So what is your favourite cathedral?

[Chris Newman]

Lizzie, I've found the clips now, what am amazing sight. Probably wouldn't be allowed here on the grounds of Health & Safety!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBgNrreh8L8

Yes, indeed. The lady from H & S tapped a swinger on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. Not a male chauvinist comment: it is definitely a lady.

[gainasbass]

This is a late contribution to the thread, for which I apologise (owing to my status as a new member). In the UK, my choices are shaped by my being a northener, in places where I have lived, sung and worshipped. Accordingly my favourite has to be York Minster, followed by Lincoln, Ripon and Durham Cathedrals. In Normandy the Cathedrals of Bayeaux and Rouen are breathtaking.

Btw, I couldn't agree more that the beauty of our Anglican Cathedrals is enhanced by the daily round of the sung offices (especially remembering the halcyon days when, in addition to CE, the likes of York, Lincoln and St Paul's sang Matins on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sung Eucharist on major Feast and Saints' Days!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Duomo di Firenze (Florence Cathedral) is magnificent on the outside, but seems unbearably gloomy on the inside. I much prefer some of the smaller churches in the city.

[Don Basilio]

Btw, I couldn't agree more that the beauty of our Anglican Cathedrals is enhanced by the daily round of the sung offices (especially remembering the halcyon days when, in addition to CE, the likes of York, Lincoln and St Paul's sang Matins on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sung Eucharist on major Feast and Saints' Days!

But there is the daily weekday round: they just don't sing it all. (A Sung Eucharist is fairly standard now on festivals, in place of Evensong - was it previously the custom to have both the eucharist and evensong sung on the same day?)

[orson]

In this country, Truro or Gloucester.
Abroad, Notre Dame de Paris - especially when the tourists aren't in. Rehearsing in there out of hours is extremely moving and very fun.
Also Our Lady of the Angels in LA. Looks like a car park from outside, but very very nice inside, deceptively spacious, as one might say.

[Don Basilio]

Oo. Truro. I must go there one day. I'm a great fan of J L Pearson.

Cathedrals "after hours" are wonderful, aren't they? The easiest way to experience them is attending an early morning weekday service.

[Keraulophone]

was it previously the custom to have both the eucharist and evensong sung on the same day?

Until about ten years ago, Truro used to sing the Eucharist (full choir) at 7.15 am, with Solemn Choral Evensong later in the day. The pre-breakfast services were eventually abandoned, as the choir began to outnumber the congregation by an increasing margin, with an evening Eucharist sung instead. (The cooked breakfasts were often more memorable than the services.) There seem to be quite a few Cornish saints requiring our eucharistic attention, even though they may never have existed!

[gainasbass]

But there is the daily weekday round: they just don't sing it all. (A Sung Eucharist is fairly standard now on festivals, in place of Evensong - was it previously the custom to have both the eucharist and evensong sung on the same day?)

An emphatic "yes".

[gainasbass]

Keraulophone, very interesting. It would seem that the Cornish saints do require some following up!