The Cathedral Chamber Choir was renamed to something like this on the car parking permits issued to drivers staying at King Alfred’s College during the week at Winchester Cathedral (because I’d made the booking there). I don’t think the name will stick! Another source of confusion was that in addition to our principal conductor Martin Hall, another Martin Hall joined us on some days to sing or play the organ.
The spirit of Wagner wasn’t far from the music at some points, as when we sang the Sanders responses, which use the Dresden Amen, or in the Tristanesque climax to the Nunc of Bairstow in D. It was in fact the first time I’d sung Bairstow in D; I’m not sure how I managed to miss it, since I’d heard other people do it so many times that I knew exactly how it went. Bairstow is not a favourite of mine so it wasn’t on the wishlist, but it’s one more thing to have done.
The first day that I sang was Wednesday, when we performed Howells ‘Westminster’ Canticles, my favourite setting of his after ‘St. Paul’s’, although I appeared to be almost the only one in the choir who’d sung them before. Our anthem was a world premiere of The lilies of his love, a setting of Henry Vaughan commissioned from Ronald Corp by a member of the choir. This proved to be musically interesting without being so difficult that we couldn’t master it in the time available (it’s quite a long anthem), and I found my part singable (notwithstanding a leap of a tenth at one point).
I skipped the Friday (thereby missing And I saw a new heaven, an anthem I don’t care for at all) and returned for the weekend’s services. The highlight of all the pieces I sang was The Angels by Jonathan Harvey, the first time I’d performed a piece by him. We were told this was in the Cathedral Choir’s repertoire (the words are by a former Bishop of Winchester) so this was probably less new to many in the congregation than to us. I was in the first choir, which has a much more mobile part than the second. This is one of those pieces which really makes you aware of the difference between a tone and a semitone, and where I find it essential to stay in tune (we did) because pitch memory can help to find the notes. We rehearsed this during the week rather than just on the day, so that we had time to learn the expression markings thoroughly too.
To leave time for the less familiar works, much of the rest was old faithfuls such as Stanford in C Mag & Nunc and Darke in F Communion settings. I was singing as well as I’ve done at any time this summer, but no solos this time as this choir tends to do verse/solo sections full so the supply is limited!
Next up is a performance on Saturday 4th (at 7.30) of the Lobgesang, as part of an all-Mendelssohn concert in St. Mary’s Bathwick.