CE Durham Cathedral Wed, Oct 18th 2018 [L]

[DracoM]

Had been very much looking forward to this CE.............until it started.
[a] TripAdvisor start
[b] And.......was it just me? ......I hear Durham pretty regularly, and they do not sound like that in situ. Something about sound balance / engineering or ....what?
[c] first soloist excellent
[d] one or two top line voices a teeny tad off and assertive.
[e] basses pretty well anonymous
[f] celebrant who dropped her speaking voice at the end of EVERY segment / phrase esp when the sense did not require it.

IMO, a rather uncomfortable sound spectrum marred some good enough singing. But I seriously hope I am alone in being disappointed.

[ardcarp]

I was glad [!] that we had a live CE with the choir doing what it does at its best. The balance was maybe a bit awry at times. In the Nunc, the SATB were very distant, presumably because of some mike prominence given to the tenor soloist. (It's a pig to breathe, that one!) In general, the organ seemed overloud, eg at the start of the Mag where the trebles capture the wonder of Mary's news. I am sure none of this was the fault of the musicians. And I would trade some less-than-perfect balance for the great pleasure (as mw says above) of having a live broadcast. Thanks Durham...and yes the Elgar was terrific!

[mw963]

From the BBC balance point of view I think there must be a bit of a problem at Durham. Some years ago there was an appallingly bad technical attempt, where it appeared from the sound that the OB team had gone to the wrong cathedral and rigged their mics there the sound was so distant. I wasn't listening on my normal hi fi today (I'm ashamed tp say that for domestic reason I was listening on the kitchen Lidl so-called sound system!) so I didn't feel able to comment with any authority on today's balance, but I would agree with what has been said now it's been said, particularly organ/choir balance. The organ itself came across very nicely.

But the important thing is that Durham is in fantastic hands now and I just wish they could broadcast every week!

[DracoM]

I was glad [!] that we had a live CE with the choir doing what it does at its best. The balance was maybe a bit awry at times. In the Nunc, the SATB were very distant, presumably because of some mike prominence given to the tenor soloist. (It's a pig to breathe, that one!) In general, the organ seemed overloud, eg at the start of the Mag where the trebles capture the wonder of Mary's news. I am sure none of this was the fault of the musicians. And I would trade some less-than-perfect balance for the great pleasure (as mw says above) of having a live broadcast. Thanks Durham...and yes the Elgar was terrific!

Yes.

Hearing CE in Durham is a joy, and the congregation will have revelled. But I sense the music team may not be best pleased with the on-air final result.
Demanding sing, and they certainly gave it oodles of energy.
Girl/boy mix on top, I sense?

Did something go slightly amiss at the start of the Coll Reg Mag? Seemed to be a bit of a flutter.

[jonfan]

Agree a beautifully sung service with great energy from the singers. Yes the balance seemed distant but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the service as a whole. Great last voluntary, would that be DC playing as implied by the closing announcements? I’m not reliably good at this but it seemed all boys on the top line. Good that DC is maintaining and enhancing the excellent work of JL. Thank you Durham.

[DracoM]

Boys and girls [B]I think on broadcasts. Certainly sounded like both to me.

[jonfan]

Having listened again on headphones the excellence of the balance is revealed with greater clarity than seemed to be the case through speakers. Recommend trying it. The energy of the psalm was relentless throughout. Great clarity in the upper divisions in the canticles. DC seems to have gone for the big statement in this service rather than subtlety, and that’s not a criticism.

[Miles Coverdale]

Not Sep 19.

But I don’t want to argue - I just have very little time availabile to me and I just don’t want to miss anything. And I still can’t delete PMs.

Why not just bookmark this page?

[Finzi4ever]

Having listened again on headphones the excellence of the balance is revealed with greater clarity than seemed to be the case through speakers. Recommend trying it. The energy of the psalm was relentless throughout. Great clarity in the upper divisions in the canticles. DC seems to have gone for the big statement in this service rather than subtlety, and that’s not a criticism.

Really agree with this statement. Something of a tuba-fest too: never heard, let alone played that middle section of the Elgar with 2 separate tubas before! Fantastic use of the wealth of solo stops throughout the service, obviously coming to peak in the voluntary: oooh, that French Horn gives me that tingle factor (not meant as innuendo!)

[jonfan]

Really agree with this statement. Something of a tuba-fest too: never heard, let alone played that middle section of the Elgar with 2 separate tubas before! Fantastic use of the wealth of solo stops throughout the service, obviously coming to peak in the voluntary: oooh, that French Horn gives me that tingle factor (not meant as innuendo!)

Surely one of best voluntary performances of 2018 CEs beautifully captured by the engineers.