CE St Paul's Cathedral 4th Feb 2015

[DracoM]

CE St Paul's Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: My lovely one (Finzi)
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 88 (Flintoft)
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-9
Magnificat: Giles Swayne
Second Lesson: Luke 7: 18-30
Nunc Dimittis: Holst
Anthem: Benedictus (Elgar)
Hymn: Hail to the Lord's Anointed! (Crüger)



Organ Voluntary: Offrande et Alléluia final ( Livre du Saint Sacrement) / Olivier Messiaen



Simon Johnson, Organist
Andrew Carrwood, Director of Music

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[DracoM]

Assertive, energetic material, mighty bit of Messiaen. So................erm?

Not a fan of Elgar, I fear, and the anthem tended to confirm for me why. Bit rowdy and clichéd for my taste.
The Swayne / Holst mix is customary, and usually works well. Swayne - an exciting piece - came across to me as a bit of rollicking mix which sent the trebles particularly into occasional screech-mode in their fantastic attempts to keep their heads above water, but.........

In that acoustic, that sort of huge-scale robust material just goes on banging and whanging round the spaces. I imagine being there would have been truly thrilling. On radio, a bit less so, maybe?

But a hugely taxing sing professionally carried through.

[ardcarp]

It must be a big problem for sound engineers. I mean, heard from more than a few yards distant from the choir,, the Swayne Mag (which I love) would sound like some demented Haka. But unpicking Draco's comments above, we did experience the current trend for incredibly powerful ATB voices to set the volume level.

[DracoM]

Certainly, the space itself must have a considerable impact on what we hear on radio, but one can only surmise that this is the usual way the choir - partic ATB - is encouraged to sing by the DOM. I can't recall us saying this time after time about John Scott / Malcolm Archers' tenures. Or is that age sweetening memory?

Loved the idea of the Swayne as a 'demented Haka'!!

[ardcarp]

I loved the opening Finzi, My lovely one.....beautifully sung, the trebles sounding rich in their middle to low register, and the men nicely blended. Psalms enjoyable too.

[ardcarp]

Oh dear. I'm not quite sure I understand the subtleties of all this...if there are any....but the good old Choir thread seems to be living up to its reputation as the toughest schoolyard on the block. Sorry to have to delete some messages.

[jean]

It was just something that got sidetracked on the way to Pedants' Corner, ardcarp.

[Chris Watson]

I still think there should be a Like button, particularly when some wally hiding behind a fat organ stop of a name makes an inane comment.

[ardcarp]

Moving swiftly on I wonder if next week's CE from Windsor might receive some considered comment from members of the Forum? Anyone reading the St Paul's thread might wonder what we are Like.

[Simon Biazeck]

St Paul's Cathedral Choir have just begun a tour of the U.S.A.

Here is a link to Andrew Carwood's interview on a radio station in Atlanta.

http://wabe.org/post/london-s-st-paul-s-choir-perform-atlanta-st-philip

Sensible, balanced and humorous and the interviewer was no dummy either. I'm struggling to recall or even imagine such an interview about church music on Radio 3 here. I'm not quite as enthusiastic about the particular contemporary composers she mentioned though, but there we are!

[decantor]

An agreeable interview indeed - many thanks for the link, SB.

Despite what you say about the mentioned contemporary composers - that's for a different thread - I was so taken by the Roth Jubilate (that played out the interview) that I went straight to Hyperion and bought the track..... and a few others in similar vein while I was at it!

[Simon Biazeck]

An agreeable interview indeed - many thanks for the link, SB.

Despite what you say about the mentioned contemporary composers - that's for a different thread - I was so taken by the Roth Jubilate (that played out the interview) that I went straight to Hyperion and bought the track..... and a few others in similar vein while I was at it!

Ah, yes, I sang the premiere of that. Glad you like it. I seem to have scooped it up in my critique, but that wasn't my intention. I'm pleased to have been the protagonist for your spending spree!

[DracoM]

Yes, interesting interview. What came though just a tiny bit for me is that actually, Andrew Carwood doesn't sound all that enthusiastic about having boys in his choir at all judging by the number of problems he pinpointed. Bit surprised.

[Simon Biazeck]

Yes, interesting interview. What came though just a tiny bit for me is that actually, Andrew Carwood doesn't sound all that enthusiastic about having boys in his choir at all judging by the number of problems he pinpointed. Bit surprised.

I can assure you, that is not the case!