CE Tewkesbury Abbey Wed, 19th Sept 2018 [L]

[DracoM]

CE Tewkesbury Abbey
Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum


Order of Service:


Introit: Exultate Deo (Palestrina)
Responses: Philip Moore
Psalms 98, 99, 100, 101 (Garrett, Lang, Ouseley, Nicholson)
First Lesson: Ezekiel 2 v.3 – 3 v.11
Canticles: Edington Service (Grayston Ives)
Second Lesson: Mark 13 vv.1-13
Anthem: Blessed city, heavenly Salem (Bairstow)
Hymn: Beyond all mortal praise (Marlborough Gate)


Voluntary: Chorale Fantasia on the ‘Old 100th’ (Parry)


Carleton Etherington (Organist)
Simon Bell (Director of Music)

[Vox Humana]

And all the psalms for the 19th evening. Hooray.

[ardcarp]

Blessed City was a great work-out for The Abbey's wonderful organ. Good balance and a very trad-sounding choir. Congrats to all concerned.

[DracoM]

Good fresh tone, honest endeavour - testing sing all round.

Q: always puzzles me that almost evry item the CHOIR sings in CE is announced on air. The vol is NEVER announced on air. Why not??
Visually impaired listeners might not have good access to printed / braille RT etc, so why not get the celebrant to announce the piece ON AIR?

[jonfan]

A very testing sing with great attack to the job in hand. Good clear psalm singing and colourful accompaniment. Great to have all the appointed psalms. I wasn't too keen on the engineered sound today which lacked clarity IMO. Highlight by far was the voluntary, wonderfully played and very exciting. Well captured. Must have been the Grove organ? That seemed to be used throughout.

[omega consort]

A very testing sing with great attack to the job in hand. Good clear psalm singing and colourful accompaniment. Great to have all the appointed psalms. I wasn't too keen on the engineered sound today which lacked clarity IMO. Highlight by far was the voluntary, wonderfully played and very exciting. Well captured. Must have been the Grove organ? That seemed to be used throughout.

Very enjoyable and a fine treble soloist in the Bairstow. I don't think it was the Grove organ - it doesn't have a 32' reed, and I heard one a number of times!

[Roger Judd]

It would be nigh-on impossible to accompany the choir on the 'Grove' organ even if it was in tip-top condition, which it very much isn't! You heard the 'Milton' organ which has just been splendidly refurbished by Nicholsons.
A fine service throughout, both singing and playing.
RJ

[Wychwood]

Good fresh tone, honest endeavour - testing sing all round.

Q: always puzzles me that almost evry item the CHOIR sings in CE is announced on air. The vol is NEVER announced on air. Why not??
Visually impaired listeners might not have good access to printed / braille RT etc, so why not get the celebrant to announce the piece ON AIR?

Given that the voluntary is always identified by the studio announcer as soon as the service is over, I'm not sure that there is an "issue" here. Sometimes, I enjoy the "innocent ear" approach -- listening to the voluntary WITHOUT knowing in advance what it is.

[ardcarp]

In the distant past, bits of organ were dotted around the Abbey in various states of disrepair, and funds never seemed available to get things fixed properly. Really good that they're sorted now....and have been for a while. Definitely Milton today.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The last time I went to Tewkesbury Abbey ( Easter Sunday four years ago) the incense nearly choked me . On remarking on it to a verger she replied " Yes we're pretty High here" . I resisted the temptation to reply " I'm not surprised " . Seriously a beautiful place with a very sensitively lit interior .

[underthecountertenor]

Given that the voluntary is always identified by the studio announcer as soon as the service is over, I'm not sure that there is an "issue" here. Sometimes, I enjoy the "innocent ear" approach -- listening to the voluntary WITHOUT knowing in advance what it is.

I really don't understand DracoM's beef here.

[DracoM]

FGS, it is NOT 'an issue', merely a question:
The celebrant announces the psalms, explains the anthem, and says nothing about the vol.
Yes, I fully accept the 'innocent ear' idea and like it.

All I was doing was murmuring about what seems to me a bit of an anomaly. Thassorl.

[Wychwood]

DracoM, I appreciate your response; thank you. I just feel that after the final hymn/prayer/blessing, it's best to go straight into the voluntary. An announcement before it would, for me, disrupt the flow of the closing portion of the service.
You haven't mentioned the Canticles: do you think that the celebrant should announce them too?

[ardcarp]

er...I think Draco was saying he'd quite like the Voluntary to be announced, by the announcer, at the beginning of the programme, not during the service. Incidentally, Mrs A and I sometimes sing with a choir dedicated to doing CE in parish churces. The choir has some ground rules: (a) one of us sings the responses (b) there are no announcements within the service (c) the sermon - short - is preached by a tame priest who comes with us and, most important of all (d) we are fed! If the church doesn't like our rules, we don't go.

[jonfan]

er...I think Draco was saying he'd quite like the Voluntary to be announced, by the announcer, at the beginning of the programme, not during the service. Incidentally, Mrs A and I sometimes sing with a choir dedicated to doing CE in parish churces. The choir has some ground rules: (a) one of us sings the responses (b) there are no announcements within the service (c) the sermon - short - is preached by a tame priest who comes with us and, most important of all (d) we are fed! If the church doesn't like our rules, we don't go.

C of E spreads the Gospel in strange ways nowadays if this is typical of CE ardcarp.