Category Archives: repertoire

Coronation pieces

I watched the Coronation ceremony with a keen ear for the music performed. I wonder which of the various new pieces I’ll be asked to sing first? (My money’s on Tarik O’Regan’s.) British coronations have been over recent centuries been … Continue reading

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Francis Jackson and the missing anthems

I really thought that Francis Jackson might be immortal, but sadly he wasn’t. I have sung a fair amount of his music and have been struck by his liking for fourths. His Communion in G was a staple at my … Continue reading

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evensong wishlist

From time to time I’ve made a wishlist of pieces I’d like to sing on a Cathedral visit. Time to revisit this and make a new list. Either I’ve never sung these, or not for a very long time, and … Continue reading

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Amen to that!

Following on from the canticle and anthem ‘World Cups’, Twitter has recently been enlivened by a similar venture to find the setting of the best setting of the word Amen. I followed this from the start and indeed nominated a … Continue reading

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how did my top ten anthems do?

So how did my personal favourites get on in the Evensong Anthems World Cup? We were invited to suggest our favourites, and I sent in all but one. Here’s how they got on. There was a preliminary round to reduce … Continue reading

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the final of the Evensong World Cup

So my two favourite canticles settings made it to the semifinals, but then both lost and met one another in the third place playoff. Gibbons Second beat Howells St Paul’s in that match (not by a huge margin). I was … Continue reading

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The Evening Canticles and me

Taking part in the ‘World Cup of Evensong Canticles’ has made me think about my personal history of singing them.* I didn’t start to sing evensongs until I was about 16, and for a few years after that I only … Continue reading

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a grounded singer

So I’ve temporarily lost all my choirs, including the church one. What do I do for singing? I’d normally try to sing every day, which means individual practice on the days when I have no rehearsal or performance. Now that … Continue reading

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rehearsing but not performing

Fortunately I rarely have to pull out of performances because of illness, but a number of times in the last few years I’ve gone to rehearsals for a concert I wasn’t singing in. Twice the work concerned was the German … Continue reading

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my top 10 big choral works

January is always a quiet month for performance (although I have one new venture I’ll write about fairly soon) so time to write some more general posts I’ve been saving up for a while. Singing Mahler 2 near the end … Continue reading

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