In between two performances of the War Requiem, I went to Oxford and heard two evensongs; a midweek one at the Cathedral and another live evensong broadcast from my old College, Merton, centred around Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia. This also marked the first official public playing of the College’s 750th birthday present to itself, the new Dobson organ. I’d seen this in situ when attending a party at the College a couple of months ago. It is a very handsome instrument, although I think I would have gone for a slightly plainer case if I’d been making the decisions. As to the sound, it is of course a huge improvement on its predecessor and geared to the German/English repertoire rather than a French palette.
The repertoire for evensong didn’t especially show off the organ (that was going to be done at Merton’s Advent services). The canticles were Jackson in G. Responses were by Matthew Martin (unknown to me) and the introit was Cantatibus organis by the Director of Music’s namesake.
All of this went smoothly – I recorded the Britten when I was a student myself so know just how hard it is. From where I was (in a privileged seat very near the choir) it sounded rather bottom-heavy, but it was nicely balanced when I listened to the Radio 3 version. I had a Britten 50p in my change, and included it in the collection. Afterwards we enjoyed a party where the choir’s third CD was launched.