CE Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Wed, 10th April 2019 [A]

[DracoM]

CE Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Wed, 10th April 2019 [A]
First broadcast 29th March 1995


Order of Service:


Introit: Salvator mundi (Blow)
Responses: Byrd
Psalms 142, 143 (Wise, Purcell)
First Lesson: Jeremiah 30: 1-11
Office Hymn: My God, I love Thee (Solomon)
Canticles: Short Service (Ayleward)
Second Lesson: John 11:.28-37
Anthem: I will give thanks unto the Lord (Purcell)
Prayer Anthem: A hymne to God the Father (Pelham Humfrey)

Voluntary: Voluntary in D minor (William Croft)


Andrew Parnell (Organist)
Barry Rose (Director of Music)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003znr

[mopsus]

I remember this broadcast from the series that commemorated the Purcell anniversary. Especially for the two beautiful, austere single psalm chants.

[ardcarp]

Speaking entirely from (a faulty) memory, I think Blow ceded the post of organist at Westminster Abbey to Purcell, and on the latter's early death took it on again. Croft was his successor.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[Nazard]

Quite the day for St Albans Cathedral. They were live on Good Morning Britain this morning advertising the Alban Bun and now this archive broadcast. Should be a treat to the ears!

[mw963]

I think the word that keeps coming to my mind when listening to this CE is "majestic".

Somehow you know that The Main Man knows precisely what he's doing, and it shows.

Beautiful engineering too compared to some (at least) of what we have nowadays.

Superb. Respect.

[DracoM]

Was a bit hassled by the [IMO] exaggerated rolling 'Brrrrrrrrrr' on many of the 'r' sounds, partic in soloists.
Is the psalm-singing we heard a hallmark of DOM Rose's style?

Liked the bright open sounds of the soloists in the Purcell.

Choir/organ/acoustic balance carefully managed: St A's not easy, but I thought it was well-engineered.

[choralmike]

Plenty here to make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up.

[ardcarp]

Firstly, it was good to have a CE built around the currently quite unfashionable Pelham Humfrey, Blow, Purcell, Croft generation. Secondly, Barry (blush if you're reading this!) took great pains in the detail of the presentation of CE, that is the timing of its constituent parts. Done to perfection in this archive broadcast. I know he also occasionally had a hand in the technical side of broadcasting/recording, and was not unknown to nip into the BBC van outside. And of course, he put the 'golden touch' on any choir in his charge. I particularly enjoyed the variety today (e.g. unison men, unison trebles plus a bit of extra re-arranging in psalms and hymns).

[jonfan]

Beautiful service with every phrase oozing expression and meaning. Time stood still in the Donne anthem. (5 minutes to spare as well at the end of the broadcast.) Clear, precise engineering and a sense of the space. Not sure what mw963 is referring to, as modern CE is state of the art engineering and stands comparison with anything from the past. I can’t think of a dud one in the past year.

[DracoM]

I think many forget just how daunting it is to record / live tx from such a huge acoustic, with such variable voices / singing and speaking, declaiming and praying, and IMO most of the CEs we hear are pretty acceptable. I liked the sense of halo round the St A's voices, and their determined application.

[mw963]

BNot sure what mw963 is referring to, as modern CE is state of the art engineering and stands comparison with anything from the past. I can’t think of a dud one in the past year.

As I wrote it I guessed that you of all people wouldn't understand. Sadly you confuse state of the art equipment with hard-learned experience honed over the years. It is the latter that isn't always present nowadays.

[chrisjstanley]

Speaking entirely from (a faulty) memory, I think Blow ceded the post of organist at Westminster Abbey to Purcell, and on the latter's early death took it on again. Croft was his successor.

Yes, indeed, ardcarp. Regarding the Blow, Salvator Mundi was a fixture for Good Friday when I was a chorister (BTW Dec1 to Andrew Parnell's Can1 at Southwell c1969). The music itself is said to have been composed in the mid-1670s although there is some dispute about this.

https://www.york.ac.uk/media/music/yemp/pdfs/Blow--Motets-Complete.pdf

The minor key and anguished dissonance and unusual intervals certainly remind one of Purcell's Hear my Prayer which is dated at around 1682.

Overall a very enjoyable reminder of both composition and performance.

bws
Chris S

[oddoneout]

As I wrote it I guessed that you of all people wouldn't understand. Sadly you confuse state of the art equipment with hard-learned experience honed over the years. It is the latter that isn't always present nowadays.

And even when present in abundance can be let down for whatever reason by the non-musical elements. I have heard more than a couple of CEs in the last year that were hampered by technical issues - often of balance.

[jonfan]

Despite my lack of proper understanding of such matters I can spot when state of the art equipment isn’t put to good use in a broadcast. As far as I know Stephen Shipley and Phillip Bilson are the present producers of CE and if anyone is well honed, with many years experience, they are. Two or three dodgy technical balance CEs out of a yearly 52 isn’t a bad record. As DracoM pointed out large cathedrals are very challenging to mic up. It’s great to feel you are sitting in the best pew, and especially in binaural feeds that sadly infrequently come our way. Siting ‘chapter and verse’ of a badly engineered CE might prove a point?