Eton Choirbook with the BBC Singers

[doversoul1]

Tuesday 14th

Early Sacred Music from the Eton Choirbook with the BBC Singers, conducted by Andrew Carwood
Live from St Paul's Knightsbridge

William Cornysh: Salve Regina
John Taverner Western Wynde Mass
8.15: Interval
Music for viols from the Elizabethan era.
8.35
William Cornysh: Ave Maria
William Horwood: Magnificat
Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater virgo virum
Robert Wylkynson: Salve Regina
BBC Singers
Andrew Carwood, conductor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pdh40

[DracoM]

A marriage made in heaven: the ascetic, less-is-more Eton Choirbook, the BBCS and Andrew Carwood.

[Gabriel Jackson]

A marriage made in heaven: the ascetic, less-is-more Eton Choirbook, the BBCS and Andrew Carwood.

Do explain - what is ascetic and less-is-more about the music in the Eton Choirbook?

[DracoM]

I'd rather hear it from an expert!!

[Gabriel Jackson]

I'd rather hear it from an expert!!

Hear what?

[Miles Coverdale]

At the risk of being pedantic, Taverner's Western Wind Mass isn't in the Eton Choirbook.

[ardcarp]

Yes, bad listing by the Beeb.

[french frank]

Yes, bad listing by the Beeb.

Not to mention the modern music during the interval!

[DracoM]

Nice one, FF!!
But maybe BBC website writers think that the Eton Choirbook IS Elizabethan?

[Gabriel Jackson]

Nice one, FF!!
But maybe BBC website writers think that the Eton Choirbook IS Elizabethan?

Maybe they don't, since the website makes no such claim. I'm interested in your claim about the Eton Choirbook though...

[BBMmk2]

The programme looks very good indeed!

[DracoM]

A REST in mid-mass for a pro ensemble? What the heck is going on...............?

Is this the BBC scared of letting anything go on too long before we have 'breather' or a chatette.

FGS.

[LeMartinPecheur]

It was sad to hear about all the works originally in the MS that were lost when they came adrift from the binding.

Still, what a feast survived!

...But surely it would be better called the half-Eton Choirbook?

[Miles Coverdale]

Maybe they don't, since the website makes no such claim. I'm interested in your claim about the Eton Choirbook though...

Well, there's not a great deal which could really be described as 'ascetic' or 'less-is-more' about Browne's O Maria salvatoris mater, for example, one of the most sumptuous pieces of polyphony ever written for the English Church.

[ardcarp]

Having performed Browne's Salve Regina, I agree about the magnificence of his polyphony. I am sure Draco was referring to the style of performance. It is a matter of personal taste which ensembles one prefers to listen to in this sort of repertory. The same surely applies to all genres of music, solo pianists or violinists, orchestras, string quartets or whatever. On CD Review threads, for instance, members are not inhibited in expressing their opinions, and I don't see why this should be any different on The Choir. Whilst Andrew Carwood, an acknowledged expert in this area of choral music, did his best to elicit a decent 'treble discant' sound from the BBCS sopranos, I wish to be quite forthright that my preference lies elsewhere, and if anyone needs a reason it's to do with clarity of texture and style of voice-production. I'm sure lots of people love it.