CE Chapel of Royal Holloway Chapel, University of London 8.xi.17

[ardcarp]

In the Rach (whatever one thought of 'the performance style') there was a glorious tenor soloist. What a promising young voice.
Good to hear the old Mushel Toccata given an airing. It used to be more popular. It's one of those pieces which sounds impressive, but isn't especially difficult to play.

[Miles Coverdale]

I think, DracoM, we're in danger of going down the authentic dead end here, that only Russian basses can sing Russian music properly, only boy trebles can sing Bach top lines and only castrati sing certain operatic roles by Handel.

Beautifully sung though the Rachmaninov was, I didn't think it sounded particularly Russian. I remember a very interesting programme a number of years ago with Bruno Turner, who said that English choirs tend to assume that they can sing music by composers such as Victoria (his example, not mine) perfectly well, but wouldn't we be offended if Spanish choirs started singing Byrd? The difficulty with singing in Russian, which has such distinctive vowel colours, is that it just doesn't sound quite 'right' if it isn't the singers' native language, as it lacks the requisite colour that Russian choirs inevitably bring to it.

As I say, very well sung, but it did sound rather 'English'.

[Gabriel Jackson]

plus MacMillan soprano grace notes fidgets.

There aren't any grace notes in this piece.

[jean]

I remember a very interesting programme a number of years ago with Bruno Turner, who said that English choirs tend to assume that they can sing music by composers such as Victoria (his example, not mine) perfectly well, but wouldn't we be offended if Spanish choirs started singing Byrd?

If (as you seem to imply) he thought we should not be singing the music of Spanish composers, why did he make it so hard for us to resist by preparing all those editions for us?

.

[Miles Coverdale]

If (as you seem to imply) he thought we should not be singing the music of Spanish composers, why did he make it so hard for us to resist u preparing all those editions for us?

I don't think he thought that, merely that we shouldn't sing music from other countries if we're going to get sniffy about their singing our music.

[jean]

I see - that seems more likely!

But I'd have expected him to ask 'Would we be offended?' rather than 'Wouldn't we...?'

[Miles Coverdale]

It may just be a more rhetorical way of asking the question. Or perhaps he did say 'Would we', it was nearly 30 years ago. Either way, the point is the same.

[ardcarp]

Having just listened to this CE again, I would like to congratulate RH Chapel Choir for a beautifully sung service. They produced a refined, contained sound, and above all sang as a tight ensemble with some beautifully musical phrasing. OK it wasn't the heart-on-sleeve-Russian that some hoped for, but to imitate that...and risk parody...would be a mistake IMHO. I've heard (and indeed sung in) many performances of the Rach Vespers, and the piece surely lends itself to a variety of interpretations. Leighton Responses beautifully done. Psalmody maybe a touch lugubrious, but again, very polished.

[DracoM]

Echo a lot of that, but I still feel that if you don't have at your disposal earthy resources, maybe you need to take it a bit quicker? Make the drama speak in some other way?

Yes, indeed certainly echo everything said by ardcarp on the RH discipline and focus. Admirable.

KCC will be a different 'Russian' sound again in next week's edition, albeit broadcast from a commercial recording? Hmm.

[jonfan]

Since this service was recorded last June it seems strange Radio Times promises a hymn and misspells the name of the guitarist.
One of the finest CE of the year IMHO.

[mopsus]

As a matter of interest, what was the hymn going to be? (I'd like to think it was 'Thou whose almighty Word' with the tune 'Moscow'!)

If (say) the Spanish were to appreciate Byrd enough to want to perform his music with choirs comparable to the choirs (of all standards) that perform it in Britain, I'd be delighted.

[jean]

Will this do?

[mopsus]

Yes, thank you. I don't see why we in this country necessarily have a special understanding of how to perform Byrd simply because he lived here several hundred years before us. Particularly as so many of his compositions were written to be performed in private. I doubt that there is a continuous performance tradition here of Byrd's Latin works, but as ever I'm willing to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable.

[jonfan]

As a matter of interest, what was the hymn going to be? (I'd like to think it was 'Thou whose almighty Word' with the tune 'Moscow'!)

Sadly no. ‘Ye watchers and ye holy ones’ (Lasst uns erfreuen). Can’t see any Russian connection here.