Tag Archives: Elgar

I never want to sing The Spirit of the Lord again

Posted on May 28, 2026 by vhk10

A few years ago Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord was the anthem at a forthcoming service I was due to sing in. In the run up to this we had several different conductors taking rehearsals and this anthem was … Continue reading →

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a belated return to Tewkesbury

Posted on April 1, 2026 by vhk10

I have not sung in Tewkesbury Abbey in a long time; my only previous occasion was a day trip for a Saturday evensong with my church choir from Manchester. It was good to have an opportunity to return with Gloucester … Continue reading →

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Post-Christmas carol services (2): Candlemas

Posted on February 6, 2026 by vhk10

On into February, there was a Candlemas carol service in church, a service which we put on in some years. There was one new piece for me: David Ogden’s setting of Angels from the realms of glory. Not an arrangement … Continue reading →

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Post-Christmas carol services (1): Epiphany

Posted on January 31, 2026 by vhk10

I sang in two carol services for the latter part of the Christmas season, both of which brought new repertoire with them. First was Bath Abbey’s now annual Epiphany carol service. Among more standard pieces, we did Palestrina’s setting of … Continue reading →

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Abbey interregnum

Posted on July 27, 2025 by vhk10

It’s now time to quickly cover some services I sang at Bath Abbey during the gap between the departure of Dewi and the arrival of Adam. (Much of the Abbey Chamber Choir’s 4-year existence to date, including one period of … Continue reading →

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a farewell organ recital

Posted on April 30, 2025 by vhk10

I went to what was billed as an ‘Easter Bank Holiday Bonanza’, Dewi Rees’ final organ recital before leaving Bath Abbey for St Alban’s Cathedral. For this, a small part of the quire was cordoned off so that the audience … Continue reading →

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Morley at Passiontide

Posted on April 8, 2025 by vhk10

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir’s final performance with Dewi Rees (an evensong originally planned for Holy Week was cancelled) was one of music and readings for Passiontide. The music included a couple of pieces from our repertoire (Elgar’s O salutaris hostia, … Continue reading →

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Mathias and Matins at York

Posted on October 31, 2024 by vhk10

The Erleigh Cantors were due to visit York in 2020 and we’ve had to wait for our turn to conquer the North (the furthest north we’d been before this was Lichfield). Most of the music we used was drawn from … Continue reading →

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recapitulating the wedding

Posted on August 12, 2024 by vhk10

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir made the second of its Cathedral visits, a rather shorter distance to Bristol Cathedral, where the quire is full of scaffolding and the organ has been dismantled, so we were in temporary stalls in front, and … Continue reading →

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a farewell service and Benedictus

Posted on February 13, 2024 by vhk10

For her final service at church, our priest in charge requested a setting of the Benedictus (meaning the morning canticle ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel’, not the movement from the Mass). This is my favourite canticle, but unless … Continue reading →

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I’m Canterbury Cathedral, who are you?

Posted on October 24, 2023 by vhk10

(Title adapted from Last Orders by Graham Swift.) October’s weekend with the Erleigh Cantors was my first visit to Canterbury for a while. I have mixed memories of the previous one – with an under-prepared choir on what turned out … Continue reading →

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Three Choirs 2023: the final evening

Posted on August 15, 2023 by vhk10

The Apostles – relatively rarely done because of the number of soloists required – was missing piece needed to complete my performances of the three great choral works by Elgar. I remarked before that The Kingdom will do its best … Continue reading →

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