Tag Archives: Bath Abbey

Adam and Eve-ing it

Posted on July 19, 2012 by vhk10

I took part in the South West Festival Chorus/Bath Phil’s performance of Haydn’s Creation. Our conductor, Jason Thornton, told as that Haydn had been inspired to write the work after conducting Messiah in Bath Abbey, so by performing it there … Continue reading →

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Bruckner and the snoring hummingbird

Posted on May 25, 2012 by vhk10

During rehearsals our choirmaster, Gavin Carr, told about the viral YouTube video of a hummingbird apparently snoring. I’m not sure quite how this was intended to inform our performance of Bruckner’s Mass in F minor – not at least by … Continue reading →

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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 … Continue reading →

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Bath Mozartfest 2011 (1): The Sixteen

Posted on December 22, 2011 by vhk10

My first Mozartfest concert was The Sixteen in Bath Abbey. Having missed their ‘choral pilgrimage’ when it came to Wells a few weeks ago I wanted to catch them especially as they were doing Purcell. Purcell is in fact a … Continue reading →

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brass players and drinking

Posted on March 25, 2011 by vhk10

My son is learning the trumpet, and has now been told to ‘have a drink after you finish practising’. Of course water is what is meant, but it explains a lot! In fairness to brass players everywhere, I will recount … Continue reading →

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Svyat! Svyat! Svyat!

Posted on March 5, 2011 by vhk10

Singing familiar texts in an unfamiliar language can make them feel altogether different. I know very little Russian, so there was a lot of grappling with the Old Church Slavonic texts of Rachmaninov’s Vespers (strictly the ‘All-Night Vigil’), which I … Continue reading →

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Mozartfest 2010: Monteverdi’s aspect ratio

Posted on November 23, 2010 by vhk10

Others in the family made it to one of the central performances of the Mozartfest, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players’ interpretation of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. This was quite a marathon as it was given without an … Continue reading →

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Chopin concertos

Posted on September 27, 2010 by vhk10

Last Thursday I went to the last of the Bath Phil’s ‘Summer Classics’ season at Bath Abbey. The programme had been changed (as with the last Bath Phil concert I went to) with Lutoslawski and Gorecki disappearing in favour of … Continue reading →

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carillons

Posted on November 13, 2009 by vhk10

Our half-term excursion to the Netherlands didn’t include any musical performances, but I did notice one musical aspect of Dutch life; the carillon melodies played by church clocks. In town centres you never seemed to be very far from a … Continue reading →

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Brass in the Abbey

Posted on October 5, 2009 by vhk10

I went to hear the Bath Philharmonia (like the Festival, it’s gone in for abbreviating itself, as BathPhil) in the final concert of their summer series, in Bath Abbey. We lost the programmed Borodin overture, so the first half consisted … Continue reading →

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