Martin Hall has handed over as director of the Cathedral Chamber Choir (which he founded) to Matthew O’Donovan and the occasion was marked by a special evensong including Blair in B minor (famously on the music list at Westminster Abbey the weekend after the 1997 General Election) and Parry’s I was glad. This music was chosen by Martin, who I gather is related to Hugh Blair.
The venue was Eton College Chapel. Architecturally and acoustically it’s a smaller version of King’s College Cambridge, with an impressively decorated organ. I missed a chance to come to the chapel some years ago when the New Cambridge Singers had a day trip there, so it was good to get another opportunity. And I hadn’t done the Blair in a long while, possibly because it’s in lots of parts throughout.