appropriate ‘songs from the shows’, which was for me a welcome chance to dip into a repertoire I don’t normally do. We made sure to include a descant to every hymn! More reflectively we included In the stillness by Sally Beamish, as well as Rutter’s Star Carol; astonishingly, I really have no record of ever having sung this latter before although I’ve heard others of many different ages do so lots of times.

A few days later we made our annual excursion to the Royal United Hospital lobby to sing a short service for whoever happened to be passing through or setting in the café there. The major-birthday composer John Rutter featured strongly, including the Star Carol again.

Afterwards, a brisk walk eastwards to the city centre to join others from the Abbey Chamber Choir as a warm-up act for Jethro Tull, who were giving a benefit concert in aid of the new stained-glass window depicting St Alphege. We sang some well-known carols, including Gaudete, with interspersed jazzy interludes. The trickiest part of this was negotiating the cables en route to our staging – and remembering not to look at the lights, which would have dazzled us.

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Advent and Christmas 1: the anniversary that wasn’t

Posted on December 8, 2025 by vhk10

November was packed with musical events, and although I had no actual Christmas concerts in December there was nevertheless more other seasonal performances than I usually give.

Actually, this started well back in November with the opening of Bath’s Christmas market; this year was rather special as it was claimed to be the 25th anniversary of the market. Although I’m not really sure on what basis, as the first market was 24 years ago, in 2001; nor can it be said to be the 25th time the market has been held as there was no market in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 (in the latter case getting security staff was said to be the problem). We began by singing a few carols/hymns standing at the open west door of the Abbey (the weather was too poor to go outside), before joining stallholders inside the Abbey for a short ceremony combining sacred and secular as we heard about how the market came to be started.

A few days later Advent began and we sang the Abbey’s morning service. There was a piece new to me (and only a decade old in any case): Alan Bullard’s And art thou come with us to dwell which incorporates the Veni Emmanuel melody.

Christ Church’s Advent service was as usual a week later. This brought a personal premiere: Kerensa Brigg’s A tender shoot (also to be sung by the Abbey Chamber Choir this Advent). Our most substantial pieces were Alec Roth’s Unborn and Anthony Piccolo’s I look from afar.

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the late quartets that weren’t

Posted on November 30, 2025 by vhk10

I hadn’t been to a concert at the Wiltshire Music Centre in over 10 years. Only a small part of this was accounted for by the pandemic hiatus; mostly it was because I fell off the mailing list for their brochure, which was a useful way of reminding me what was happening.

We returned for a performance by the former quartet in residence, the Doric String Quartet. They are almost like George Washington’s axe in that they have had a change of 3 of 4 players since I first heard them, and of two players recently.

The publicity for this concert enticed prospective listeners with the prospect that the quartet would be ‘exploring some of the last pieces [Beethoven] ever penned’, Op 135 and Op 132. For me, there was also the chance to compare their interpretation of Op 132 with the one I remember hearing back in 2008. It was therefore disappointing to find that the two quartets were replaced by Op 18 no. 3 and Op 59 no. 3. Not that there is anything wrong with those, but two-thirds of the programme, which had been extensively trailed in publicity, was changed at a late stage, apparently because the new lineup wasn’t ready to perform it. Surely they could have realised that a bit earlier?

I have had something like this happen a few times during the lifetime of this blog. It’s more understandable when it’s due to illness and a replacement performer having to be found. It also happens in my own performances. I think of the time I signed up, and paid, to sing The Kingdom, only to find the entire programme changed to one of Russian music. (I have got to sing The Kingdom since then.) The consequence was that I was reluctant to join further performances by that choir, in case the repertoire was changed after I’d committed to them (as some of it was!)

As for the Doric Quartet’s performances, which included the unchanged Op 20 no. 5 quartet of Haydn, we found them accomplished but tending to style over substance, with physical gestures used to elicit audience appreciation. So maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed the late quartets all that much anyway.

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a Messiah about which there isn’t much to say

Posted on November 30, 2025 by vhk10

November 2025 was, I realise, a ridiculously busy month musically speaking. My final performance of the month was Messiah in Gloucester Cathedral. I’m beginning to run out of things to say about Messiah, which under natural conditions I’d aim to sing about one year in three. In fact this particular performance was the first one I’d given in two years, as I was unable to sing in 2024’s, so I’d had some sort of a break from it.

We had a different accomanying ensemble this year – La Serenissima, who have given other performances at the Cathedral recently. And, erm, I don’t have very much more to add except that everyone was definitely warmer than the last time I sang it there.

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