Tag Archives: Gloucester Cathedral

a work from the syllabus

Gloucester Choral Society presented a mixed programme rather than a single work for the Christmas concert this year. Introducing the four-part arrangement of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols our conductor said it should be compulsory on everyone’s syllabus in school. Well … Continue reading

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the first time on the road

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir has not sung outside the Abbey until now. An early promise of a visit to Southwark Cathedral when the choir was a few months old had to be withdrawn, and more recently a planned evensong at … Continue reading

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Cimbalom for Peace

Gloucester Choral Society’s Concert for Peace unfortunately turned out to be more timely than intended. It matched a rarely heard work with one that has been extremely popular in recent years. I looked for recent performances of Donald Swann’s Requiem … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: the final evening

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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Three Choirs 2023: From Pub to Pulpit …. to pub

The Festival Chorus had fewer concerts than in 2016, but took park this morning event on the Thursday, a collaboration with folk ensembles Broomdasher and Coracle. Like Sancta Civitas, this was a hangover of Vaughan Williams-related programming that had been … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: Tuesday evening

Tuesday brought a change of orchestra with the Royal Philharmonic replacing the Philharmonia. And the most unfamiliar of the music we had to sing. Holst’s Ode to Death was only a name to me previously. As long as you can … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: the evensongs

I made it to two of the evensongs during the Festival. The first one was on the first Saturday: Jonathan Hope conducting the Saint Cecilia Singers, many of whom had sung in the opening service that morning and would sing … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: the first Saturday concert

Our first concert, on the evening of the first day, contained two choral items in the first half. Rise up, O Sun! was a new composition by Eleanor Alberga setting words by Blake. There was plenty to get your teeth … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: the opening

As already remarked the opening of the Festival was different this year, with a shorter service in the Cathedral after processions through the city centre had converged on it. Dr Foster would have recognised the weather, and after gathering at … Continue reading

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Three Choirs 2023: the general view

Before I move on to actual concerts and services I’ll start with a few general impressions from Gloucester 2023, as compared with Gloucester 2016. The Festival Chorus was rather smaller this time, although I’d say it was at least as … Continue reading

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