Same Mass, but a different Cathedral and a different choir (Priory Voices). Of course this meant that the Mass was very easy after last weekend, the main problem for me now being resisting the impulse to come in at the solo entries.
This weekend brought a couple of new pieces for me to sing: at last, Casals’ O vos omnes, which I have heard broadcast many times but never performed myself. We also performed O Praise God, a setting of Psalm 150 written for this choir where the main difficulties were rhythmical. Fortunately many of these difficulties are passed on to the conductor or the organist, who in this case was Andrew Burr, the composer! Another Priory Voices standard was the evening canticles in G by Jack Hawes, written for St-Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich – I wonder if they are still in the repertoire there? [Oct 2013: I’m told it’s not in the rep there at the moment, but they would like to revive it!]
The main problem when singing at Worcester Cathedral is still balancing voices and organ – it is easy for the choir to be overpowered. I was pleased though to see that the Georgian house at the north-west corner of the Cathedral, semi-derelict when I last visited, is now apparently occupied and cared for.