CE Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford [A] Wed, Nov 6th 2019

[Finzi4ever]

I shall ask Nick, as a near neighbour, now he is back from the land down under. My guess is that Colin played the psalms and Nick the Howells, but we shall see...

[ardcarp]

I think that I must have missed the previous iterations of this broadcast. What a wonderful choir Simon Preston created there - fabulous treble sound and a splendid mix of lay clerk and choral scholar in the back rows. The psalms, I thought, were glorious - so much variety of tone, great organ support (I loved all the 'naughty' passing notes between verses), and how good to hear the 'old' organ doing what it was built to do so well. Even the solo trumpet (Tuba) in the Tippett had a good ring to it! Was it my imagination or did the BBC find some more acoustic with which to envelop the sound?
RJ

I agree entirely Roger (with the possible exception of passing notes in the Psalms!). Very capable and full-bodied singing. Always scary pitching the first note of the Tippett Mag after that Tuba fanfare. Done with confidence here. Sad about the truncated voluntary, but good to hear Emma Kirkby filling in the space.

[Vox Humana]

(I loved all the 'naughty' passing notes between verses)

À chacun son goût. To me they are a sure sign of decadent and dissolute tastes. Not that I'm in any way opinionated, you understand.

[underthecountertenor]

I agree entirely Roger (with the possible exception of passing notes in the Psalms!). Very capable and full-bodied singing. Always scary pitching the first note of the Tippett Mag after that Tuba fanfare. Done with confidence here. Sad about the truncated voluntary, but good to hear Emma Kirkby filling in the space.

Even scarier is the ATB pitching of the crucial first chord in the Nunc. Once you know it, it's easy, but still requires nerves of steel, especially (I imagine) for a live broadcast.

I love this set of canticles, and in my experience it's easier for a listener to appreciate if informed of Tippett's own account of what inspired them.

[Pulcinella]

Such statements are more likely to draw listeners to comment on her annunciation skills... and I don't mean her Scottish 'brogue'

Oops! Not the Feast of the Annunciation, I fear.

[Pulcinella]

Even scarier is the ATB pitching of the crucial first chord in the Nunc. Once you know it, it's easy, but still requires nerves of steel, especially (I imagine) for a live broadcast.

I love this set of canticles, and in my experience it's easier for a listener to appreciate if informed of Tippett's own account of what inspired them.

Do tell!

[Gabriel Jackson]

Always scary pitching the first note of the Tippett Mag after that Tuba fanfare.

The divided treble entry at "He hath filled the hungry..." is much trickier.

[Miles Coverdale]

Has anybody asked R3 just what they think they are doing? It is a scabrous way to save a few pennies, and immensely insulting to today's cathedral choirs. Terminal, cynical laziness.

I don't quite see how budget cuts can be described as laziness.

I'm slightly surprised that I'm the first person to point out that the picture on the R3 web page is actually of Christ Church's Great Hall, not the cathedral.

[ardcarp]

Better?

[Master Jacques]

I don't quite see how budget cuts can be described as laziness.

That is not what I said, Miles. 'Laziness' refers of course to how budgeting cuts are implemented, i.e. spending ever less on in-house work, such as Choral Evensong, while bolstering the amount of programming (and cash) outsourced to private production companies. And of course, in never spending less on managerial/marketing/publicity support functions. That's the terminal, cynical part.

[mw963]

Agree with Master Jacques fully. The BBC has - since 1992 and the Kenyon vandalism - succeeded in buggering up Radio 3 on an epic scale. They seem determined to do the opposite of anything that I would welcome. And Radio 3 was just the start, I find myself watching and listening to very little BBC output now, and recently even the Radio 4 Six O'Clock News (which I've listened to religiously since 1977 when it took on its current half-hour format) now has me saying "I'm not sure I trust the BBC version of events and its slanted delivery any more".

Incidentally, nice to see "decantor" back amongst us.

[Wolsey]

Pity that the continuity announcer (*) had to make a barbed comment about the "archive accents" heard in the broadcast. What a stupid thing to say.

Says more about her and the current state of Radio 3 than about the beautiful diction of the priest.

(*) I expect she'd like me to call her a "presenter".

I'm not sure what point she was trying to make when she said "...The Assistant Organist was a certain Nicholas Cleobury..."

[Vox Humana]

I'm not sure what point she was trying to make when she said "...The Assistant Organist was a certain Nicholas Cleobury..."

I can think of three possibilities. There may be more.

[AuntyKezia]

Going back to message #6, I was at the live broadcast from The Queen's College, Oxford on 30 October when the BBC producer thanked the choir for working hard on two consecutive days so that another service could be recorded for future broadcast - I'm not sure when. So it seems they sometimes do take advantage of such opportunities.

[mopsus]

Going back to message #6, I was at the live broadcast from The Queen's College, Oxford on 30 October when the BBC producer thanked the choir for working hard on two consecutive days so that another service could be recorded for future broadcast - I'm not sure when. So it seems they sometimes do take advantage of such opportunities.

Yes, they did that with Merton in autumn last year - an evensong was recorded for broadcast on Boxing Day when a live broadcast is impractical.