Choral Evening Prayer Wed, 10th August 2016

[edashtav]

I'll try both.

I hadn't realised that you were a Live(R3) Bird, Jean.
It'll will be fascinating to read your comparative review.
Thanks!

[Philip]

Interesting - I didn't know the piece and then heard it lives at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow and was quite taken by it. I suspect that is down to the performance, which was outstanding, the ensemble and dynamic control were so good. But I appreciate it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today at 3.30 p.m.

[DracoM]

Frankly unimpressive.

Formless - I suppose the service title allows almost whatever you like - but the centrality of 'Totus Tuus' was IMO a mistake. It limped on and on and on and on nd in that huge acoustic, it went on a bit longer! Unsure what to say about the organ meander at the end.......... ? Hmm.

No doubt fine voices in there, but in that format and with that repertoire...........not for me.

[UmTheMagnificat]

Frankly unimpressive.

Formless - I suppose the service title allows almost whatever you like - but the centrality of 'Totus Tuus' was IMO a mistake. It limped on and on and on and on nd in that huge acoustic, it went on a bit longer! Unsure what to say about the organ meander at the end.......... ? Hmm.

No doubt fine voices in there, but in that format and with that repertoire...........not for me.

Formless? Please, explain... I thought it was fantastic, and prayerful. Look up the origin of the piece; composed for JP II's homecoming to Warsaw. It is composed simply for a reason- to invoke prayer. It's not trying to be Ireland's Greater Love or any other huge choral anthem. Think about the bigger picture! ;-)

I'm also in agreement with whoever said that a slower speed would decrease the boredom of the piece; it has time to be enjoyed and appreciated, not rushed through.

[jean]

Formless? Please, explain...

It's not Choral Evensong, therefore because the 'form' is one he doesn't recognise, it doesn't exist.

The Byrd sounded very good to me on the radio - unfortunately I wasn't able to be there in person as I'd hoped to be.

[UmTheMagnificat]

The Byrd sounded very good to me on the radio - unfortunately I wasn't able to be there in person as I'd hoped to be.

It was a pleasure singing with MYC as usual; hope everybody enjoys listening back to us.

[light_calibre_baritone]

It was a pleasure singing with MYC as usual; hope everybody enjoys listening back to us.

Excellent fresh singing; no idea what Draco is talking about.

[Op. XXXIX]

It was a pleasure singing with MYC as usual; hope everybody enjoys listening back to us.

I loved this service, and look forward to listening to it again very soon. Many thanks.

The Brahms is very special for me.

[DracoM]

I am perfectly aware of the provenance of 'Totus Tuus', but just because a piece marks an auspicious occasion, it does not necessarily mean that it is therefore musically interesting.

'Formless' because for me this sounded like a small concert with organ rather than a service. And IMO, and I fully accept it is IMO, some of the singing was less disciplined than others.

And of course all manner of reasons why singers enjoy singing with each other, and good for them if they do. Does not mean that the audience / congregation necessarily enjoy it as much as the singers.

BUT I was a bit puzzled as to why we had the Mag from the Howells St Paul's, but not the Nunc? As I acknowledged, this was 'Choral Prayer' and thus not in any way tied to the Choral Evensong format, but the fragmenting of the St Paul's Service canticles seemed odd.

And for me the Tournemire just seemed to lack adventure or much drama. Yes, I KNOW organists thrill to much of Tournemire, but with 'Totus Tuus' then the leisurely Tournemire, the service seemed to sort of just meander to a close. Yes, I fully acknowledge that many would have found the contemplative calm of the two pieces a balm to the hurt mind, but it just didn't work for me. I think I am allowed to say 'not for me'?

[Wolsey]

...I once read an anecdote about Bernard Rose saying, in effect, that if you are doing a piece of mediocre music it will seem to have more stature if you perform it slowly. I have a feeling that this had something to do with Stanford in C, but I expect I'm misremembering that.

You are. Rose had firm views about the correct speed of Stanford in C. He was a chorister at Salisbury under Sir Walter Alcock, and remembered Alcock - a friend of Stanford's - telling him of Stanford's puzzlement that organists should think that 'minim=100' was intended rather than what he had written, ‘crotchet=100’. Any unfortunate DoM who broadcast the setting on Choral Evensong at the incorrect speed i.e. too fast, would soon be put right - in no uncertain terms - by a curt postcard from Oxford.

BUT I was a bit puzzled as to why we had the Mag from the Howells St Paul's, but not the Nunc?

Perhaps because the Roman Catholic evening Office (by whatever name) doesn't include it?

By the way, congratulations to the choir, Adrian and Daniel.

[Keraulophone]

Perhaps...

[jean]

Perhaps because the Roman Catholic evening Office (by whatever name) doesn't include it?

More precisely, the Latin Office of Vespers includes the Magnificat, and the Office of Compline includes the Nunc Dimittis, and the Prayer Book Evening Prayer is a hybrid of these.

(I must have told Draco this a hundred times, but he never listens.)

[DracoM]

But, jean, that 'Choral Prayer' from Liverpool was NOT strictly Vespers at all. Neither was it Anglican Choral Evensong

I would suggest it fell between several stools. But yes, cleverly, if you bill a service as 'Choral Prayer' then presumably, you can then include / exclude whatever you like, and they did.

[Monty]

But, jean, that 'Choral Prayer' from Liverpool was NOT strictly Vespers at all. Neither was it Anglican Choral Evensong

I would suggest it fell between several stools. But yes, cleverly, if you bill a service as 'Choral Prayer' then presumably, you can then include / exclude whatever you like, and they did.

The service you heard yesterday used the exact same format of Evening Prayer which the Metropolitan Cathedral use for all their weekday evening services throughout the year. Loosely based on Vespers, it features mostly music and little said prayer & reading. After the Dismissal, there is a 'Motet to the BVM' - in this case, Gorecki Totus Tuus, which flows without announcement into the voluntary. An unusual format, but one which stays faithful to how worship is normally carried out in that building. It is considerably shorter than Evensong, hence it must have presented quite the challenge to the DoM when picking music to fill the service out into an hour slot.

May I also add that the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir offers the most wonderful opportunities to those singers from parish churches throughout the UK who would otherwise never get the chance to perform such challenging music, yet alone to sing live on BBC radio. The current cohort is on the younger end of the age scale, and indeed, most of them are from a parish church background. They meet 2-3 times a year and the lineup is different each time, presenting yet another musical challenge. Such badly informed and misjudged comments on a public forum can have a dreadful effect on the confidence of such young singers. I'd suggest you take them back, but somehow I doubt you will.