The Erleigh Cantors began in 1990, and for their 30th anniversary an anthem was commissioned from Andrew Millington, formerly of Exeter Cathedral. Our October visit to Bristol Cathedral was our first opportunity to perform his setting of My spirit yearns for Thee, a text which appears in some hymnbooks and which has the unusual property that the last line of each verse is same as the first line of the next. This allows the setting to flow easily from one verse to another. I’d never sung anything by Andrew Millington before; he honored us with his presence at the premiere.
Another composer whose music I’d never sung before was Antonio Soler, whose Magnificat on the 2nd tone featured in the same service. This was a tuneful piece which deserve more outings than it gets; we had to have our copies specially reprinted by OUP. If you find lengthy settings of ‘Amen’ tiresome, then this is the Magnificat for you; although most of the piece is expansive, the Amen is dealt with very briefly.
Our Sunday evensong was a tribute to Richard Shephard, with Ye choirs of new Jerusalem as the anthem and his Salisbury Canticles (new to me). These were not too difficult to learn as the musical material is used economically.
Among these novelties we had more familiar pieces, including Vierne’s Messe Solennelle which we usually sing when we come to Bristol. The hardest of these was When David heard by Weelkes, with some deceptively simple-looking exposed isolated notes.
We were well looked after by the Cathedral, including having tea and coffee available in the kitchen adjoining the chapter house. The absence of heating was I’m told due to a temporary breakdown – I have heard nothing further about the proposal to install underfloor heating here.