a gatekeeper in the house of the Lord

Posted on February 27, 2012 by vhk10

As a resident of Bath I ‘hosted’ the Cathedral Chamber Choir’s weekend at Bath Abbey and this entailed letting people into rehearsal venues and generally shepherding them around.

A weekend at Bath Abbey is unusual because it includes Matins and not Communion. Our setting was my favourite Te Deum, Elgar’s. This is relatively early Elgar, Gerontius-period, rather than contemporary with his later large-scale anthems which I don’t get on with nearly so well. We paired it with his Benedictus (a first for me) which uses a lot of the same music; not strictly the right time of year for this canticle, but we had a reading about John the Baptist so it was appropriate after all! (And a more erudite sermon than I’ve heard in quite a while – I can’t remember when I last heard someone quoting Philo from the pulpit, or a sentence of the New Testament in the original Greek.)

On Saturday we had to wait for a wedding to clear the Abbey before we could use it, and then sang Wise in F (in an unfamiliar edition to keep me on my toes) and In Pace by Sheppard, which I don’t think I’ve sung before. It was a lovely relaxing piece and a real discovery for me.

Sunday evensong was more standard fare: Smith responses, Howells Coll. Reg and Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine. One quirk of the weekend was that we sang the same hymn at all three services; this was partly my fault, because I chose it for Saturday’s evensong before I’d seen the hymn list for Sunday, but it got accidentally substituted for the correct hymn at Sunday evensong too.

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Kingswood Vocal Week

Posted on February 8, 2012 by vhk10

Just time to note that as part of ‘Kingswood Vocal Week’ I was in the audience for a workshop taken by Jeremy Summerly, putting some of the school choirs through their paces in a selection of pieces from various periods. It’s a slightly odd feeling sitting in on one of these; hard at times to resist the urge to jump up and join in, and at the same time not being the primary audience for the comments the workshop leader had to make. But it was good to have a chance to see him in action.

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My fantasy Mass

Posted on February 7, 2012 by vhk10

I’m going to put together a Mass setting for my own amusement (and I suppose that of my readers) of some of my favourite settings of these familiar texts. Two constraints: no composer is to be repeated, and the movements must only come from Masses I’ve sung (so, sadly, no Glagolitic Mass or Missa Solemnis). As will become clear, my ideas aren’t fully settled yet.

Kyrie
This has to be Bach’s B minor mass, surely? If I were beaming up a piece of music into space to show the aliens just what the inhabitants of this planet were capable of, I’d use the opening section of this, the longest choral movement Bach wrote.

Gloria
I wasn’t able to choose the Kyrie from the Haydn’s Nelson Mass so I’ll go for the Gloria instead.

Credo
I’m a bit stuck here. It’s a long and unwieldy text, and I can’t think of a setting that is a real ‘must-have’. So I’ll pass on this one for now.

Sanctus
Here my choice comes from Berlioz’ Grande Messe des Morts, but it must have a tenor soloist who floats ethereally, not one who takes a histrionic approach to his part.

Benedictus
I’m going to be a bit controversial – rather than choose an example designed to show off the soprano soloist, I’ll have the setting from Mozart’s Requiem where the solo quartet work as an ensemble. So it may not be by Mozart? Somehow it’s just too good for there to be none of his music in it.

Agnus Dei
I really couldn’t decide on this one. I shall share the honours between two English settings, one of which is only partly liturgical: Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices and Britten’s War Requiem. I think ‘less is more’ when it comes to this text.

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Bath Mozartfest, I want to be your friend

Posted on January 25, 2012 by vhk10

Or rather, my family would like to buy me ‘Friendship’ of the Bath Mozartfest, which gets you priority booking, an invitation to a party and the warm glow of knowing you’re helping to support this festival.

This started as a birthday present for me last year. In March or so my husband tried to arrange for me to be a Friend, but was told that he should ask again nearer the time of the Mozartfest, which falls in November. So he returned in the autumn, by which time Friendship was no longer available. ‘You need to ask about it earlier’ ‘I did!’ He was assured that Friendship would be available for the 2012 Mozartfest as soon as 2011′s ended, so he collected a form and sent it off with a cheque in December.

The cheque still hasn’t been cashed, so we’re wondering just when you’re supposed to apply to become a Friend.

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The long arm of Minerva

Posted on January 21, 2012 by vhk10

It had to happen sooner or later – after being asked a number of times I am singing a concert with the Bath Minerva Choir. They’re doing Bruckner’s Mass in F minor, which I’ve never sung, and it fills the gap left by my not being able to sing the next Chandos concert.

Brucker, like Rachmaninov, is a composer whose church music I much prefer to their purely orchestral compositions. (As opposed to Liszt and Dvořák, whom I find far preferable in secular mode.)  It will be interesting to hear how the Mass relates to the symphonies; I can already hear turns of phrase which recall passages in his motets, all of which I’ve sung.

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An Exultate Singers reunion

Posted on January 12, 2012 by vhk10

I have been excited to get wind of the possibility of reuniting former members of the Exultate Singers (of whom I think there are quite a few) with the current choir, to celebrate the choir’s 10th anniversary this year. Early October is being considered for this.

If any other former members happen to be reading this, I suggest you let Judith know you’re interested (I have contact details if necessary). I’m certainly hoping to be able to take part myself.

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Low Sunday in Liverpool

Posted on January 12, 2012 by vhk10

A year or so ago one of my choirs arranged to sing a weekend of services at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, over 14/15 April this year, the Low Sunday weekend. In the lull after Christmas, some of the choir started to make their accommodation arrangements and found that with over three months to go, there is scarcely a bed to be had in the whole city that weekend, unless you are happy not to have much change out of £500 for two nights in Liverpool. Same goes for the Wirral, though a few beds are to be found in Chester.

The cause is a conjunction of the Grand National and a home fixture of Liverpool FC v Fulham. (Why do Fulham fill hotels? I suppose it is far enough away for the fans to want to stay overnight afterwards, and they are wealthy enough to be able to do so. I wonder also whether there is very much hotel space in Liverpool to start with.)

So our own fixture is in danger of being cancelled. I did think of some music for the situation: Stanford in Gee-Gee and Lo, the Fulham, Final Sacrifice.

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2011 and 2012′s resolutions

Posted on December 31, 2011 by vhk10

There were no obvious musical high points to 2011 but a lot of things I’d wanted to do for a while actually happened. I sang in Leicester Cathedral and Wakefield Cathedral; this means that Bradford Cathedral is the only Church of England Cathedral I have yet to perform in! I also sang for the first time in St. David’s Cathedral. I performed Rachmaninov’s Vespers complete for the first time. I sang Verdi’s Requiem which I hadn’t done for many years, in a moving 9/11 anniversary concert. Other Cathedral singing seemed to be mostly in Bristol, though I visited Guildford with the Erleigh Cantors. Concert-going was mostly confined to Bath, though I did hear a Bruckner symphony (another first) at a Prom.

Some resolutions for 2012:
a) Obviously, to sing in Bradford Cathedral. I can really concentrate my efforts on this one, especially as the Cathedral now has a website, which it didn’t for a long time.
b) To try to get included in the Lord Mayor’s Chapel Singers, a choir which uses deps from the Chapel’s list. I’ve been on this list for ages, so I’ll keep asking about the Singers.
c) To expand my choral contacts in Bath. For example, by being used again in A Handful of Singers. (Actually, just getting acknowledged by members of the choir would be a start!) And I’ve been on a ‘waiting list for auditions’ for the Paragon Singers for longer than I care to think about. (If it’s all right to put me on a list and leave me there, it’s all right for me to write of it in public!)
d) To do some pieces from my wishlist. I’ve rather lost track of what’s on the wishlist these days, though I posted about Byrd’s Great Service recently. And there are likely to be pieces whose greatness I’ll only realise once I’ve sung them.

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Lots of carol-singing: outside church

Posted on December 31, 2011 by vhk10

A few days before Christmas I did something I haven’t done before: joined the Chandos Singers for carol-singing at Bath’s Green Park Station (for non-Bathonians, this is a former railway terminus which now houses shops and a brasserie). One of the rules about open-air singing (which this sort of was) is that anything very noisy which could happen nearby chooses that moment to do so. In this case it was the brasserie behind us choosing to dismantle a marquee. We ran through our seasonal sequence from the most recent concert and a fair chunk of the anniversary volume, Carols for Choirs 1, then after refreshing ourselves with mince pies and mulled wine, we repeated our set. We collected money for a local charity, with older people and young women being most likely to contribute, though all sorts of people did so.

On Christmas Eve it was the usual village carol singing round the houses. We had a large group this year, probably because of the mild weather. And something which has never happened before: a descant (to O Come, All ye Faithful). A bit of a challenge as, contrary to the usual way of things, pitches were on the high side.

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Purcell’s monument

Posted on December 31, 2011 by vhk10

While on a shopping trip to London, I found time to go to evensong at Westminster Abbey, which I’d never done before (I’ve been at evensongs there, but singing them!) The attraction was Byrd’s Great Service, a setting I’ve never sung, though I live in hope of one day performing it. This was a little tentative in parts, probably because of having to be rehearsed alongside a huge quantity of Christmas music. Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin fared better.

I sat near the choir on some seating just east of the stalls; seating in the stalls appeared to be reserved for choir parents at this service. This service gave me an opportunity to do something for the first time: pay my respects at Purcell’s monument. This is only accessible for a fleeting moment before each service, and if you are singing the service yourself you are lined up ready to process in at that point. I’ve tried to see it before and failed. It’s a great shame that while monuments to poets are one of the Abbey’s main attractions, those to composers are neglected by comparison.

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