These were requested as part of the dress code for my weekend of services with the Erleigh Cantors in St. Alban’s Cathedral. We had a busy weekend which began with a wedding on the Saturday morning as well as the usual round of services. The organ has now been refurbished, though it is still the subject of an appeal.<\/p>\n
There were three new pieces for me. Firstly Charles Theodore Pachelbel’s Magnificat<\/i>, which has the distinction of having been performed at the first documented concert in New York City. It is a pleasant piece with a notable Italian influence. On Sunday morning we sang Lassus’ Ave verum<\/i>, which I was surprised not to have encountered before and look forward to singing again. Finally on Sunday evening came Leighton’s O God enfold me in the sun<\/i>, a relatively early work with characteristic spikiness and a strong modern text.<\/p>\n
Apart from that there were some favourite pieces such as Purcell’s Hear my prayer<\/i>, Holst’s Nunc Dimittis<\/i> and my favourite Reponses, Richard Lloyd’s second setting. (We did the final dismissal from them too!) We brought back Michael Walsh’s Mass of the Holy Trinity<\/i>, with its top B’s for the first sopranos (at least that is a semitone lower than required for the Langlais last year). Wesley’s evening canticles in E are very firmly imprinted on my memory, since I recorded them when I was a student; unfortunately they are also imprinted at the speeds the conductor of that recording chose, so I had to make a conscious effort not to sing them the way I knew.<\/p>\n
Our next meeting will be a weekend in Winchester Cathedral in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These were requested as part of the dress code for my weekend of services with the Erleigh Cantors in St. Alban’s Cathedral. We had a busy weekend which began with a wedding on the Saturday morning as well as the … Continue reading