things I’d like to sing (1)

I haven’t much time this week, so I’m posting a list of pieces of church music which I’d really like to sing and which I’ve been sending to the conductors of some of the choirs I sing in when they’ve asked for suggestions. In a couple of cases it’s out of date because I’ve performed the piece in the meantime. At some point I’ll post the wishlist of the bigger choral works I’d like to do.

a) Byrd ‘Laetentur coeli’. I sang this over twenty years ago in my first term at Oxford, and it’s forever associated with that time because I have never done it since. [I got to sing this with the Erleigh Cantors in Winchester in 2006]
b) Byrd ‘Great Service’ I can but ask …. [My chance came in October 2019.]
c) Gibbons Te Deum ‘Second Service’. Not the Te Deum from the Short Service which is Gibbons on auto-pilot. This one has verse parts.
d) Weelkes Five-part service. Which is really Weelkes’ ten-part service. I did just the Mag a year ago – I’d like to tackle the Nunc too.
e) Tomkins ‘Almighty God the fountain of all wisdom’ Some really juicy false relations here.
f) Purcell ‘O Lord God of Hosts’. Another piece I have not done since my first term at university, probably because of the eight-part verse sections.
g) Purcell ‘Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei’. My all-time favourite anthem which I have never sung. It has a (tricky) tenor and (deep) bass solo. Some stunning discords and juxtapositions of keys – it’s never been surpassed by anything similar since. [I have now sing this – in Durham Cathedral.]
I could nominate lots more Purcell but I’ll move on.
h) Haydn ‘Insanae et vanae curae’ Heard this on a broadcast the other week – a bit naff but I love it. [I’ve since sung it – in Bristol last summer]
i) Smart Evening Canticles in G. Only Chichester Cathedral choir seem to sing these, though I did sing them once in about 1987. Virtuosic and fluent 5-part counterpoint.
j) Elgar Te Deum. I think this is much better than the Vaughan Williams which you hear more often – like a bit of Gerontius that got away. But it’s expansive, i.e. long! Organists seem to like it too.
[I sang this again with the Erleigh Cantors in Salisbury in 2006.]
k) Gray ‘What are these that glow from afar?’ This is long, maybe suitable for a Saturday or Sunday evensong. Sounds fun to sing.
l) Day Evening Canticles in B flat. I’m not so smitten with these as with the other things on the list but I feel it’s a gap that I’ve never sung them!
m) Howells Evening Canticles ‘St. Paul’s’ ‘What, has Virginia never done these?’ Well, of course I have, but as it happens not since 1991 (!), and they are my favourite Howells setting, because of the sweeping vocal lines. [I have since sung these with Priory Voices in Gloucester Cathedral, and with the Erleigh Cantors in Salisbury]. For that matter, I’ve never sung Howells in B minor, though I’ve heard them often enough. [Now done]
n) Lloyd Responses (2nd set) (i.e. not the ones written for Hereford – I think this set were written for Durham). I get so envious every time I hear another choir sing these. [not any more as I’ve sung them several times since I compiled the list!]
Another gap – I’ve never sung anything by Philip Moore and I like his compositions. [Now sung a few though his canticles elude me. We do ‘It is a thing most wonderful’ quite often in church.]