the Gloucester Service in St. Paul’s

Posted on November 3, 2008 by vhk10

The following day I was off to London where the Erleigh Cantors were hitting the big time: St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was the first time this choir had sung there; I have previously been with a couple of other choirs, though not within the lifetime of this blog. As it happens, on my last visit (with the Cathedral Chamber Choir) I sang canticles by Howells and an anthem by Bairstow, and this happened again. I suppose the big acoustic suits these composers.

As at Worcester, we arrived shortly before major organ work was to be dedicated and the new work wasn’t totally ready. Our organist got to try out the Cathedral’s new toy – a movable console – but it was located under the dome and behind the conductor’s shoulder which wasn’t the easiest place for contact and the resulting ensemble. The choir stalls are famously far apart, though I couldn’t decide whether they are actually as far from one another as at, say, Lincoln. Or are they much further apart and the size of the building creates the illusion that they are closer than they really are?

I sang Howells’ Gloucester Service again, but first soprano this time so there was some variety. The anthem was Bairstow’s Lord, Thou has been our refuge which is the kind of anthem that can only really be done in cathedral services because of its length. Just as you think it’s reached its climax, another section unfolds. At any rate, I don’t think it started any wars. The service music also included the Sanders responses and a Richard Marlow psalm-chant which was freely based on O for the wings of a dove.

The Cathedral staff made sure that we slotted into the physical and time spaces where the choir was expected to be; I got the impression of being a replacement part in a complex mechanism. (As opposed to the approaches of many other cathedrals: leaving you to your own devices, finding space for you only after everything else has been accommodated, or regarding you as a positive nuisance!)

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the Gloucester Service in Wells

Posted on November 3, 2008 by vhk10

I made it to the final Priory Voices weekend of the year, at Wells Cathedral.  Strangely enough, this was the first time I’d ever done a full weekend of services in Wells, which has been my local cathedral for over a decade.  It’s either been Good Friday concerts with the Bath Camerata or isolated services (and only two of the latter!)

Last time I sang was just before the new rehearsal rooms opened, but this time we were able to use one.  They are a great improvement and very handsome, although still rather lacking in all the choir notices and memorabilia that give many of these rooms their character.

As it turned out, much of the music was pieces I’d recently performed with other groups.  As a result there weren’t really musical high points, though we had lots of stuff by quality composers such as the Byrd 4-part Mass, Howells’ Gloucester Service, Morales’ O Sacrum Convivium, Stanford in C and Brahms’ Geistliches Lied.  There were also some nicely chosen chants, though if I’d turned up to Saturday evensong and got only 6 verses of psalmody, I’d have felt seriously short-changed.  As Ps. 119 comes in 8-verse chunks, I wonder whether it should have been 16?

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some new musical angels

Posted on October 24, 2008 by vhk10

I haven’t sung an evensong in Bath Abbey for quite a while now, but joined a visiting choir for one last Saturday. (This choir was the combined forces of two churches in the Reading area, with significant overlap with the Erleigh Cantors).

This was the first time I’d sung in the choir stalls since various changes were made to them. Some handsome wooden and glazed screens now stand behind the stalls on either side, intended to make it easier to hear the singers on the other side of the quire (a notorious problem at Bath) and to help the sound to project down the nave rather than be dispersed in the transepts. Having now sung in the choir stalls as well as being in the congregation at other services, I have to say that I don’t think they succeed in doing either of these things. I’m not sure what could be done instead, short of blocking off the transepts altogether. Bath Abbey’s own choirs of course are used to the acoustic and experienced at getting round its problems.

A row of sculptures of angels playing musical instruments has been placed near the top of each of these screens. These are best seen from the choir stalls opposite, and I suspect have been designed with that view in mind, rather than as they appear from further down the nave. They still look a bit large for their location.

The music we sang included Noble in B minor and I was Glad by Parry. We had quite a reasonable congregation, though I suspect mostly of the choir’s supporters.

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Duruflé’s Requiem copies in Bath

Posted on October 20, 2008 by vhk10

It’s the time of year when church choirs dust off their scores of Requiem Masses, and for us it brings round the sad thought that we can no longer sing Duruflé’s Requiem, because a few years ago our copies were borrowed or purloined, and not returned.

As I know quite a few singers in the Bath area read my blog, I’m using it to make an appeal. If your choir library has Bathwick copies of Duruflé’s Requiem, or you find yourself singing from a Bathwick copy of Duruflé’s Requiem, could you get the set of vocal scores returned to us? No questions will be asked about where they have been, and the scores can be returned anonymously, for example by slipping into one of the Bathwick churches during a service and leaving them at the back of the church. (Service times here and here). I know no choir would want knowingly to keep music in its library which really belonged elsewhere.

Less importantly (I think) the St. John’s Bathwick set of Wood in the Fridge (sorry, Charles Wood’s communion setting in the Phrygian Mode) has also been missing for a few years, and it would be nice to have that back too. We’re confident that these scores haven’t simply migrated from one of the two churches in the parish to the other.

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Vaughan Williams day

Posted on October 14, 2008 by vhk10

I didn’t get to my usual church last Sunday, but the VW anniversary was well observed at Christ Church Julian Road; we sang ‘Down Ampney’ at the morning service, and in the evening there was a concert entirely of his music. I would have liked to have joined the choir for this, but a rehearsal elsewhere meant I couldn’t, and I only caught the final half of the programme, which included the Serenade to Music and Five Mystical Songs. Congratulations to all involved. I ought to add the Serenade to my wishlist.

Coming up:
my first evensong in the new stalls at Bath Abbey
my first ever weekend of services in Wells Cathedral
evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral
Britten’s War Requiem

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one-piece composers

Posted on October 14, 2008 by vhk10

After evensong for dedication festival we had an organ recital where requests were played. One piece was Pachelbel’s Ciacona in D minor, which set me thinking that it is unfair that Pachelbel is thought of as a one-piece composer, as it was just as good as his more famous Canon. And what other worthwhile music is there by other ‘one-piece’ composers?

(Incidentally, if you want to hear Pachelbel’s Canon played in lots of different temperaments, some deeply warped, try this page).

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taking the Episcopalian

Posted on October 8, 2008 by vhk10

I’ve enjoyed reading the site of this name but I’m going to use this post to applaud St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. On a weekend visit to Edinburgh last month I wondered whether to go along there on the Sunday. I rang their office out of hours on Saturday night, hoping their answerphone message might tell me service times. Not only did it do that, but I was told which service settings would be used for Eucharist and Evensong. I accordingly went along to the morning Eucharist to hear Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor.

I’m normally a bit better organised and look up service times on the internet before I travel so I don’t have to ring up, but I wonder whether many other Cathedrals do this?

One thing I’ve noticed and enjoyed on the broadcasts from this Cathedral is the full-blooded approach to playing the hymns, including office hymns at evensong. The introit hymn at this service was the first time in a long while, perhaps ever, that I have been unable to hear myself singing when in the congregation (in a choir this is much commoner, depending on the piece, the acoustic, the singers and the way they are arranged).

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Bristol Temple Meads to the Royal Albert Hall in under 2 hours

Posted on October 1, 2008 by vhk10

We proved that this could be done (just!) on our way to Prom 62; the train we should have been on was cancelled and the next one left very little margin as we sprinted across Hyde Park.

However we arrived in time to hear Nikolaj Znaider perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the ECYO under Colin Davis (not long since my daughter last heard him conduct). This performance was definitely on the expansive side, and sometimes the soloist’s tone was a bit too restrained for my taste, but we definitely approved. The orchestra really got a chance to shine in Sibelius’ second symphony after the interval. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a symphony by Sibelius live before (probably because being married to a fan of his music I get plenty of it at home).

Earlier my husband took my daughter to Prom 58, with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic. This was also a success, although the brass got rather the upper hand in places, especially in Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin suite; perhaps this is just the fault of the music.

The Guardian‘s reviews are here and here.

I would have liked to have gone to more Proms this year. Much of the programming appealed and the quality of the performances seems to have been uniformly high (unless there was a bad patch in early August which I missed).

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The Finance Act 2000 and choirs

Posted on September 26, 2008 by vhk10

There may not seem much of a link here, but there has been a trend over the last decade for choirs to register as charities. I attribute this at least in part to the Finance Act 2000, which liberalised the conditions under which donations could be augmented by Gift Aid. Choir subscriptions now bring in significantly more income, if you are a charity.

But there are some other consequences of such a change. Once the choir is a charity, it can no longer be the personal fiefdom of its musical director. They may continue to make the artistic decisions, but are accountable to a committee. Furthermore, charitable status depends on the affairs of the organisation (such as the administration of auditions and that of subscriptions) being in order. Certainly some experiences I’ve had in the past wouldn’t now happen under such a dispensation, or if they did it would be possible to appeal to the committee of the choir concerned and remind them of their charitable status. So I think this change is for the better. I should add that I’m involved with more than one choir which doesn’t have charitable status and which is run fairly!

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a return to Brinkburn Priory

Posted on September 25, 2008 by vhk10

The day after finishing at York I sang in Brinkburn Priory. This location has undergone a curious reversal; in the early nineteenth century the Priory church was roofless when a handsome manor house in Strawberry Hill Gothic style was built next door to it. Now the Priory is restored and usable, while the manor house is in a state of arrested dereliction, with the upper floors too unsafe to enter (where they still exist at all). You get the impression of somewhere where the money suddenly ran out.

I was at Brinkburn to sing in a short concert given by the Fitzsimons Choir, with whom I did a tour some years ago (which is when I sang in Newcastle Cathedral). Most of the pieces were familiar to me but there were a couple of new ones: a Tantum Ergo for women’s voices by Fauré and an anthem by Philip Riley, a member of the choir. It was quite a change singing with a small group after the very big turn-out at York.

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three dead ends?

Posted on September 14, 2008 by vhk10

This September is a quiet month for singing, and in general this year so far has been quieter than I’d hoped despite the number of cathedral visits I’ve managed to fit in. I fell to reflecting on some sources of singing that have dried up or just never happened.

Yesterday I received a mailshot from the Exultate Singers about their forthcoming concerts. Seeing what they’d be doing I felt a distinct twinge of regret that I don’t sing with them any more.

When I left the Chantry Singers I asked to be added to the group of former members of the choir who augment it when larger numbers are needed, usually in the spring. As many in this group are quite a lot older than me, I rather expected to be a useful addition to it, but I haven’t been included in any concerts.

One thing I have taken direct action about is the dep list for the choir of the Lord Mayor’s Chapel in Bristol. Another group apparently dominated by those of advanced years, because when I tackled John Marsh about it he said that he preferred to call on retired people to stand in as deputies! (Perhaps this also explains why the Facebook group for this list is essentially dormant.) I’m sending one of my occasional reminders that I’m still interested in singing.

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Bairstow caused the First World War

Posted on September 12, 2008 by vhk10

This was the rather startling allegation made by a member of the congregation to one of the Cathedral Chamber Choir after we’d performed Let all mortal flesh keep silence at the Sunday morning eucharist in York Minster. It seems that historians have overlooked the latent jingoism in his music when considering the origins of the Great War. ‘Think about that when you perform it!’

We didn’t have to wait long to reflect on Bairstow as warmonger because the afternoon’s anthem was Blessed City, heavenly Salem. Now I’m far from being a great fan of his music, but this was one objection to it which hadn’t occurred to me. And I can’t help feeling that if you dislike Bairstow’s music that strongly, then York Minster is probably the wrong place for you to go to church.

Our Mass setting was Rubbra’s Missa Sancti Domenici, which I remembered surprisingly well considering how long it was since I’d sung it. I’ve had a fresh chance to evaluate Rubbra’s choral music since I sang his evening canticles at Gloucester a few weeks ago, but I haven’t changed my view that writing choral music is one area where Cambridge’s academics definitely have the edge over Oxford’s (painful though it is to admit this). Although Cambridge does have to answer for Wood, whose Hail, gladdening Light we sang on Saturday and canticles in E flat (no. 2) on Sunday.

Lest this turn into a series of carps about repertoire, I’ll turn to some favourite pieces I sang at York. Friday was Gibbons night, with the Short Service and O clap your hands (I reacquainted myself with the second soprano part). Along with this was some wacky psalm pointing to keep us on our toes. On Saturday we sang the Leighton first service which I haven’t done properly for a few years; last time I sang it I didn’t have enough voice to do it justice.

A couple of Matins novelties I hadn’t sung before: Harris in A Benedicite (which tries to relieve the repetitive nature of the text by strewing little traps all along your path) and the Jubilate from Stanford in A.

The Sunday morning eucharist at York had the largest congregation I think I have ever sung to in an ordinary service. The full nave caught the Cathedral by surprise too, as the service booklets ran out. Perhaps Olympic success was having the same effect as Princess Diana’s death and causing a temporary increase in churchgoing.

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