No, this is not the party at Buck House which I had hoped to attend a year ago. Members of Gloucester Choral Society dodged the current restrictions (as many groups have done) by rehearsing outside, in this grandly named space which is actually part of the King’s School. It’s still impressive, with a fine view of the North side of the Cathedral and other buildings in the Close. Plenty of birds joined in, as did the odd train passing between Gloucester and Cardiff. Most of us had brought folding chairs of a similar design and varied colours although they were little used.
We continued exploring pieces from the European Sacred Music anthology. Despite the Erleigh Cantors making frequent use of this volume (which I dread if it involves lugging it around on trains) there are many pieces in it I’ve never sung, though the only ones new to me in these Gloucester rehearsals have been Handl’s setting of the Lord’s Prayer for double choir and my own request of Warum is das Licht gegeben (I finally had the nerve to suggest this, although it was declared to be the hardest piece in the book!)
In this outdoor practice we sang ‘Victoria’s’ Jesu dulcis memoria which I had not done for many years. I would go further than John Rutter and say that I suspect this too is a 19th-century pastiche; all those dominant sevenths! Still a nice piece though.