Category Archives: singing at services

three sermons about Mary Magdalene

Posted on August 17, 2007 by vhk10

Guildford is hardly your standard cathedral – it looks so like a cinema that one almost expects the organ to come up through a hole in the floor. We (the Erleigh Cantors) were made welcome on a return visit there … Continue reading →

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marking the end of an era with Blair

Posted on June 5, 2007 by vhk10

Martin Hall has handed over as director of the Cathedral Chamber Choir (which he founded) to Matthew O’Donovan and the occasion was marked by a special evensong including Blair in B minor (famously on the music list at Westminster Abbey … Continue reading →

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admiring the candelabrum

Posted on June 4, 2007 by vhk10

In front of the choir stalls in Lincoln Cathedral there is a very fine candelabrum which attracted my attention (not least when two of the vergers were getting it lit before Sunday evensong). I think only Southwark has a better … Continue reading →

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two long Magnificats

Posted on May 1, 2007 by vhk10

I returned to St. Alban’s Cathedral rather sooner than expected, on the weekend of Low Sunday with the Peterborough Chamber Choir. I sang two evensongs, dashing off after the first one to a photoshoot followed by a College dinner in … Continue reading →

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a top C

Posted on April 22, 2007 by vhk10

I hadn’t been asked to do one of these in performance for a while (the last time I think was when I sang in the chorus in Mahler 8). But there was one at the end of a specially-written descant … Continue reading →

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a holding message

Posted on March 20, 2007 by vhk10

Due to a lack of suitable lunchtimes I haven’t had much chance to write new entries recently. It’s not that I’m losing interest. Over the next few weeks I hope to cover: the latest Chandos Singers concert a performance of … Continue reading →

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two familiar pieces for Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 26, 2007 by vhk10

Just a brief note until I can prepare some longer entries. On Ash Wednesday we sang two very familiar pieces: Allegri’s Miserere and parts of Byrd’s 4-Part Mass. I know both pieces very thoroughly, but as it happens I haven’t … Continue reading →

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Birmingham falls

Posted on February 24, 2007 by vhk10

This blog proved its usefulness when a reader saw that I wanted to sing in Birmingham Cathedral and suggested that I join his choir (the Peterborough Chamber Choir) for a weekend of services there. Evensong on the Saturday had a … Continue reading →

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Lassus – or is it?

Posted on February 9, 2007 by vhk10

For Candlemas last week we sang a Mass setting new to me: Lassus’ Mon cœur se recommande à vous. I’ve sung surprisingly little by Lassus – I’m not really sure why not – and it’s arguable that I still haven’t … Continue reading →

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Glenn Gould’s favourite composer

Posted on January 3, 2007 by vhk10

I’m told that this was Orlando Gibbons. A characteristically eccentric opinion, but as a Gibbons fan myself I can hardly fault his taste. During a weekend at St. Alban’s Cathedral the Cathedral Chamber Choir sang See, see, the word is … Continue reading →

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with extra percussion

Posted on December 24, 2006 by vhk10

As with three years ago, this year’s 9 lessons and carols service featured brass, but now there was also a percussion section which I was standing in front of. To balance this, some local big guns were drafted in to … Continue reading →

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Pimm’s no. 3

Posted on December 18, 2006 by vhk10

That’s the ‘winter’ one, based on brandy. It was served (mixed with apple juice and warm) after our Advent carol service – the first time I’d tried it. But I should be writing about music. We sang a mixture of … Continue reading →

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