Author Archives: vhk10

you’ve transcribed the music lists, now sing in the Cathedral

Posted on August 19, 2022 by vhk10

I have a soft spot for Lichfield Cathedral – it is your proper large mediæval cathedral, but doesn’t double as a major tourist attraction, and is situated in a pleasant place of walkable size.  The rail strike obliged me to … Continue reading →

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a launch and an ordination

Posted on July 24, 2022 by vhk10

The last weekend of June began with the launch of Gloucester Choral Society’s 2022-23 season at a reception in the Chapter House. A chance to reminisce about the Veneto tour, enjoy the bring & share food and sing a few … Continue reading →

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scholarly fiddling

Posted on July 11, 2022 by vhk10

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 … Continue reading →

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the patron saint of my choir tours (2)

Posted on June 30, 2022 by vhk10

There was one final performance day on our Veneto choir tour: the Duomo at Asola, a small Cathedral city.  Here we had a (vetted) organ at our disposal which increased our repertoire.  We sang for a Mass (preceded by a … Continue reading →

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the patron saint of my choir tours (1)

Posted on June 7, 2022 by vhk10

On the previous foreign choir tour I went on, to Lisbon, we were proudly informed that St Antony of Padua had come from the city and shown a site associated with him. And the one I have just returned from … Continue reading →

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Vivat! Vivat!

Posted on May 26, 2022 by vhk10

A lot of choirs have programmed Parry’s I was glad in concerts around the time of the Platinum Jubilee, and it’s been natural to include the often-omitted ‘Vivat’s’, as the Erleigh Cantors did this year in their concert at St … Continue reading →

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Vaughan Williams’ greatest hits – and Britten

Posted on May 20, 2022 by vhk10

The concert programme for the final Gloucester Choral Society concert of the season marked the Vaughan Williams anniversary with a selection including some of his best-known shorter works. We sang in all of them apart from The Lark Ascending, played … Continue reading →

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a workshop on The Eighth

Posted on May 12, 2022 by vhk10

Four years on from Berlioz, the South Cotswold Big Sing Group is reconvening, this time to perform Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. Sadly, the advance workshop in Gloucester was all I’m going to get of this, as I’m not free to sing … Continue reading →

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Requiem (3): a new one

Posted on April 14, 2022 by vhk10

The third Requiem of the spring was a premiere performance of a work by Richard Gabe, a member of the choir at church and connected by marriage to a late friend of mine. Like the Rutter it mixed some words … Continue reading →

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Requiem (2): Fauré

Posted on March 30, 2022 by vhk10

A week on: another Requiem and another setting of Psalm 23. This was Gloucester Choral Society’s double-bill of Fauré and Stanford in Gloucester Cathedral. I would have liked to have illustrated this post with another in the sequence of windows … Continue reading →

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Requiem (1): Rutter

Posted on March 26, 2022 by vhk10

Somehow I found myself singing three concerts with a Requiem in, within four weeks. The first was the return of CanZona (I sang in their last concert in December 2019) to perform Stainer’s Crucifixion and Rutter’s Requiem. I sang the … Continue reading →

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the sounding of thy bowels

Posted on March 24, 2022 by vhk10

The phrase in the title used sometimes to be replaced by other words in performances of O Lord look down from heaven by Battishill, but not when I heard Merton College choir sing it at evensong in Bath Abbey earlier … Continue reading →

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