CE St Gabriel's Church, Pimlico, London Wed, 28th December 2016

[DracoM]

CE St Gabriel's Church, Pimlico, London
The Feast of the Holy Innocents
Rodolfus Choir


Order of Service:


Introit: Vox in Rama (Kirbye)
Responses: Byrd
Psalms 124, 128 (Atkins, Allwood, Hurford)
First Lesson: Isaiah 49: 14-25
Office Hymn: O God, thy soldiers' crown and guard (Deus tuorum militum)
Canticles: Francis Grier ( first broadcast)
Second Lesson: Matthew 2: 13-18
Anthem: Videte Miraculum (Tallis)
Final Hymn: Unto us is born a Son (Piae Cantiones arr. Willcocks)

Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in C BWV.547 (Bach)


Organist: Tom Winpenny
Director of Music: Ralph Allwood

[mopsus]

I sang a memorial concert in this church in September. It will be good for it to receive some publicity from this broadcast, though as someone who has sung with the Exon Singers, I still miss them in the post-Christmas slot.

I have not heard anything of Francis Grier for some years, put perhaps I haven't been paying attention.

[subcontrabass]

I have not heard anything of Francis Grier for some years, put perhaps I haven't been paying attention.

This seems to be the most informative source: https://www.thegriertrio.co.uk/Franc...y_Jan_2016.pdf

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[DracoM]

Vox in Rama taken at a pretty 'stately' pace - bit too slow for my taste. But maybe for a choir that size you have to? Just a thought.

Grier Canticles - joyoys, good writing, plenty of jam in all parts and much savoured.
Videte Miraculum: again, a bit slow, not much light or shade, very competently sung, of course, but sounded a bit heads in copies stuff. As with the Kirbye, the sops were way out ahead in projection and volume.

So odd balance?
Sops seemed to be very prominent and other voices a distance away. Could be that they were just better singers or the repertoire favoured them or......or what?

[Munsterrrr]

As one who was in the choir today, there were many more sopranos than ATBs, whereas the number of sops on one of the two lines equalled to the whole tenor sections, for example.

The problem was addressed beforehand, but it seems they couldn't do much about it!

Does sound good otherwise, but of course I would say that...!

[Vile Consort]

Strangely I thought the top line wasn't strong enough.

[DracoM]

What I meant was that they kept searing through with a big sound, but I fully agree that diction / expression were different matters.

[Vox Humana]

Well, for me the speed of the Kirbye was just perfect to bring out the angst in the music and the text. There's no call to skate over deep feelings. Did I detect an unequal balance between the two soprano lines? I liked the "in your face" delivery of the psalms. (I don't mind the ethereal dreaminess school of psalmody, but for preference give me vibrant colour, soft and loud!) I have never quite been able to "take" to Francis Grier's music, but I absolutely admire the individuality of his voice and his command of technique and, as always, this Mag and Nunc was a very interesting offering, commanding close (and more than one) listening. He is surely one of our most original voices. Good stuff! The Tallis was probably less slow than any other performance I have heard. I wasn't worried about the lack of light and shade (would Tudor singers have been at all aware of such a thing?) so much as the lack of engagement with the music. It seemed to me as though the choir had not had time to internalise and understand the piece, i.e,. it sounded largely sight-read. I realise that it is quite normal for choirmasters to expect [budding] professional singers to just pick up a piece of music and sight-read it perfectly (and I even have a friend who thinks this is an ideal goal), but when will they appreciate that a true musical performance requires a bit more than this? The Kirbye delivered more than the Tallis in this respect.

[Finzi4ever]

as someone who has sung with the Exon Singers, I still miss them in the post-Christmas slot.

Ditto & ditto!
Those freezing rehearsals in the Abbey, but warming up nicely in The Bell thereafter.
Which years were you, Mopsus?

[mopsus]

Ditto & ditto!
Those freezing rehearsals in the Abbey, but warming up nicely in The Bell thereafter.
Which years were you, Mopsus?

A short time in the late 1980s. But I never did a December broadcast; I enjoyed listening to them and identifying voices I recognised. You and I discussed our time in the choir a couple of years ago: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...-28th-Dec-2014