CE Canterbury 1.xii.X

[DracoM]

CE Canterbury Cathedral 1.xii.X

Order of Service:

Introit: Drop down, ye heavens, from above (Richard Lloyd)
Responses: Sanders
Psalms: 6, 7, 8 (Stanford, Martin, Harris)
First Lesson: Isaiah 65: 17 - 66: 2
Hymn: The heavenly Word, proceeding forth (Verbum supernum prodiens)
Canticles: St Phillip's Canticles (Léon Charles)
Second Lesson: Matthew 24: 1-14
Anthem: Vigilate (Byrd)
Hymn: Lo, he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)


Organ Voluntary: Allegro from Symphony for Organ No 2 in E minor Op 20 (Vierne)


Simon Lawford (Acting Assistant Organist)
David Flood (Organist and Master of the Choristers)

[ardcarp]

Leon Charles...who he?

[Simon]

Never heard of him. I do hope Dr Flood isn't springing a strange surprise upon us...

[Wolsey]

Leon Charles...who he?

Have you Googled? If you do, you'll find on one website that he "received his early musical training at the Purcell School of Music where he studied Piano with Valeria Szervansky, in addition to working as Assistant Organist at Waltham Abbey Church. He then held Organ Scholarships at Canterbury Cathedral and St John's College, Cambridge, and accompanied the world famous choir on seven BBC Radio broadcasts. He graduated in 2008 with First-Class Honours in Music. For the academic year 2008-9, he held the Organ Scholarship at Westminster Abbey. He is currently Assistant Organist of St Pancras Church in London."

[Y Mab Afradlon]

Leon Charless was organ scholar at Canterbury, St John's College Cambridge 2005 - 8 and Westminster Abbey

[Don Basilio]

Hope the lovers of Lloyd's Drop down listen in.

[Lizzie]

Indeed, Leon is a very talented young man whom I have the pleasure of knowing and I look forward to hearing his work when I LA on Saturday. I do hope you will enjoy listening to it. Bws. Liz

[Finzi4ever]

Good to see Simon Lawford broadcasting twice this year, after his stand in role at Chichester in the summer. Wonder if he's feeling the chill since his return from Perth, W. Australia?

[DracoM]

Singing in Canterbury is exciting and awe-inspiring, and any ensemble there probably feels much the same. But, whenever I’ve heard services broadcast from there, they always sound as if they are being broadcast from underwater, and today was no exception.

For me, the stand-out piece was the Lloyd ‘Drop down…’ introit. Phenomenal and hair-raising test for the top treble(s) to set it in flight from cold, and by and large they pulled it off pretty well, particularly the very top treble, backed by some good alto and tenor work. It is sparely scored, and in that huge acoustic and at that well-judged pace, such scoring works, and the whole was magical. Many thanks for that to all.

The Léon Charles canticles were quite neatly structured round familiar forms, with some very nice effects, with real imagination, but at times it seemed to meander just a bit, and I wondered if it might need a bit more editing? That acoustic seemed not to do it any favours.

Of all the bits of a service, psalms have a habit of showing up every habit, good and bad of a choir. So many things can go wrong. As they came over via R3 today, I fear I found the psalm singing erm……well, just a bit messy. The broadcast balance always comes into play here, and whether that was how it appeared on site, it would be very nice to know.

But that Lloyd made it all worth listening to.

[Parddu]

I found the diction in the psalms very muddy and wasn't impressed by the canticles. I also felt that they were just singing the words in Lo he comes rather than singing in phrases.
BUT
the Vierne was new to me and wonderful

[DracoM]

Yep, agree about the Vierne. Sorry - should have said.

[Phil]

Enjoyed the Lloyd, but a few reservations about the canticles, would I want to hear them again, probably not.
Thought the psalms were just rather rushed, what a contrast from CC Oxford. Altogether thought the choir was in fine form. Good to hear Dean Willis whom I remember from a visit to Hereford where he was also Dean.

[salymap]

lovely to hear CE live from Canterbury. As a teenager my parents visited friends in Herne Bay at Christmas sometimes and with a school friend I often attended a Service at the Cathedral. Happy days.

[Alison]

Yes, the hymn was dreadfully prosaic and lacking in any any sense of growth or culmination, both within verses and overall.
Absolutely no comparison with St Johns Cambridge. Hugely disappointing.

[weston752]

I don't think I have ever heard Helmsley sung with such an utter lack of spaciousness! That being said,I enjoyed the LLoyd and John Sanders.