CE Southwell Minster 4th Nov 2015

[DracoM]

CE Southwell Minster



Order of Service:



Introit: Give us the wings of faith (Bullock)
Responses: Shephard
Office Hymn: For all thy saints, O Lord (Mount Ephraim)
Psalms 22, 23 (Wesley, Smart, Walford Davies)
First Lesson: Wisdom of Solomon 3: 1-9
Canticles: Blair in B minor
Second Lesson: Revelation 21: 1-7
Anthem: What are these that glow from afar? (Gray)



Organ Voluntary: Flourish for an Occasion (Harris)



Simon Hogan (Assistant Director of Music)
Paul Hale (Rector Chori)

[underthecountertenor]

I understand that Paul Hale is retiring next summer, so assume that this will be his last Southwell CE broadcast.

[DracoM]

Thx for info.

[Philip]

This is correct - Paul has made no secret of the fact (the recent St Cecilia concert was publicised as his last). He actually told me personally after allowing me to have an hour and a bit to myself at the screen organ one Thursday after Evensong earlier this year. Very kind of him to make such provision for me, but the whole place has a very friendly atmosphere as befitting a Parish Church Cathedral. I always enjoy my trips to Evensong.

I went to their 'dry run' of this just before half term, I hadn't come across the Gray before and very much enjoyed it.

[ardcarp]

after allowing me to have an hour and a bit to myself at the screen organ

Haven't been to Southwell for decades. Lovely Romanesque building as I recall. Is there another organ apart from the screen organ, and has the latter still got square HN&B type thumb pistons?

(Sorry....nerdy post.)

[Philip]

Haven't been to Southwell for decades. Lovely Romanesque building as I recall. Is there another organ apart from the screen organ, and has the latter still got square HN&B type thumb pistons?

(Sorry....nerdy post.)

Yes, there is a Nave Organ as well, pipework up in the first four bays of the South Triforium. Comprehensive Great and Swell plus a small Solo division with a Clarinet and Tubas 8' and 4' (very fine they sound too, and altogether different from the Solo Bombarde on the Screen Organ). In fact you can play both instruments either together or separately from the Screen Organ console, useful for big processions.

I'm afraid I can't recall if the pistons are square or circular though!

[DracoM]

Today @ 3.30 p.m.

[Keraulophone]

square HN&B type thumb pistons

Mention of these revives terrifying memories...




More on-topic... that was beautiful psalm-singing, with a proper final ritardando!

[ArpSchnitger]

I'm afraid I can't recall if the pistons are square or circular though!

Square on both screen and nave consoles.

[DracoM]

If this is Paul Hale's final BBC CE, then many thanks.
Nice, organised, disciplined CE from a choir which obviously loves its singing. Smallish unit, quite young sounding, but they listen well to each other.

[ardcarp]

psalm-singing, with a proper final ritardando!

Er, yes, well.

In case anyone's mystified, the pic is surely the erstwhile instrument of torture at the old Kensington Gore HQ of the RCO.

[Finzi4ever]

Sadly only 2 posts even refer to the service itself, perhaps because many posters don't hear it until the Sunday b/c or haven't got round to it yet on iPlayer. If that's the case I can thoroughly recommend it: a wonderfully committed and well-blended performance throughout. A spirited and sadly rare b/c outing for the Gray that I remember fondly from choral scholar days. I wonder if PH chose it as a departing favourite, as a great testament of his choir's talents, or solely as seasonal.

[ardcarp]

Seeing your post, Finzi, prompted me to have another listen to the anthem. It is a well-wrought piece, ending in almost Mendelssohnian fashion with a hymn like (chorale like?) tune. Southwell Minster Choir gave it a splendid and committed performance. I didn't know it before, only his F minor canticles, which are still in the repertoire. Someone needs to add today's anthem to Gray's Wiki entry, I think.

[Keraulophone]

The glow-worm anthem is great fun to sing. We recorded it in David Briggs's era on Priory's 'Great Cathedral Anthems Vol.5'. After hearing it broadcast, our senior Lay Vicar enquired of the powers that be whether it might return to the repertory. The reply came that 'Great' was being somewhat loosely applied in the title of that CD!

[Miles Coverdale]

I've had the misfortune to sing that Gray anthem a few times in the past. Dreadful nonsense, in my opinion. There's usually a reason why certain pieces aren't done very often.

Our main amusement came in trying to think up new 'xx as a yy' phrases to include: deaf as a post, thick as a brick etc etc.