I thought that I might not end up singing any S.S. Wesley in this anniversary year, but I was invited to sing ‘Lead me Lord’ in a service at Charlecombe church (along with a new setting of Ecce Sacerdos). It would be nice one day to sing the whole anthem of which this is only the closing section, but its length only makes it suitable for cathedral services. It’s interesting to see that Wesley is holding a place on music lists to a greater extent than some of his contemporaries, and seems to have survived being tarred with the Victoriana brush. The Evening Canticles in E certainly have a place in the repertoire, though the Nunc is often beefed up by replacing the Gloria with one taken from the Jubilate in the same key. Many of his anthems are on too large a scale for most places, but there are several shorter ones in use, though Cast me not away from thy presence seems to have fallen from favour now.
When at Cambridge I sang on a cassette recording of Wesley’s music with the choir of Christ’s College. This was in fact the first recording of some parts of the complete E major service, such as the rather dull setting of parts of the Communion liturgy. We also recorded Ascribe Unto the Lord (in which I sang one of the verse parts) and Blessed be the God and Father.