CE Chapel of Winchester College Wed, 15th March 2017

[DracoM]

CE Chapel of Winchester College


Order of Service:


Introit: Come, let us return unto the Lord (OliverTarney) First broadcast
Responses: Rose
Psalm 78 (Mann, Stanford, Barnby, Atkins, Goss, Cooper)
First Lesson: Job 1: 1-22
Canticles: Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense (Leighton)
Second Lesson: Luke 21:34 – 22:6
Anthem: Civitas sancti tui (Byrd)
Hymn: My God, I love thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby (Solomon)


Voluntary: Toccata on Aberystwyth (David Bednall)


Organist: Jamal Sutton
Director of Chapel Music: Malcolm Archer





NB: Oliver Tarney - good to see home team talent being showcased.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

Good to have a school ensemble. There are many in the country with very high choral standards. It always surprises me that the BBC don't give one or two a try. e.g. Ampleforth, QES Kirkby Lonsdale.

[mw963]

Terrific, absolutely terrific. Psalm divine, every word clear.

I'm no fan of Leighton's wretched ugly music but they sang it superbly.

Beautiful controlled singing throughout, and was it my imagination or was even the spoken Creed subject to "musical" expression?

Uplifting voluntary - again played with terrific aplomb.

We had a brilliant girls' evensong last week. Let's hear it for a terrific boys' choir today.

[Nick Armstrong]

Terrific, absolutely terrific.

Yes, an absolute belter - not sure I've ever heard a better Evensong. Highlight for me: the gents in the 'Lighten the gentiles' bit et seq. in the Nunc Dimittis - goose-bump inducing - and then the lovely delicate Gloria...

And no mw963, it wasn't your imagination - the cantoring was undertaken by the son of the Dean who led the service; he was at the College till last summer, and is an exceptional musician. (The fact that he happens to be my godson is entirely irrelevant to this objective opinion! )

Great sound too - the organ voluntary came across tremendously well via the iPad app beamed to the hifi

[DracoM]

Endorse every word.
This was a HUGE sing, nowhere to hide, and stamina and concentration required throughout, and was delivered.

Loved the Tarney introit - gentle, quiet and beautifully articulated. Hope other foundations take it up.

The sheer technicolor drama and theatre of Ps 78 was projected with real verve and intense discipline.
To follow that with those quirky Leighton canticles..........

Civitas sancti tui (Byrd) is one of my very favourite motets. and maybe I'd have liked a little more sense of exile in the 'Jerusalem' repetitions, given what signals Byrd was giving by their setting.
Bednall vol a wonderfully fitting and exuberant way of bringing the service to a close.

Final word on the excellent cantoring - quiet, self-effacing and accurate.

This really was one of the finest CEs we've had for a long time - two weeks now of excellence.
I suspect this is what you hope to get from an ensemble that finds live broadcasting fun, a challenge and not just another day in the stalls.

[ardcarp]

Leighton's wretched ugly music

One of my fave 20thC. composers. Have you heard his 'Drop, drop slow tears'?
That apart, I agree with all the above about a wonderful CE...even the crescendo in the spoken Creed!

[EdgeleyRob]

Leighton's wretched ugly music .

x 2

[mw963]

Stick by it I'm afraid. I've sung it, I've listened to it, and it for me totally ruins any service at which it's performed. Leaves a horrid after-taste in the mouth for me, as well as being ugly to listen to.

I'm not saying all music has to be sweetness and light, but Leighton is a bridge too far for me.

Plenty of you folk are damning about some of the composers I like, I suppose it's a matter of taste, and no one really has the monopoly to declare what's good or bad, although I'm sure we agree on much.

But in my case - Leighton is NOT to my taste!

Sorry!

[EdgeleyRob]

Stick by it I'm afraid. I've sung it, I've listened to it, and it for me totally ruins any service at which it's performed. Leaves a horrid after-taste in the mouth for me, as well as being ugly to listen to.

I'm not saying all music has to be sweetness and light, but Leighton is a bridge too far for me.

Plenty of you folk are damning about some of the composers I like, I suppose it's a matter of taste, and no one really has the monopoly to declare what's good or bad, although I'm sure we agree on much.

But in my case - Leighton is NOT to my taste!

Sorry!

Of course it wouldn't do for us all to like and dislike the same things.
We are sometimes taken aback when others don't get our favourites but I have no room to talk,I don't like Sibelius.

[Nick Armstrong]

I've just been reminded that the last CE from the College was that occasion in 2014 when a last-minute blown fuse (or some such) caused the live broadcast to be aborted.

I still have a recording of that service, and gave a quick listen - suffice to say that the 2017 vintage is by some margin fuller-bodied, better-rounded and more lively (The absence of electrical emergencies no doubt helped...)

[mw963]

Although I won't say I don't like Sibelius, he's one of the least interesting (for me) composers from that end of Europe, and normally that region is one of my favourites.

As you say, the whole business of "getting" a composer is fascinating. And Winchester's top-notch singing at least meant I didn't go and make a cup of tea during the canticles!

[Finzi4ever]

Although I won't say I don't like Sibelius, he's one of the least interesting (for me) composers from that end of Europe, and normally that region is one of my favourites.

As you say, the whole business of "getting" a composer is fascinating. And Winchester's top-notch singing at least meant I didn't go and make a cup of tea during the canticles!

for Sibelius now! (Just listening to Esa Pekka Salonen's version of personal favourite, the 6th symphony).
While KL's Second Service ('In Mem. Brian Runnett') is far the better setting, WinColl's CollMag performance - spot the chiasmus - was brilliantly dynamic. Their ability to get through the whole 15th evening, the Leighton and then still present such poise in the Byrd civitas shows truly impressive levels of focused concentration. The fact that the young back-row voices didn't sound tired either, must be tribute to the understandably excellent training they get. The counter-tenor line was perhaps the best of all. The Bednall is a great addition and played superbly, as was the whole service: the instrument being made to sound far better than it deserves, so huge thanks to Messrs Sutton & Archer.

[ardcarp]

Finzi, I don't know if you ever eavesdropped (or should I say evensongdropped) at Wells during MA's titulaireship, but every service (even the proverbial wet Thursday afternoon ones) was like a polished jewel...perfectly honed and timed.

[Nick Armstrong]

While KL's Second Service ('In Mem. Brian Runnett') is far the better setting, WinColl's CollMag performance - spot the chiasmus - was brilliantly dynamic. Their ability to get through the whole 15th evening, the Leighton and then still present such poise in the Byrd civitas shows truly impressive levels of focused concentration. The fact that the young back-row voices didn't sound tired either, must be tribute to the understandably excellent training they get. The counter-tenor line was perhaps the best of all. The Bednall is a great addition and played superbly, as was the whole service: the instrument being made to sound far better than it deserves, so huge thanks to Messrs Sutton & Archer.

... but could you talk me through

- spot the chiasmus -

please?

[Vox Humana]

Finzi, I don't know if you ever eavesdropped (or should I say evensongdropped) at Wells during MA's titulaireship, but every service (even the proverbial wet Thursday afternoon ones) was like a polished jewel...perfectly honed and timed.

The Howells CD he made with them would be one of my desert island discs. Well, maybe. Hard to decide between that and Winchester's Howells.