CE St David's Cathedral Wed, Feb 25th 2015

[DracoM]

CE St David's Cathedral
Archive: 27th May, 1998



Order of Service:



Introit: Behold the tabernacle of God (Harris)
Responses: Smith
Psalms 126 -131 (Garrett, Goss, Buck, Walmisley, Hylton Stewart, Rogers)
First lesson: Isaiah 30:1-5, 8-17
Office hymn: Eternal Monarch King most high (Gonfalon Royal)
Magnificat: Noble in B minor
Second lesson: Hebrews 11:17-31,39 - 40
Nunc dimittis: Noble in B minor
Anthems: A song of wisdom (Charles Villiers Stanford)
O for a closer walk with God (Charles Villiers Stanford
Hymn: Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden Zart)



Organ voluntary: Jubilate (Mathias)



Michael Slaney, Assistant Organist
Geraint Bowen, Organist and Master of the Choristers

[ardcarp]

Have I missed a re-arranging of the DoM deck chairs? I thought GB was titulaire of Hereford.

[subcontrabass]

Have I missed a re-arranging of the DoM deck chairs? I thought GB was titulaire of Hereford.

Look at the date of the recording.

[ardcarp]

[DracoM]

While at St Davids, GB oversaw the re-building of the cathedral's Father Willis organ by Harrison & Harrison, a major project completed in 2000. He moved to Hereford in 2001.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[jean]

Was it my imagination, or did the Queen come in the wrong place? Or is it something about the Welsh?

[ardcarp]

Maybe it was the 'revised' version; the psalms, beautifully done, were spoiled for me only by the ridiculous tinkered- with words! When you have sung Coverdale since the year dot, it's hard to cope with.

But here we had a choir (16 years ago?) singing within its comfort zone and, IMO very well indeed. Its glory was its mixed treble line...so very assured....and the Stanford anthems were made for them.

I loved the first lesson! Didn't understand a word of it, because I was mesmerised by the timbre of the reader's voice. I expected sloe-black, slow, black, crowblack at any moment. Definitely not bible-black!

[jean]

After the Lord's Prayer, the BCP has:

Priest: O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer: And grant us thy salvation.
Priest: O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer: And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest: Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer: And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest: O Lord, save thy people.
Answer: And bless thine inheritance.
Priest: Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer: Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest: O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer: And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

What we got this afternoon was

Priest: O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer: And grant us thy salvation.
Priest: Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer: And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest: O Lord, save thy people.
Answer: And bless thine inheritance.
Priest: O Lord, save the Queen.
Answer: And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest: Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer: Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Priest: O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer: And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

I'm all for making the Queen less important than the people, but I was surprised.

[DracoM]

The honed, comfortably shaped mixed treble line is classic Bowen, with a smidge of Archer.

[ardcarp]

making the Queen less important than the people

P'raps they'd been reading Sue Townsend's The Queen and I.

[Miles Coverdale]

I hate to break it to you, but the treble line was not, in fact, mixed, it was girls only.

How do I know? Well, let's just say that I happened to be in St Davids on that particular day.

[ardcarp]

How appropriate you should reply, MC, given my regard for your translation! I'm not one of those who bothers about the boy/girl thing so the news is received with pleasure, not shock. They made a lovely sound.

[mopsus]

I think the order of the responses was changed when the Church in Wales was disestablished. I recall the Queen's coming lower down the batting order when I sang in Llandaff in the 1980s, but on more recent return visits there, and a trip to St David's a few years ago, the responses have been in the standard order. (But perhaps that is just a concession to visiting choirs, and their own choir displaces the Queen.)

[Miles Coverdale]

The Queen is actually a member of the Chapter at St Davids.