CE St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh 13th August 2014

[DracoM]

CE St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh
2014 Edinburgh International Festival


Order of Service:


Introit: Ave Maria (Elgar)
Responses: Rose
Office Hymn: All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine (Engelberg)
Psalms: 69, 70 (Noble; Naylor; Anon)
First Lesson: Judges 13: 15-24
Canticles: Stanford in C
Second Lesson: Acts 6: 1-15
Anthem: Give unto the Lord (Elgar)
Final Hymn: Praise to the holiest in the height (Gerontius)


Organ Voluntary: Imperial March (Elgar arr Martin)



Donald Hunt (Assistant Organist)
Duncan Ferguson (Organist and Master of the Music)

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[Old Grumpy]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

My, Tuesday must have gone quickly!

[DracoM]

Woops! Sorry..............life in the fast lane, eh?

[Ockeghem's Razor]

Refreshment, light and peace. Beautifully presented in every respect.

[Ave]

This ought to serve as a lesson to all those who speak disparagingly of girl choristers.

[french frank]

This ought to serve as a lesson to all those who speak disparagingly of girl choristers.

(But, as if they would ...!)

[chitreb]

I'm probably just showing my age but I do love Stanford in C. And so beautifully sung.

[DracoM]

I have been castigated in the past for daring to comment on precentors, so it is with some trepidation I venture to say how fine I thought yesterday's was.

The Elgar is a real pig of a thing to get right, and a very big and ambitious sing indeed. Generally very good - Elgar not being my thing actually - but the way they were so scrupulous in attention to score was impressive: much finely executed.

Bit of relief when we could hear the choir as opposed to big organ - jolly well played etc, but.......

[Vox Humana]

Elgar's anthem always feels laughably OTT to me, but that's my problem, not his. Elgar and Stanford made perfect partners. I felt that the Rose responses grated in their company, but everything was very well sung and made for an excellent broadcast.

[Oldcrofter]

Well, yes, Vox - but then it is the voice of the Lord - just the voice - that thundereth, breaketh the cedars of Lebanon and shaketh the wilderness etc.

As a Vox Humana yourself, maybe you're just a tad jealous ?

[Vox Humana]

No, I just don't do histrionics - except occasionally on forums when I want to wind people up. :)

[Lancashire Lass]

I normally don't listen to the words of the psalms, canticles, etc., just let that late afternoon dreamy echoing sound wash over me -- but I was absolutely astonished at the clarity of the diction, could hear every word, never experienced that before with Choral Evensong! Well done St Mary's!

[Finzi4ever]

Elgar's anthem always feels laughably OTT to me, but that's my problem, not his. Elgar and Stanford made perfect partners. I felt that the Rose responses grated in their company, but everything was very well sung and made for an excellent broadcast.

Slating Precentores (DM) is one thing, but you can't get away with 'having a go at' the Rose Responses; they've never "grated" in their increasingly long life. But perhaps you feel the repertoire of the service demanded some overblown P&R, like the Howells ones. (Rose, Radcliffe & Leighton remain at the forefront of 20th C settings IMHO)
PS I'm only really here to add to the plaudits of an excellent Evensong!

[Ockeghem's Razor]

I've looked on the St Mary's website but they don't name the precentor. It might have been the Vice-Provost, Canon John McLuckie, who served in the past as chaplain at King's, Cambridge.