CE York Minster 29th June 2011

[DracoM]

CE York Minster
Feast of St Peter the Apostle


Order of Service:


Introit: Tu es Petrus (Duruflé)
Responses: Leighton
Office Hymn: Thou are the Christ, O Lord (Marlborough Gate)
Psalms: 124, 138, 150 (Hylton Stewart, Naylor, Attwood, Talbot)
First Lesson: Ezekiel 34: 11-16
Canticles: Bairstow in G
Second Lesson: John 21: 15-22
Anthem: O quam gloriosum est regnum (Philip Moore)
Hymn: Blessed city, heavenly Salem (Westminster Abbey)


Organ Voluntary: Te Deum Op 11 (Demessieux)



Assistant Director of Music: David Pipe
Director of Music: Robert Sharpe

[DracoM]

Interestingly, the Catholic church celebrates St Peter AND St Paul on 29th June.

[Wolsey]

Common Worship includes this provision as well...

[DracoM]

Good strong York connections in choice of music. Long psalm sing too. Does 29th day nearly rival 15th?

[jean]

I don't know the Duruflé Tu es Petrus,, but I suspect it lacks the triumphalism of the Palestrina.

[ardcarp]

The Durufle is a great piece (impossible to compare with Palestrina...chalk and cheese) and IMO it takes a confident choir to begin a live broadcast with it.

[muticus]

"Long psalm sing too. Does 29th day nearly rival 15th?"

The psalms are the 'propers' for St Peter, not the psalms for the day - which are always consecutive.

"I don't know the Duruflé Tu es Petrus, but I suspect it lacks the triumphalism of the Palestrina."

Oh yes it does - Jean - you are in for a treat...

[David Underdown]

This is of course the Minster's patronal festival

[mopsus]

and the name-day of its new Precentor.

[Magnificat]

As it is York's Patronal Festival will the service be sung by their combined choral forces as is sometimes the case with such CE broadcasts?

VCC

[DracoM]

According to their own service list - boys and men.

[DracoM]

Rousing stuff, and very well sung. Good top, mature sound - isn't it amazing? One week we listen to Chichester trebles who sounded very good, but relatively small voiced and young, while York sounded like seasoned campaigners - but presumably both choirs draw from more or less the same age group?

That Durufle start was not for slouches, was it! Psalms disciplined and briskly done, including a dramatic, almost theatrical start at one point. Bairstow canticles are always tricky, even when you sing them reasonably regularly, but they acquitted themselves very well. And real care taken over the responses in terms of phrasing, ensemble. The Philip Moore is a favourite, and here again, it requires singers up for a big sing. Men particularly good in this, and of course the big voluntary. Robert Sharpe is clearly doing an excellent job judging by these results.

[ardcarp]

A very enjoyable CE, RS is clearly starting to work his magic. The boys seemed to reach their pinnacle in the Moore anthem, I thought. What a pity we barely got 50 mins. No, I wouldn't have liked a semon, but we could perhaps have had a more substantial set of canticles...or, given the 'solemn' soubriquet, maybe a Te Deum to round things off? The engineers seemed to have a slight proplem with positioning mikes. The organ came over as lagging a microsecond behind the choir at times...in the fast passges in the Moore and even in the Psalms. I'm sure Mr Pipe (!) was hitting the keys at the right time; it was just an acoustical lag. Difficult, I know, with these organs perched a mile up on a screen.

[DracoM]

I think the fact that our mighty major northern cathedral is producing such good treble sound of late is a real subject for rejoicing. Some other northern cathedrals are having a tricky time - or so I hear. so what is the magic that Robert Sharpe is weaving there? Anyone on the inside?

[Miles Coverdale]

Rousing stuff, and very well sung. Good top, mature sound - isn't it amazing? One week we listen to Chichester trebles who sounded very good, but relatively small voiced and young, while York sounded like seasoned campaigners - but presumably both choirs draw from more or less the same age group?

Don't forget that York has a rather larger choir. Chichester has only 12 boys (I think) while York has 18, or maybe more.