Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Easter Day April 24th 2011

[DracoM]

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Easter Day
Solemn Choral Evening Prayer


Order of Service:


Introit: Haec Dies (Byrd)
Responses: Michael Walsh
Hymn: Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour (St Helen)
Psalms: 110, 114 (Philip Duffy)
New Testament Canticle: Revelation 19: 1. 5-7
New Testament Reading: Hebrews 10: 12-14
Anthem: Ecce vicit Leo (Philips)
Gospel: John 20: 19-23
Homily: The Rt Revd James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool
Magnificat in B flat for double choir (Stanford)
Marian Antiphon: Regina Coeli (Philips)


Organ Voluntary: Choral-Improvisation sur le Victimae Paschali (Tournemire)


Organist: Richard Lea
Director of Music: Timothy Noon

[DracoM]

One of the strangest broadcasts for a long time. Not quite sure where to start.

The sound picture was bizarrely skewed: one [poss two? ] treble with an astonishing cutting edge, and either there was a microphne literally in front of him, or very nearly, and other microphones that showcased some very prominent tenors, yet altos almost totally disappeared, and the basses were a sort of distant rumble unless they sang full out, and of course, all this in an acoustic that scrambles pretty well everythnig - well, on radio.

Yet we had music that seemed to maximise the problem - big settings entirely appropriate to Easter, but with double choir, fast passages and necessarily brisk articulation in that space, it all got rather lost. The enthusiasm was second to none, the energy to communicate undimmed by having already sung lots in the day already, and the balance of latin and vernacular skilfully done. 'Fraid the Archbishop didn't do much for me, but the organ voluntary was stunning.

You've got to broadcast from the big Liverpool ecclesiastical spaces, I fully accept that, but golly gosh, on today's showing, it's a bit of an ordeal for the radio listener.

I need to listen again, and get my head round the sound picture a bit better.

[decantor]

Can't say that I found it an ordeal, Draco, but it was certainly different. My problem with all these RC services is that I am insufficiently familiar with the format to keep my bearings amid so much singing. Fortunately the main items (Byrd, Phillips, Stanford) were easily distinguishable, but I would have welcomed a detailed service sheet from the Beeb.

Yes, one treb with an unmistakeable 'Roman-style' voice - difficult to slap down a youngster who leads with such gusto, though it did produce an imbalance in the Stanford. I cannot believe he was deliberately miked up. The altos did get their moments of glory, and made a fine 'unhooty' sound; the tenor who led Christus vincit was excellent, I thought. I was amazed at the tempo of Haec Dies in such a building - it had little chance - and I felt that the complexity of the Stanford part-writing also suffered from the acoustic. Overall, however, as you remark, there was absolutely no wilting in the face of so big a sing - I found the choir's contribution so much more uplifting that the priesthood's. The closing Tournemire was indeed stunning, though I did find the sudden key clash with the choir's final notes momentarily unsettling!

One other thing surprises me. Each time I hear the Liv Met choir, the trebles seem to have adopted quite a different timbre. Didn't they do the most recent Midnight Mass (or similar) on TV? The changes seem fairly radical over quite a short period of time. My imagination?

[jean]

'Fraid the Archbishop didn't do much for me...

I haven't heard this yet, but unless there was a radical change of plan, the poor man wasn't even there!

The girls' choir could be heard on Radio 4 earlier in the day:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010lxmc/Sunrise_Service/

[DracoM]

No, jean, NOT your imagination. I just went back to me recording of it. Q: If you've got a kid who sings like that, then why not do something with a decent SOLO planted in it, and give him his head?

And actually, was that the usual shape of RC Evening Prayer? Not quite AFAIR.

'Ordeal' ONLY in the sense that it took me a bit to work out quite what the choir balance was, and the balance and lack of top line cohesion in terms of sound etc really threw me. Liked the menu, the get-up-and-go was infectious - all that, but as you say there were some baffling speeds and the double choir material? . I imagine for Timothy Noon it'd be in the cathedral that it mattered, and I bet it would have sounded pretty impressive.

[DracoM]

My mistake - OF COURSE Bishop.

Been a bad day and it's not getting any better.

[jean]

And it wasn't my imagination you were questioning, DracoM!

[DracoM]

Jean
Mea culpa.
Told you it had been a bad day.

[dj02468]

Yes - I enjoyed the overall vigour of the service; a massive sing, particularly the Stanford, which (not surprisingly) had a few tuning moments; still it was more or less at pitch by the end, rescued (I think) by Choir 2 after the Esurientes section when the Choir 1 line went terribly flat. As I recall the last broadcast, the treble line was quite different in timbre; this time, as previous commentators have said, there was an edge to the treble sound, and it wasn't IMO as disciplined as I remember it. Agree that the Christus Vincit was very well done, but I think the same voice tends to stick out in the ensemble, which is a pity. Overall, though, an exciting and vibrant service.

[Finzi4ever]

...but the organ voluntary was stunning"

It certainly had suitably French temperament! Was the unseasonally warm temperature the cause of it sounding like it hadn't been tuned since its inauguaration back in 1967?