My musical activities for a mid-June weekend began with a solo recital of folk fiddle given by Sam Sweeney (sometime of Bellowhead) in church. This is repertoire that I don’t know at all and Sam’s introductions revealed that it can be much more scholarly than I’d realised, with manuscripts yielding up tunes unheard for centuries waiting to be played. And clearly it can be (and was) performed with great subtlety.
On Sunday I was back with Bath Abbey Chamber Choir for two pieces I’d heard a number of times but never performed. Elgar’s O Hearken Thou was on my wishlist; we sang it as an introit in the original single-verse version. Our canticles were Darke in F, far less sung than the Communion setting in the same key. I’m not quite sure I’ve never done these, but I have no record of having sung them. I’m also not sure why they aren’t done more often. They are for double choir, but seem just as good as Wood in F (say) to my ears. We had luxury casting in the organ loft for this service: Martin Baker.