looks as though over Christmas BBC Four will be showing that 1954 filmed King's Service that has been available for some time on youtube. Plus a documentary about the 9 Lessons & Carols service.
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It was also one of the fillers on this BBC/Opus Arte DVD
The footage is understandably pretty shaky as I recall - I wonder if they'll have done anything to it to remaster it for the purposes of modern HD broadcasting...
The other filler on that DVD is also very engaging, and I wonder if that will be rolled out too as part of this mini festival: Messrs/Sirs Willcocks, Ledger and Cleobury sitting around in a room in King's reminiscing and swapping anecdotes. Very entertaining."...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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According to the Radio Times the 1954 film has been digitally restored. The youTube clip is certainly pretty shaky at times so hoping for something of an improvement.
A slight personal interest: this was my first Christmas
"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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Hope they have the grace to mention Truro?Comment
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For interest's sake, the music in order:
Once in Royal [ ch/cong]
Break Forth, O beauteous light [ch]
Up, good Christen Folk and Listen [ch]
In Dulci Jubilo [ch]
Hail! Blessed Virgin Mary arr. by C Wood [ch]
A Virgin Most Pure [ch]
While Shepherds Watched [ch/cong]
Three Kings from Persian Lands afar [ch]
Sing, Lullaby [ch]
Intoned prayers and response form the High Altar
O Come all ye Faithful [ch/ cong]
[Ch process out during last carol]
Interestingly, Boris Ord barely moves a muscle or raises a finger throughout. Just the indication of start and finish by the briefest nod of head. Not even sure he had music in front of him at all - just the service sheet!
Also only THREE carols sung by the congregation.Last edited by DracoM; 24-12-14, 15:58.Comment
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They never seem to mention King's and Truro in the same breath!Originally posted by DracoM View Post
However, there is another connection here. The founder, owner and first headmaster of Polwhele House, where the trebles have been educated since the closure of Truro Cathedral School in 1981, is a treble in the King's film. Richard White's superb treble voice can also be heard singing the Stanford in G Magnificat conducted by Boris Ord on Decca's Stanford volume in its British Music Collection series - really worth searching out by connoisseurs of the boy treble sound.
Incidentally, our 9L&C was video recorded yesterday for DVD release on Regent Records next year, together with a reconstruction of the 1880 original. (There is a second 9L&C tonight, as usual.)Comment
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Have King's or the BBC looked into the possibility of televising live the Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols? The popularity of the Service on radio worldwide would seem to merit it.
I realise that the authorities at King's might have placed an embargo on this and are not be willing to allow TV cameras in to a Service despite possible BBC pressure which is why we get 'Carols from King's' but TV cameras are relatively unobtrusive these days
Perhaps someone with more knowledge can answer this one as I guess there are reasons?"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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And mine too! I was a mere 3-day old on that Xmas DayOriginally posted by Petrushka View PostA slight personal interest: this was my first Christmas
Pacta sunt servanda !!!Comment
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To my mind it's something whch belongs on the radio (with pictures in the imagination). It's for that reason I've never watched the BBC2 pre-recorded version of the Christmas Eve service.Originally posted by Petrushka View Post
TV cameras unobtrusive? Have you seen them at the Proms?
(Another small point, if we were thinking of a live television relay on Christmas Eve, which channel controller would give up his/her time which would otherwise be used for an Eastenders special, a repeat of an old film or a Christmas version of a travel/cooking show?)Comment
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Deeply embarrassed? No comment. It's 'Hail! Blessed Virgin Mary' arr. by C Wood. CC2, number 11.Originally posted by DracoM View PostComment
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I have heard it said that when the BBC were first contemplating a televised Christmas service, the idea was to alternate between King's and Christ Church, Oxford; the then dean of Christ Church would not, however, contemplate having television cameras in the cathedral, and so it has always come from King's.My boxes are positively disintegrating under the sheer weight of ticks. Ed ReardonComment
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I seem to remember being told that King's didn't want the intrusion of the cameras and the lights at the Christmas Eve service. The normal level of lighting in the chapel is very low: bringing in TV level lighting would change the atmosphere totally.
But did they do some and then stop?Comment
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Others will know for certain, but I have an idea that in the 1960s and thereabout the BBC televised the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols live from King's College and then - just as Vile Consort suggests - they stopped. I certainly remember the excitement of seeing a chorister-cousin on television. I think it would have been about 1967 or 1968, and I - then aged 7 or 8 - was hugely impressed. Having said that, I'm afraid the crucial detail of whether the service was televised live escapes me.Comment
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In any one 'Advent > Christmas season', KCC has made in the past and still does make a number of for TV as well as commercial recordings of various combinations of readings / carols etc for a variety of congregations both for UK consumption as well as export, plus other constituencies within the city and university. They bear a close resemblance to the 'final' Christmas Eve event, and it is therefore not surprising that they LOOK as if they are the 'final event'. AFAIK, the 'final event' has been very rarely televised live, or recorded for later transmission. Others will better informed about exact dates, but whether they televised in the 1960s, I fear I was not around to witness!Last edited by DracoM; 24-12-14, 23:20.Comment
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Young upstartOriginally posted by Flay View PostAnd mine too! I was a mere 3-day old on that Xmas Day
- I was already 4 mths and 13 days so yah!
I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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