I rejoined the Peterborough Chamber Choir after a gap of a couple of years for a weekend in Salisbury Cathedral.
We began with a Weelkes evensong which paired his Short Service with Alleluia, I heard a voice.
I have the impression that Matins has been downgraded at Salisbury since my last visit (when I sang Elgar’s Te Deum at the service). We sang at just one Sunday morning service, a Eucharist with ordination. Salisbury has experimentally introduced a nave altar, but I gather that no really satisfactory place has been found to put the choir at services where it is used. We were on benches facing westwards just inside the quire area. Our communion was Stanley Vann’s ‘St. Paul’s’ setting. This setting seems to have fallen out of the repertoire everywhere which is a shame as there are some lovely moments such as the start of the Sanctus (though the first soprano part is high). The anthem O God which hast prepared by Edwards, was also new to me (another piece with a Peterborough connexion?)
At evensong we paired Victoria’s Magnificat on the First tone (which I’d sung with this choir before) with his setting of Lauda Sion Salvatorem. As before, I pondered on the fact that you are much more likely to hear performances of the music of this Spanish composer in his country’s old enemy, England (and usually in Protestant churches!) than in his native land. The Magnificat is an especially fine piece with a gradual increase of urgency and intensity as it proceeds. Lauda Sion Salvatorem is more bouncy and antiphonal. The Victoria Magnificat was paired with the Nunc from Gibbons’ Short Service.
The music for this weekend showed that the Renaissance period isn’t the easy option it sometimes seems. Both Weelkes’ Alleluia and the Victoria Magnificat are demanding pieces which lie high (at least in the keys in which we sang them).
A write-up of a weekend in Winchester Cathedral will follow soon.