Choral Vespers from Westminster Cathedral Wed, 8th Oct 2014

[DracoM]

Choral Vespers from Westminster Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: Sicut cervus (Palestrina)
Hymn: Caeli Deus sanctissime (Plainsong)
Psalms: Ps 125, 126 (Plainsong)
Canticle: Colossians 1:12-20 (Plainsong)
Reading: Ephesians 3:20-21
Magnificat sexti toni (Victoria)
Homily: Fr Alexander Master
Motet: Sitivit anima mea (Palestrina)
Antiphon: Ave Virgo sanctissima (Guerrero)



Organ Voluntary: Prelude in B minor, BWV 544 (Bach)


Organ Scholar: Benjamin Bloor
Assistant Master of Music: Peter Stevens
Master of Music: Martin Baker

[DracoM]

Have rarely heard Sicut Cervus sung as richly, disciplinedly and expressively as that. Red-blooded might cover it. Palestrina, Victoria, Guerrero smack in the great European High Renaissance Catholic tradition.
The tempi set were admirable - fine sense of momentum all the way through the service in which for me the trebs and altos came across as outstanding, cutting through quite thick textures with admirable laser-like clarity. I loved the spareness of particularly the trebles plainchant phrasing in the psalms, but that brings me to the one feature that I'm afraid I found difficult.

The appearance of Fasolt und Fafner in the basses: huge, barking, even at times shouting basses almost to my ears entirely at odds with the style of voice production going on round them. More like Russian Orthodox sounds. I'm afraid it distracted me, particularly in the final Antiphon where it sounded as if the trebles were divisi and thus weakened in terms of impact in the overall picture. Yet in the opening Palestrina, these same bassi had sung with almost delicate restraint and self-denial. Odd.

Mighty rendition of the Bach! Crikey! Rarely heard it played like that.





A Rolls Royce of a choir.

[Lordgeous]

B*gger! Missed it! Ironically because I was working on restoring and archiving some test 78s made by EMI (in 1949) and BBC (in 1950) of the choir, then under George Malcolm. Not quite the magnificent outfit it is today, but certainly signs of things to come.

[ardcarp]

Yes there was. Loved much of the polyphony, but like you Draco, I couldn't help thinking of Ps 21 (Vulgate) v 13:

Tauri pingues obsederunt me.

Definitely OTT.

[ostuni]

I'm a very infrequent listener to Choral Evensong/Vespers, but the kitchen radio (normally tuned to R4, I have to say) gave me a bit of this when I went down to make a cup of tea yesterday. The Westminster trebles were immediately recognizable - I love it. But yes, those basses! Fasolt und Fafner indeed... Strange decision.

[french frank]

[Discussion on nomenclature here]

[DracoM]

Reminder: repeat of West Cath Choral Vespers is today @ 3 p.m.

[jean]

No need to give its origin under any name - the thread title tells you all you need to know!

[Wolsey]

Reminder: repeat of West Cath Choral Vespers is today @ 3 p.m.

Is this reminder not now redundant since programmes are now being made available on the BBC iPlayer for thirty days?

[DracoM]

There are friends of mine who like to listen to the radio.
I make no apologies for alerting those who wish to hear the service via radio, even if it is a repeat.
Besides there may be first time listeners who might welcome being alerted to the repeat by this Forum thread.