I haven’t sung an evensong in Bath Abbey for quite a while now, but joined a visiting choir for one last Saturday. (This choir was the combined forces of two churches in the Reading area, with significant overlap with the Erleigh Cantors).
This was the first time I’d sung in the choir stalls since various changes were made to them. Some handsome wooden and glazed screens now stand behind the stalls on either side, intended to make it easier to hear the singers on the other side of the quire (a notorious problem at Bath) and to help the sound to project down the nave rather than be dispersed in the transepts. Having now sung in the choir stalls as well as being in the congregation at other services, I have to say that I don’t think they succeed in doing either of these things. I’m not sure what could be done instead, short of blocking off the transepts altogether. Bath Abbey’s own choirs of course are used to the acoustic and experienced at getting round its problems.
A row of sculptures of angels playing musical instruments has been placed near the top of each of these screens. These are best seen from the choir stalls opposite, and I suspect have been designed with that view in mind, rather than as they appear from further down the nave. They still look a bit large for their location.
The music we sang included Noble in B minor and I was Glad by Parry. We had quite a reasonable congregation, though I suspect mostly of the choir’s supporters.