cross-eyed in Caversham

The Erleigh Cantors’ concert in St. Peter’s Caversham was built around a series of pieces which included a trumpet. However Rutter’s Choral Fanfare, which opened the concert, wasn’t among them as it is for voices only!

A rarity was Leighton’s Easter Sequence for upper voices with trumpet, in Leighton’s favoured format of a series of linked short sections. Twenty years after his death, Leighton’s music still keeps a place in the repertoire; this piece was very characteristic, for example in its use of thirds in the melody lines. Another substantial piece was Ye choirs of new Jerusalem by Richard Shephard (featured on the YouTube clip in the last posting). We marked the Vaughan Williams anniversary with Lord, Thou hast been our Refuge, and also deployed our trumpeter in Parry’s I was Glad.

The trumpet was given a rest for a reprise of Seek him that maketh the seven stars by Jonathan Dove and the Nunc from Jackson in G, and for Bring us O Lord God by Harris. I will now always associate this piece with a performance I sang in at Norwich Cathedral on the day Princess Diana died; I prefer it to Faire is the Heaven as it’s a bit less gushy.

So why did I go cross-eyed? I was singing 2nd soprano, and this involved a lot of swapping lines, especially in the Leighton, where it wasn’t always clear what sort of voice a particular line was written for, the Vaughan Williams, which was scored for double choir, trumpet and organ in various combination, and the Dove, which kept merging and then splitting the soprano lines from one to two staves and back again.