Author Archives: vhk10

Holy Week/Easter 2023

Posted on April 14, 2023 by vhk10

I was able to sing in all the choral services at church for Holy Week and Easter this year. We put together our service of music and readings for Good Friday rather quickly and I found I had to learn … Continue reading →

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a home-grown St John Passion

Posted on April 12, 2023 by vhk10

I was given a ticket to Bath Abbey’s Holy Week performance of Bach’s St John Passion, given by the Abbey girls and men with Ruairi Bowen as the Evangelist and Rejouissance playing. The Abbey is still unheated (a part has … Continue reading →

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a dodransbicentennial memory test

Posted on April 10, 2023 by vhk10

Howells Hymnus Paradisi is the major choral work which I had not sung for the longest time. I did it as a student, but never since then, although I have twice sung Howells’ Requiem, which is the source of some … Continue reading →

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three services at the Abbey

Posted on March 31, 2023 by vhk10

I’ll roll the three most recent outings of Bath Abbey’s Chamber Choir into one post. On 5 March we sang Peter Philips’ Ave verum and Purcell’s Remember not, Lord at the earlier sung Eucharist. A week later we were back … Continue reading →

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a meaty interpretation

Posted on March 22, 2023 by vhk10

Preparing for my next concert I was directed to a YouTube recording of one of the pieces. In the ‘if you liked this, you might also like this’ column on the right, alongside two movements from the other piece in … Continue reading →

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lauter Zucker sein

Posted on February 28, 2023 by vhk10

This line from the text of Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude felt appropriate to the Paragon Singers’ study day at St Swithin’s Church, as we were plied with large quantities of home-made cake morning and afternoon! I felt I was … Continue reading →

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Go to Jail

Posted on February 22, 2023 by vhk10

The branch of the Premier Inn I stayed in at Bury St Edmunds was previously the town gaol, and retained some of the original features (not in my room, I’m happy to say). After not singing last year with the … Continue reading →

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Bachfest 2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by vhk10

I didn’t get the the Bath Opera spring production this year – The Merry Widow – as the Thursday night sold out (perhaps because the tickets were cheaper) and that was the only night I could go. So instead we … Continue reading →

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observing the Weelkes anniversary

Posted on February 10, 2023 by vhk10

I foresee a lot of Tudor repertoire this year, with anniversaries both of Byrd and of Weelkes. I observed the latter by singing his ‘First Service’ canticles at Bath Abbey (doing a number of the first treble verse parts) with … Continue reading →

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the rise of the carol service

Posted on January 30, 2023 by vhk10

Time was when a carol service meant Christmas carols. (It has a sister in the ‘carol concert’, a format I’ve never really enjoyed because it feels wrong to pay for something that is often very similar to a service.) Advent … Continue reading →

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