CE Wells Cathedral 16th March, 2016

[DracoM]

CE Wells Cathedral



Order of Service:


Introit: Derelinquit impius viam suam (Tallis)
Responses: Byrd
Psalms 82, 83, 84, 85 (Seivewright, Cooper, Ley, Vann)
First Lesson: Jeremiah 20: 7-16
Office Hymn: Now is the healing time decreed (Mode iii)
Magnificat: Robledo (Mode iii)
Second Lesson: John 11: 17-27
Nunc Dimittis: Josquin des Prez
Anthem: In ieiunio et fletu (Tallis)
Final Hymn: Lord Jesus, think on me (Southwell)
Lent Prose (Mode v)



Matthew Owens (Organist and Master of the Choristers)

[DracoM]

Bit late - sorry: reminder. This CE @ 3.30 p.m. today.

[ardcarp]

Very tight disciplined singing; a Lenten service with no organ. I thought the choristers had the ideal sense of 'line' for Tallis. The introit, Derelinquit impius viam suam is quite unusual in having upward leaps of a minor 7th at one point. I was less convinced by that (back desks a little over-enthusiastic?) than by the anthem, In ieiunio et fletu, by which time everyone had settled into the service. Great poise and rock-solid intonation in the Psalms, BTW. Good to hear some Josquin too...quite an extended Nunc setting.

[DracoM]

Particularly liked the absence of organ, pace organ buffs of course! Liturgically appropriate, I thought.
And the Josquin caught the ear - not familiar with it, I fear.

Liked the balance of the choir too. Boys sang with some conviction and discipline.

[Vox Humana]

Boys sang with some conviction and discipline.

I'm probably wrong, but doesn't Wells have a mixed top line?

What a superb service this was and one of which any DoM could be justifiably proud. Did they really manage to maintain pitch throughout the psalms? Quite some feat if so. I don't have perfect pitch and didn't check, but I didn't detect any wavering.

It seems churlish to pick nits, but I wasn't at all convinced by Derelinquit. For me the problem was the speed. My favourite performance of this piece remains the very old Willcocks/King's one because he allows Tallis's H&C (or, rather, C&H) time to breathe and make its full effect. He really gave the piece stature. I felt In jejunio too would have projected better with that sort of ambience, but this is just my personal preference. I'm sure that what we heard was nearer to what Tudor singers would have experienced. How nice to hear such an interesting and cohesive set of chants by recent composers. I knew only the Vann. The Cooper chant (David, I assume) was superb. On a general point, I expect I'm alone in disliking the current and seemingly ubiquitous fad of making final syllables so perfunctory. I fully appreciate why DoMs do it, but I really don't like the way it chops up the music.

If this sounds a little negative, I can only repeat that, overall, I thought it a superb performance.

[ardcarp]

I'm probably wrong, but doesn't Wells have a mixed top line?

What a superb service this was and one of which any DoM could be justifiably proud. Did they really manage to maintain pitch throughout the psalms? Quite some feat if so. I don't have perfect pitch and didn't check, but I didn't detect any wavering.

It seems churlish to pick nits, but I wasn't at all convinced by Derelinquit. For me the problem was the speed. My favourite performance of this piece remains the very old Willcocks/King's one because he allows Tallis's H&C (or, rather, C&H) time to breathe and make its full effect. He really gave the piece stature. I felt In jejunio too would have projected better with that sort of ambience, but this is just my personal preference. I'm sure that what we heard was nearer to what Tudor singers would have experienced. How nice to hear such an interesting and cohesive set of chants by recent composers. I knew only the Vann. The Cooper chant (David, I assume) was superb. On a general point, I expect I'm alone in disliking the current and seemingly ubiquitous fad of making final syllables so perfunctory. I fully appreciate why DoMs do it, but I really don't like the way it chops up the music.

If this sounds a little negative, I can only repeat that, overall, I thought it a superb performance.

Wellls has a girls' and a boys' treble line which occasionally combine for special occasions, but yesterdays CE, according to the service sheet (and my ears) was boys and men.

Without detracting from the vg broadcast in any way, I too found Derelinquit less than ideal, see #3. As for as snapping off the final syllables in the Psalms, I agree this is a bit of a mannerism, but all places have their idiosyncrasies. Others drawl out random syllables here and there! One just has to think vive la difference provided there is a good ensemble...which there definitely was from Wells.

[LTFC1990]

I've only just had the chance to listen to this service, I'm very surprised it didn't attract more compliments on here!
One of the best I've heard in a long time. Lovely to hear an unaccompanied service for lent, especially unaccompanied psalms!
I found it very enjoyable to hear that recognisable vibrant exciting Wells sound in more reflective and solemn music than perhaps we are used to hearing them sing.