CE Chichester Cathedral Wed, 16th April 2014

[DracoM]

CE Chichester Cathedral



Order of Service:


Introit: Civitas sancti tui (Byrd)
Responses: Byrd
Office Hymn: O dearest Lord (Albano)
Psalm: 88 (Deffett)
First Lesson: Isaiah 63: 1-9
Canticles: Francis Jackson in G
Second Lesson: Revelation 14:18 – 15: 4
Anthem: The Lamentation (Bairstow)
Hymn: Earth's fragile beauties we possess (Kingsfold)



Organ Voluntary: Passacaglia - BWV 582 (JS Bach)



Timothy Ravalde (Assistant Organist)
Sarah Baldock (Organist and Master of the Choristers)

[Magnificat]

CE Chichester Cathedral



Order of Service:


Introit: Civitas sancti tui (Byrd)
Responses: Byrd
Office Hymn: O dearest Lord (Albano)
Psalm: 88 (Deffett)
First Lesson: Isaiah 63: 1-9
Canticles: Francis Jackson in G
Second Lesson: Revelation 14:18 – 15: 4
Anthem: The Lamentation (Bairstow)
Hymn: Earth's fragile beauties we possess (Kingsfold)



Organ Voluntary: Passacaglia - BWV 582 (JS Bach)



Timothy Ravalde (Assistant Organist)
Sarah Baldock (Organist and Master of the Choristers)

Attractive selection of music.

I adore the Byrd and Bairstow's Lamentation is a particular favourite of mine as are Vaughan Williams's Kingsfold and the pretty little tune Albano for the Office Hymn.

Who was/is Deffett?

I see that Sarah Baldock is moving on after six years at Chichester.

VCC

[mopsus]

Composers of psalm chants are rather prone to get garbled by the Beeb. The name should be Defell, and if the chant sounds familiar, it's because it's adapted from the opening of Cherubini's Requiem. It's in use at King's College and can be found in 'Chants Old and New'.

[ardcarp]

Haven't heard CE yet (too sunny outside!) but hear that Sarah Baldock is going to be DoM at Cheltenham Ladies' College. Interesting career move.

[ostuni]

Not DoM: music teacher and accompanist. The present DoM stays in position!

[ardcarp]

Sorry if this was wrong, but...

In March 2014, it was announced that Baldock had been appointed Director of Music at Cheltenham Ladies' College, and start at the school in September 2014.

...I got that from Wiki. So there's some confusion somewhere.

[french frank]

Sorry if this was wrong, but....

The Chichester website just says 'appointed ... to the music department'.

[DracoM]

Very competent, pretty accurate, light, bright sound, top altos, very decent elsewhere.

Sorry - Bairstow Lamentations a bore for me.

I did feel that the desperate complexities of the Byrd introit eluded them: needed a much richer, more expressive treble line. 'Jerusalem desolata'? Hmm. Didn't sound terribly 'desolata 'to me.

[Magnificat]

Very competent, pretty accurate, light, bright sound, top altos, very decent elsewhere.

Sorry - Bairstow Lamentations a bore for me.

I did feel that the desperate complexities of the Byrd introit eluded them: needed a much richer, more expressive treble line. 'Jerusalem desolata'? Hmm. Didn't sound terribly 'desolata 'to me.

Draco,

I agree with you entirely.

However, as with any piece of music it all depends on how it is communicated and if you had heard Barry Rose's interpretation of the Bairstow, for example, you would not have been bored I can assure you.

Shame that they couldn't fit the hymns in the time available lovely words and tunes both.

VCC

[ardcarp]

A lovely sounding choir! Chichester, under its previous DoM, was one of the few which maintained a very traditional trebles' head-voice sound. In their last broadcast, their sound had become a little harder. But today, I felt there was a return to their former 'purity'. And they sang with great poise and confidence. The six lay clerks sounded excellent, if anything the balancing of the engineers losing the basses a bit. Sarah Baldock directs things most musically, and it seems a great shame she is leaving. I see that Tim Schofield (the excellent precentor) is acting Dean as well. Tim served many years as a brilliant parish priest, and I trust he will hold things together during what is clearly a time of change.

Draco, I have to admit that the Bairstow Lamentation holds a singular (!) place in my heart. OK it's only a glorified psalm chant with a 'Jerusalem' bit tacked on, but for Holy Week it works quite well as a sombre devotion.

BTW, we were deprived of the hymn on i-player. Was it there in the live broadcast?

[Magnificat]

A lovely sounding choir! Chichester, under its previous DoM, was one of the few which maintained a very traditional trebles' head-voice sound. In their last broadcast, their sound had become a little harder. But today, I felt there was a return to their former 'purity'. And they sang with great poise and confidence. The six lay clerks sounded excellent, if anything the balancing of the engineers losing the basses a bit. Sarah Baldock directs things most musically, and it seems a great shame she is leaving. I see that Tim Schofield (the excellent precentor) is acting Dean as well. Tim served many years as a brilliant parish priest, and I trust he will hold things together during what is clearly a time of change.

Draco, I have to admit that the Bairstow Lamentation holds a singular (!) place in my heart. OK it's only a glorified psalm chant with a 'Jerusalem' bit tacked on, but for Holy Week it works quite well as a sombre devotion.

BTW, we were deprived of the hymn on i-player. Was it there in the live broadcast?

ardcarp

Both scheduled hymns were omitted from the live broadcast

VCC