CE Exeter Cathedral Wed, 17th January 2018

[DracoM]

CE Exeter Cathedral


Order of Service:


Introit: The Lord is King (Timothy Parsons)
Responses: Michael Walsh
Office Hymn: Christ whose glory fills the skies (Ratisbon)
Psalm 89 (Noon, Crotch, Barnby, Moore)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 19: 9b-18
Canticles: Rubbra in A flat
Second Lesson: Mark 9: 2-13
Anthem: Seek him that maketh the seven stars (Jonathan Dove)
Final Hymn: Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown (Margaret)

Organ Voluntary: Joie et clarté des Corps Glorieux (Messiaen)


Timothy Parsons (Assistant Director of Music)
Timothy Noon (Director of Music)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m17gq

[jonfan]

Hooray, Messiaen two weeks on the trot.

[DracoM]

[Finzi4ever]

All great choices here. The 'feast' begun by Hereford last week is set to continue!

[ardcarp]

Thanks Exeter for an enjoyable CE. The cathedral has been through some upheavals in the past year (losing a Dean and most of its Chapter) but the music has sailed on, now with a new DoM and assistant. I thought there was some committed singing this evening. Brave to take the opening of the Rubbra at such a maestoso tempo!

[mw963]

Judging a CE from a distance of a mere eight feet from the nearest participant isn't perhaps the same as hearing it on the radio, but I must say I was terribly terribly impressed by what I witnessed. I've yet to listen to it again at home, but I was struck by the excellent tuning, the very good dynamic range, and a calm professionalism from all in the Quire. Most importantly, and one can pick up on these things very easily by being there and watching carefully, there seemed to me to be an extraordinarily good and happy relationship between choirmaster and choir; I didn't see a single frown throughout, but a felicitous series of little encouragements that produced their results in abundance.

What surprised me was that this was a mixed choir, (is this the first time Exeter has broadcast like this?), with nine kids on Decani (four boys and five girls) and eight on Cantoris (two boys, six girls). The "next line down" was mixed also. But - priding myself on being able to distinguish between girls and boys pretty reliably, and normally finding that the girls' tone tends to swamp out that of the boys' - I would, at least there in person, have had a lot of trouble in saying that there were any girls at all. As heard on site the tone was very fine.

Full marks also to Timothy Parsons too, great and sensitive psalm accomp (and I loved the Noon chant, I'm a bit of a fan of chants like that!) and impressive Messian, even if the latter isn't really my cup of tea.

The upshot of all that is that a) I must find out Mr Noon's email address in case he doesn't look on here, and b) I intend to make the thirty mile journey in to Exeter on a much more regular basis, having rather allowed it to lapse after the end of the Nethsingha/Morgan era.

[DracoM]

Quite liked the Dove, and some vigorous top line singing. And more excellent Messiaen.

[ardcarp]

Judging a CE from a distance of a mere eight feet from the nearest participant isn't perhaps the same as hearing it on the radio, but I must say I was terribly terribly impressed by what I witnessed. I've yet to listen to it again at home, but I was struck by the excellent tuning, the very good dynamic range, and a calm professionalism from all in the Quire. Most importantly, and one can pick up on these things very easily by being there and watching carefully, there seemed to me to be an extraordinarily good and happy relationship between choirmaster and choir; I didn't see a single frown throughout, but a felicitous series of little encouragements that produced their results in abundance.

What surprised me was that this was a mixed choir, (is this the first time Exeter has broadcast like this?), with nine kids on Decani (four boys and five girls) and eight on Cantoris (two boys, six girls). The "next line down" was mixed also. But - priding myself on being able to distinguish between girls and boys pretty reliably, and normally finding that the girls' tone tends to swamp out that of the boys' - I would, at least there in person, have had a lot of trouble in saying that there were any girls at all. As heard on site the tone was very fine.

Full marks also to Timothy Parsons too, great and sensitive psalm accomp (and I loved the Noon chant, I'm a bit of a fan of chants like that!) and impressive Messian, even if the latter isn't really my cup of tea.

The upshot of all that is that a) I must find out Mr Noon's email address in case he doesn't look on here, and b) I intend to make the thirty mile journey in to Exeter on a much more regular basis, having rather allowed it to lapse after the end of the Nethsingha/Morgan era.

I gather they now refer to boy and girl choristers as 'the choir'. They usually sing CE separately on separate days but sensibly join together for the biggies!
Exeter isn't the easiest place to sing in (not like Truro or Hereford) which makes today's broadcast all the more praiseworthy.
My only slight criticism of the sound was that the spoken word was a bit 'in yer face' compared with the music...at least that's how it came over on my kit.

[mw963]

Certainly ardcarp the lectern mic was installed far too close to the reader.

[jonfan]

Another superb CE to start 2018 in fine form, and finishing with delectable Messiaen as well. I thought it sounded a mixed top line and confident and energetic they sounded. I particularly enjoyed the psalm which moved at a good pace with a lot of colour from choir and organ. Timothy Noon has contributed to this board in the past when he was DOM at St Davids, mentioning he was off for a pint when the broadcast had finished. Well he deserves at least one for today’s splendid effort.

[mw963]

Certainly ardcarp the lectern mic was installed far too close to the reader.

Listening to the broadcast on iplayer I'd say there was something wrong with that mic used for the lessons, there's very obvious electrical noise present which appeared as it was faded up.

More generally the mic placement (choir mics were a non-coincident pair, somewhat on the way to "a la ORTF", ie about four inches apart and parallel to each other, on a stand a few feet behind Mr Noon, about eight feet off the ground, and facing west) didn't perhaps do justice to the diction, which on site was excellent. There were also two individual soloist spot mics, and another somewhat-ORTF-style pair on the organ (at the west end of the choir, facing outwards and upwards towards the organ, on a stand about 12 feet high) , along with a spaced pair out in the nave.

[Roger Judd]

Was it me, or did the splendidly played Messiaen start at a low level, and was then eased up? I was conscious that the 2nd and 3rd statements of the opening music were more 'present' than the first. Otherwise, an absolutely excellent service, with great singing and playing.
How many spotted the Hereford connection down in Exeter, I wonder? Tim Noon was a chorister under Roy Massey, and more recently, Tim Parsons was organ scholar.
RJ

[mw963]

I'm ashamed to say that I can't accurately tell you from memory of being there Roger, but I'd say the first flourish (or statement to use your much better word!!) does seem to be about 4 dB lower (as heard on the iplayer) than the second one.

My guess is that after the final V&R there wasn't time to gain ride - the final note of the V&R is approx 16 dB higher than the start of the vol, so quite a wide dynamic range to cope with (as indeed there was in situ).

It's a very difficult thing (as you know) to get right, squashing the dynamics of a choir at full belt against (say) the opening of a quiet Psalm Prelude by Howells, our ears do it beautifully but microphones and the broadcast chain need a bit of manual help. I'm vehemently opposed to any sort of automatic compression (which is why most of BBC Radio is out of bounds as far as I'm concerned) but if it's well done by a musically sensitive engineer then it's of enormous benefit.

But I've heard some egregious examples of its being done badly on Choral Evensong, although there don't seem to have been so many in recent years.

Anyway Roger, isn't there a story of you and your deliberately wide-dynamic range on the organ at Windsor, building up and up during opening improvisations, only to drop back suddenly to Voix Celestes with the box shut, leaving your congregation yelling their heads off at each other in their oh-so-important conversations.... If that story wasn't about you I do apologise, but it's a brilliant trick to play on a crowd who aren't listening to the organ!!

[ardcarp]

If that story wasn't about you I do apologise, but it's a brilliant trick to play on a crowd who aren't listening to the organ!!

Whoever it was about, I think that's a trick practised by many. Especially useful before the bride arrives to bring an unruly congregation to heel....

[Roger Judd]

... but it's a brilliant trick to play on a crowd who aren't listening to the organ!![/QUOTE]

Well, I guess it happened once or twice at St G's - the best one wasn't me, but an esteemed colleague who was so annoyed by the cacophony coming from 'downstairs' that he broke off from the voluntary and launched into "O, I do like to be beside the seaside" and then returned to the proper piece. No-one 'downstairs' noticed or commented!
RJ