German Baroque Epiphany: BBC Singers 12 January

[ardcarp]

Hugo Rignold (then with the CBSO, our local orchestra)

Oh you remember him too!

[oddoneout]

I intend to listen and am hoping it will be possible to do so with pleasure and at a reasonable volume, otherwise it will be turned down(I hope not off) and accompany other activities. The other day I discovered a stray CD among my collection labelled 'German Stuff' which turned out to be a partial recording of a concert of similar music( the Scheidt and Schein may be the same as tonight's offering) sung by BBCS, broadcast on 23rd December 2002, where the topline was troubled by a standout soprano voice at certain points. Wonder if it was/is the same as was in evidence in the pre-Christmas Bach concert?

[Vile Consort]

I turned R3 on at five to nine not knowing what was on or who was performing it. Pleased to find the Weihnachtshistorie, which I have a particular affection for having performed in it at school. Didn't think much to the performance. Wondered who it was. Hmmm.

[ardcarp]

I thought the first part of the programme, Praetorius, Scheidt, etc, was better. The instrumental playing and singing was nicely phrased as one would expect from J O'D, and the BBCS were as tamed as one could hope for, especially the Ts and Bs....not the all-too-usual blast. Back to the Schutz Historia der Geburt; I thought two of the soloists...presumably drawn from the ranks...did a good job.

This concert was not, for me, in the same league as that of Vox Luminis on Christmas Eve, but having St James Baroque (whereas VL only used continuo) gave it some life and colour.

[oddoneout]

I thought the first part of the programme, Praetorius, Scheidt, etc, was better. The instrumental playing and singing was nicely phrased as one would expect from J O'D, and the BBCS were as tamed as one could hope for, especially the Ts and Bs....not the all-too-usual blast. Back to the Schutz Historia der Geburt; I thought two of the soloists...presumably drawn from the ranks...did a good job.

I would agree.
But....shouldn't we be getting something more than 'acceptable' or 'good in parts'?

[Cockney Sparrow]

I realise this isn't exactly a tribute thread, but honestly, haven't people got more important things to do than announce over and over again that they won't be listening to a particular group?

I feel its the prerogative of members to decide how to spend their time posting, and I haven't found so many of the posts in this thread lacking in content. (Its always possible to avoid threads - I do, particularly where pedantry and antipathy is in full flow).

My view of the situation is that the BBCS is a protected enclave, not to be given up, to be promoted, and in the usual BBC fashion there is no need to take account of the views of anyone outside the BBC. But the BBC singers are not good enough, and there is no reason why we should stop pointing that out. The BBC should be accountable for the quality of its output.

I don't think a decision, in principle, not to watch "War and Peace" on TV is the same as an expectation formed from the regular and long term experience of the BBCS.

[Gabriel Jackson]

But the BBC singers are not good enough,

Not good enough for what? And for whom? Half a dozen people on an internet forum?

[Cockney Sparrow]

Not good enough for what? And for whom? Half a dozen people on an internet forum?

Tip of an iceberg? Think of all the folks who aren't moved to post, and all of the listeners who switch off.......

My vested interest is that of a licence fee payer, someone who values the place of the BBC in the musical output in UK media, in cultural life generally, and would want to value and support the BBC and the BBCS. You are a former Associate Composer of the BBC Singers, and if you are not working for the BBC at present, you may in the future.....

BTW, its not just this thread, and I think the post below bears on the questions you pose:

"This:
5:01 AM
Tallis, Thomas (c.1505-1585)
Spem in Alium, for 40 voices
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

is happening as I type, and is one of the worst performances of anything I've ever heard on the radio.

I missed the announcement at the start, and so looked online, expecting it to be some Russian choir making an early stab at Tallis in the 1950s, or some equally strange recording. But no."

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?3023-Through-the-Night-A-few-thoughts&p=533183#post533183

(post #252).

[Gabriel Jackson]

Tip of an iceberg? Think of all the folks who aren't moved to post, and all of the listeners who switch off.......

Maybe these people exist, maybe they don't. I could counter with the enthusiastic, sold-out audiences at St Paul's Knightsbridge, the two standing ovations I witnessed in Sweden...

You are a former Associate Composer of the BBC Singers, and if you are not working for the BBC at present, you may in the future.....

If you are suggesting that my defence of the BBC Singers is motivated by some kind of cynical self-interest (and it isn't the first time such a suggestion has made) that is disgraceful. Are you saying I'm lying?

[DracoM]

The BBC singers are good enough at what they do best, and this kind of Baroque repertoire, and the Tallis piece cited are not IMO where they are seen / heard to best advantage.

What puzzles me is why they keep being programmed to deliver pieces out of their comfort zone when the competition in those out-of-comfort-zones pieces is the chosen area and specialism of many and proliferating ensembles in and around London and against whom, one would have thought they would be regularly compared but to their disadvantage.

[jean]

If you are suggesting that my defence of the BBC Singers is motivated by some kind of cynical self-interest (and it isn't the first time such a suggestion has made) that is disgraceful. Are you saying I'm lying?

It's not even the first time on this thread.

Shameful, really.

[jean]

The BBC singers are good enough at what they do best, and this kind of Baroque repertoire, and the Tallis piece cited are not IMO where they are seen / heard to best advantage...

I agree with you about the Tallis, but 'this kind of Baroque repertoire' seems to me to be well within their range.

I have just listened to this concert and found it rather more than 'acceptable' or 'good in parts'.

I hope no-one was put off listening by this thread.

[doversoul1]

Hoping to hear the organ solo, I listened to the programme but didn’t survive beyond 00.17. The solos were excruciating. Have they never heard early music vocal works? Or maybe this is their interpretation. What do I know?

I’ll go back to this to calm my nerves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06twr11

a concert of music from the Laudario di Cortona manuscript by Ars Nova Copenhagen

[Gabriel Jackson]

What do I know?

Not much, it would appear.

[doversoul1]

Not much, it would appear.

I don’t ever pretend to know very much but I do know what I like.