CE York Minster Wed, 16th July 2014

[DracoM]

CE York Minster



Order of Service:



Introit: Holy is the true light (Richard Shephard)
Responses: Richard Shephard
Psalms: 82, 84, 85 (Bairstow; Hopkins; Bairstow)
First Lesson: Isaiah 24:1-15
Canticles: Andrews in D
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 6: 1-11
Anthem: Praise the Lord, O my soul (SS Wesley)
Hymn: Sing choirs of heaven (Scampston)



Organ Voluntary: Psalm Prelude Set 2, No.3 (Howells)




David Pipe (Assistant Director of Music)
Robert Sharpe (Director of Music)

[terratogen]

That's quite the anthem, isn't it? Eagerly looking forward to hearing from York.

[mw963]

Lovely canticles (at least in my view).

Poor Dr Andrews seems to have come to a most unusual end, at least according to wiki.

[LTFC1990]

Beautiful anthem too, and very well sung throughout by choir and soloists! Congratulations all

[mopsus]

The story of Dr Andrews' death in the organ loft was still doing the rounds in Oxford some years later.

[ardcarp]

The story of Dr Andrews' death in the organ loft was still doing the rounds in Oxford some years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kennedy_Andrews

His book on writing pastiche Palestrina was considered a must for music students at one time.

[subcontrabass]

The story of Dr Andrews' death in the organ loft was still doing the rounds in Oxford some years later.

I do not recall it making much impact at the time. Perhaps I was just too pre-occupied with getting going as a new organ scholar at a less prestigious college a short distance away.

[ardcarp]

Returning to York's CE itself, well, having just heard it, fantastic. We have been treated to a run of CEs that IMHO show off this little Anglican art form at its best.
York's is perhaps the pinnacle. Robert Sharpe (again IHVHO) is one of the great choir trainers, on a level with John Scott and Malcolm Archer. He achieved wonders at Truro and it has maybe taken a while for York's sound to be moulded to his liking. But here we have it, a choir confident to choose repertoire full of solo parts accompanied sensitively by the full ensemble...and by Mr Pipe too. The Andrews canticles are a delight. They sound easy to bring off in their brevity and in their unassuming Englishness, but they are not, and York gave them the best outing I have heard, with splendid treble and tenor soloists and a fine well-blended choral sound, never pushing and never overblown. The Wesley anthem too (how very different!) was likewise to the manner born. This corner of the Anglican repertory seems a bit neglected at present, so thanks York for giving it an outing. I seem to be wxing a bit lyrical, so I'lll briefly say the Psalms were nicely un-mannered, the Responses exhilarating, and the musical balance (as I heard it through the cans) excellent.

[Magnificat]

Returning to York's CE itself, well, having just heard it, fantastic. We have been treated to a run of CEs that IMHO show off this little Anglican art form at its best.
York's is perhaps the pinnacle. Robert Sharpe (again IHVHO) is one of the great choir trainers, on a level with John Scott and Malcolm Archer. He achieved wonders at Truro and it has maybe taken a while for York's sound to be moulded to his liking. But here we have it, a choir confident to choose repertoire full of solo parts accompanied sensitively by the full ensemble...and by Mr Pipe too. The Andrews canticles are a delight. They sound easy to bring off in their brevity and in their unassuming Englishness, but they are not, and York gave them the best outing I have heard, with splendid treble and tenor soloists and a fine well-blended choral sound, never pushing and never overblown. The Wesley anthem too (how very different!) was likewise to the manner born. This corner of the Anglican repertory seems a bit neglected at present, so thanks York for giving it an outing. I seem to be wxing a bit lyrical, so I'lll briefly say the Psalms were nicely un-mannered, the Responses exhilarating, and the musical balance (as I heard it through the cans) excellent.

ardcarp

I agree with you about Robert Sharpe's abilities but I don't rate his York choir as good as his choir at Truro. I thought this a very plodding service musically although the soloists were very good as you say. The last few services from York have used mixed forces and I would be interested to know if this was definitely boys and men. As usual the York site doesn't say.

VCC.

[ardcarp]

'Plodding' didn't spring to mind at all when I listened this morning. I thought the Andrews in particular had a lovely lightness of touch. I take on board your comments about his Truro choir, but as I tried to suggest, York seems to be getting there. I suspect the commitments of York Misnter are heftier than those of quiet places such as Truro and Wells, so practice time for an Archidiaconate [is that how you spell it?] choir must be more 'getting through stuff' than honing. I know you are a staunch advocate of all-male choirs, VCC, and having been (man and boy) a member of them, I share your concerns up to a point...but being the Dad and Grandad of rather cool girl choristers, my principles are compromised!

[LTFC1990]

ardcarp

I agree with you about Robert Sharpe's abilities but I don't rate his York choir as good as his choir at Truro. I thought this a very plodding service musically although the soloists were very good as you say. The last few services from York have used mixed forces and I would be interested to know if this was definitely boys and men. As usual the York site doesn't say.

VCC.

VCC, This service was the older boy's and girls together. Last year was boys on their own, and the girls on their own the year before, and this same set up 3 years ago. The last few services have definitely not been "mixed forces". Hope this helps!

[ardcarp]

Thanks!

[Magnificat]

VCC, This service was the older boy's and girls together. Last year was boys on their own, and the girls on their own the year before, and this same set up 3 years ago. The last few services have definitely not been "mixed forces". Hope this helps!

LTFC

Thanks for letting me know.

I would just say that my reservations about the singing had nothing to do with the fact that boys and girls were singing together. They were directed solely towards the DoM.

The main point here is that ardcarp was quite understandably comparing Robert Sharpe's brilliant choir of men and boys at Truro with what he thought was his similarly constituted choir at York. It obviously wasn't a like for like comparison which would have been clear to him and anyone else interested if the York Minster site had shown the forces singing.

Once again in such circumstances, as I and others have said many times on this board, false impressions are given to listeners when, for whatever reason, there is this lack of transparency.

VCC

[terratogen]

I wasn't aware that anyone had implied that we were hearing boys and men from York or that anyone was trying to mislead listeners. Indeed, if the sex of the trebles is important—and it does always seem to rear its head during York's broadcasts... perhaps because Mr. Sharpe's boys' line and girls' line are both so excellent and, in many ways, so similar in sound—I'd think it would have been remembered that the boys broadcast last year, suggesting that girls would be involved this time.

At any rate. Ardcap has essentially already said it all, but I'll echo him anyway: just a tremendous service from all involved at York. What a blessing for the music-making in one of the great northern cathedrals, to have Robert Sharpe leading the choir there. Having so invested in them, he clearly trusts in his senior choristers to lead, and the treble soloists throughout the service—apart from the first, in the Magnificat, I wouldn't want to bet much money on whether we were hearing boys or girls or both, or as few as two or as many as five individual children—did more than well by that trust, offering sure, clear, and moving performances of an often very beautiful text. (This isn't even to touch yet on the fine young countertenor or the baritone mentioned above.) Rendered by individuals and by the choir as a whole, this service was a delight. I'm always moved to hear that one voice pipe up from among the accompaniment at the start of the 'My voice shalt thou hear...' passage in the Wesley anthem, and York's rendering hardly disappointed.

Perhaps it's because I wasn't a chorister as a boy, but as important as is the all-male tradition to some, so joyous to me is the idea that cathedrals like York have deliberately built musical spaces in which boy and girl choristers, separately or together, with the men or without, can achieve such a degree of musicianship and such a sound—every bit at home in the Anglican soundscape—as the one we heard yesterday afternoon. As much as the cultural capital of a foundation may deteriorate in some eyes for embracing its girl choristers, so proportionately does it grow in mine for elevating boys and girls alike to such a standard as this. As I've commented elsewhere, it's remarkable what a talented choir trainer can do when he doesn't treat half of his trebles as supernumeraries.

Will certainly be listening again. Sincere thanks to all at York, and so very well done.

[W.Kearns]

Thanks to everyone at York. I love that anthem and it came across in a moving, powerful way. Huge felicitations to all concerned.

Thanks also, Terratogen, for some good points deftly made.