CE Chapel of New College, Oxford 18th November, 2015

[ardcarp]

Yes I thought the engineers did well. The acoustic is not especially kind, and any sort of recording in there (e.g. their own webcasts) can be rather forensic. The 'full-voice' style of singing they adopt is possibly a necessity in the absence of a natural ambience. I thought the GD&B organ made a valiant attempt to sound 'right' in the Howells, but certainly came into its own for the Reger. I almost miss EH's idiosyncratic psalmody...but it is good to hear it back to 'normal'. I thought the lessons were beautifully read, the first by the sort of clerical voice we shall surely not hear for much longer, and the second fresh, clear and expressive. Lovely.

'premièred'

Prem-eared?

[DracoM]

Yes, both readings were indeed outstanding in utterly different ways.

And NO Tripadvisor / History Lesson tosh!

I assume the acoustic explains why a number of NCO's recordings take place, like CCO, in Merton?

[ardcarp]

Judging by the number of people logged on to The Choir, I guess quite a few heard the NCO broadcast of CE, but are keeping their cards close to their chests.
C'mon...lets have some comments!

[LTFC1990]

Fantastic service from New College. I always loved the choir under EH, but great to hear that Robert Quinney has already introduced his own style. I think it was a really exciting sound, with all parts being given prominence at different points, and not totally treble-dominated. From a personal taste pov, I'm also pleased to hear a choir in Oxford singing with a more "normal" psalm style.

[Awkwardlistener]

I haven't posted for a while, but I've been waiting some time to hear New College under RQ, and the results were very interesting.

I was delighted by the adoption of NCO to a more natural style of Psalm singing. As an undergrad at a different university I had the pleasure of singing with NCO in a joint evensong just once and was completely staggered by the idiosyncrasy of their psalm singing. Depping in London confirmed that nobody really else really does it that way and although diversity is a good thing, the EH way of psalm singing always struck me as self-consciously different and a bit naff.
The sound of the boys is certainly very different today vs EH trebles, and is more akin to a more generic treble sound, although I think we should wait to hear them in different repertoire before fully making that judgment. I think in a space though as dry as NCO the trebles do need to sing with a bit more bloom, as there is no acoustic to reinforce, and help the trebles glide over the rest of the texture. The men to my ears sounded really excellent, and yes, fulsome, but I think the sound was healthy and robust, rather than aggressive.

I'll leave one interesting anecdote to those that care from my school days...
Over my five years I noticed something very odd about the EH batch of ex-NCO choristers that arrived on music scholarships aged 13-14. Whereas trebles arriving from London cathedrals, John's, King's, Christ Church etc. tended as a whole to develop later on in their school careers good, natural broken voices, the NCO boys, trebles of supreme musicianship, and rich voices, never seemed to develop particularly pleasant broken voices. The impressive but often quite tight sounding trebles became, as a rule of thumb, very roughly hewn baritones and throaty tenors. As one school friend of mine remarked at the time NCO boys always arrived at the school singing like women, but never seemed to leave sounding like men. There are of course a number of examples of ex-NCO boys who have gone on to have professional singing careers. It's just an interesting personal anecdote that I thought I would share. I would hazard a guess that the more normal sounding trebles we heard today have a better chance of returning to the backrows some day.

[DracoM]

Thx for interesting insights. Always useful.

[ardcarp]

I would hazard a guess that the more normal sounding trebles ........ have a better chance of returning to the backrows some day.

That's a most interesting observation! I've often wondered if 'the continental sound' is wholly kind to young larynxes! I worry more about the primary school shout, mind you. In my youth it was always thought wise to sing only lightly during the break from head voice to mature voice...hence a year or two in the wilderness doing a light alto or tenor in an obscure back row.

[Awkwardlistener]

Ardcarp I think the issue was specifically to do with trebs from NCO, not all "continental" trebles.

I can't recall any choir producing so many good trebles who became such bad adult singers. Many boys from Westminster Cath and St John's sang in a continental way with liberal vibrato and many of them turned into very, very good altos, tenors and basses. There was something about the way that the NCO chaps sang. They found it almost impossible to sing in head voice, or at least blend chest and head in a "joined up" way. The richness and colour came from a very pressed, chest heavy sound.

[Vox Humana]

Whereas trebles arriving from London cathedrals, John's, King's, Christ Church etc. tended as a whole to develop later on in their school careers good, natural broken voices, the NCO boys, trebles of supreme musicianship, and rich voices, never seemed to develop particularly pleasant broken voices. The impressive but often quite tight sounding trebles became, as a rule of thumb, very roughly hewn baritones and throaty tenors. As one school friend of mine remarked at the time NCO boys always arrived at the school singing like women, but never seemed to leave sounding like men.

I have neither inside knowledge nor axe to grind, but I find this a most interesting observation. Thank you.

(What about altos? )

[subcontrabass]

trebles arriving from London cathedrals, John's, King's, Christ Church etc. tended as a whole to develop later on in their school careers good, natural broken voices,

By way of illustration this ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5lUdc_SM9I ) is an ex-Christ Church chorister, then at Harrow, now a Choral Scholar at St John's Cambridge.

[ardcarp]

Nice. Head down for good voice-production. Shame NCO chapel doesn't have acoustics like that!

[Awkwardlistener]

I should note I have no axe to grind whatsoever. The NCO recording of the John passion is a favourite of mine, and I've always enjoyed listening to them. On a more positive note, and perhaps I should have mentioned at the time of his death, but John Scott's ex choristers developed, disproportionately into wonderful adult singers. The singing world in the UK is littered with them. Anyway I digress.

[Roger Judd]

... and cricketers - well, one of them!

NCO recording of the Haydn Nelson Mass is brilliant, IMO - fantastic solo boy.
RJ

[ardcarp]

The NCO recording of the John passion is a favourite of mine,

Agreed. But for me their Monteverdi Vespers is the triumph. The Sonata Sopra Sancta Maria where the trebles soar and sear through the exceptional instrumental playing is magnificent.

[light_calibre_baritone]

This is all a tad random... Can't say I've noticed if a colleague of mine sings better or worse as an adult because of where they were as a treble. Or God forbid, WASN'T a treble.