I don’t think I’d ever sung one of these before. In fact I don’t think I’d sung an upper-voice service since I was at school, though I have sung music for these forces in concerts, most notably in Turin.
I’d been invited (from several directions) to join the Birmingham Conservatoire Camerata on their visit to Wells Cathedral. I was available for their Tuesday evensong, joining five other singers.
The Canticles were a setting by Howard Skempton, written for Edinburgh. I found these tricky to learn until I realised that they seemed to be in the Lydian mode. They are entirely in unison, so no margin for error! The anthem set words from a psalm, by Yfat Soul Zisso, a student at the college, and this was its first performance. It was a tautly constructed piece featuring note clusters, like a lot of contemporary church music.
We sang the upper lines of some unfamiliar 5-part psalm chants. Another first – I sang the (plainchant) versicles and responses. Usually these are done by one of the clergy, or if by someone on the choir, someone in the back row.