York Minster must – in the words of our conductor – have known that I was coming with Priory Voices, as they laid on lots of psalms. In addition to the full whack for the 27th evening, we got all of Ps.107 (the first time I think I’ve sung this psalm in its entirety). We were also invited to do what the Minster’s own choir does at the end of the Eucharist: sing Ps. 150 in procession.<\/p>\n
An occupational hazard of singing at York: Bairstow. We sang his setting for Ps. 107 and also Blessed City, heavenly Salem<\/i>, which I have only sung twice before. What stuck in my memory about previous performances is the difficulty of the entry at ‘Many a blow and biting sculpture’. This is on an upbeat during an accelerando and I once sang in a performance where the entire choir (which included much better musicians than me) unanimously failed to come in at that point. (That didn’t happen this time).<\/p>\n
The rest of the music was familiar from earlier weekends with this choir: Vierne’s Messe Solennelle<\/i>, Howells’ Gloucester Service<\/i> and so on, the only other novelty being Byrd’s Miserere Mei<\/i> in a high key which put me onto a different line from usual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
York Minster must – in the words of our conductor – have known that I was coming with Priory Voices, as they laid on lots of psalms. In addition to the full whack for the 27th evening, we got all … Continue reading