CE Exeter Cathedral: Wed, 13th November 2019 [L[

[DracoM]

CE Exeter Cathedral [L]


Order of Service:


Introit: Justorum animae (Stanford)
Responses: Leighton
Psalms 69, 70 (Ross, Mann, Goss)
First Lesson: Daniel 5: 13-31
Canticles: Bullock in D
Second Lesson: Revelation 7: 1-4, 9-17
Anthem: Lo, the full, final sacrifice (Finzi)

Voluntary: Hymne d'action de grâce 'Te Deum', Op 5 No 3 (Langlais)

Timothy Parsons (Assistant Director of Music)
Timothy Noon (Director of Music)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b5xf

[DracoM]

Posted so early because
[a] busy over next few days
[b] it's LIVE!!!!

[ardcarp]

Bullock was organist at Exeter Cathedral for a while. He was another example of an organist's career starting off as an articled pupil [see discussion of Howells last week]. Also another example of music degrees being taken externally.

Wiki has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Bullock

[Keraulophone]

another example of music degrees being taken externally

A reminder of the sad summer of 2005 when Exeter University closed its Music Department.

[Vox Humana]

A reminder of the sad summer of 2005 when Exeter University closed its Music Department.

Indeed, very sad - and its chemistry faculty - and all to help them draw down European funding to build the university in Falmouth. Mustn't get political though.

[Roger Judd]

Ernest Bullock was also, but briefly (for less than a year in 1919), organist at St Michael's College, Tenbury before going to Exeter and finally to Westminster Abbey.
RJ

[ardcarp]

A reminder of the sad summer of 2005 when Exeter University closed its Music Department.

...and I'm so glad that an old friend of mine, Arthur Hutchings, did not live to see it. When Exeter, in more enlightened times, decided to found a Chair in Music, they approached Arthur, then Prof at Durham, to assist with the appointment. In typically forthright fashion, Arthur said, "I'll do it", and hence he became the first Prof of Music at Exeter.

One of my treasured books is a a proof copy of English Praise (a sort of supplement to English Hymnal) with Arthur's scribblings all over it. It is one of the few publications to include Howells' own descant to the tune Michael (All my hope on God is Founded). It's quite 'far out' as descants go, and not often performed. Arthur was insistent that it should be included. I recommend people in the biz to give it a go!

Back to Exeter CE. I gather it's boys and men. However, girls and men are recording a service the day before for broadcast sometime in December. Usual BBC economies......

[underthecountertenor]

Back to Exeter CE. I gather it's boys and men. However, girls and men are recording a service the day before for broadcast sometime in December. Usual BBC economies......

I understand that the recorded service will feature a new set of canticles by Nico Muhly, commissioned by the cathedral. The recording will be broadcast sometime after the official premiere (if that makes any sense at all).

[mw963]

The recording of the Girls' Evensong is due for broadcast on 18th December.

I attended the recording earlier this evening, and might comment on it further when I've been (I hope) to tomorrow's broadcast with the boys.

But what I will say now was that I was more than impressed with the Girls' Choir; I normally pride myself on being able to distinguish boys from girls fairly quickly, but I'd have had a job to on this occasion, I think only the Poston at the end might have made me decide it was the girls. Their enthusiasm, their accuracy, their tuning, their articulation and above all their tone (particularly in the psalms, which were a triumph) were a joy to behold, and I had a ringside seat facing Decani. Timothy Noon has done a fantastic job, and what was so nice to see was that they were obviously both proud to be doing what they were doing and enjoying it in a remarkably mature manner. And they watch him like hawks!

Hats off to Timothy and the Girls.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[ardcarp]

I thought today's CE was beautifully directed, and showed us a choir 'on the up'. If that service had been sung in a building with a more generous acoustic, that 'straight' treble sound would have soared. They showed considerable verve in the Leighton Responses, and the Psalms were delivered in a direct and unaffected way. The Finzi was a brave choice. Some regard it as a slightly rambling piece with scrumptious harmonic moments. Tim Noon, IMO, shaped it beautifully, and I for one was genuinely moved by it. The other Tim accompanied with great flair on an organ that is so well able to colour today's repertory.

I look forward to the girls+ATB recorded CE in December. Interesting that today's service was announced as boys+ATB. I think it's been the BBC's policy up to now to be a little coy about the forces.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Enjoyed this - after a slightly shaky start. The Finzi definitely the highlight . Entirely a personal preference but I did think the choir a bit too closely miked. A bit more Cathedral acoustic does help with the overall blend . Having been to Evensong there I don’t think the balance really reflected the acoustic but on the day there often have to be compromises. I also thought the organ sounded a tad muffled until the Voluntary.

[ardcarp]

Exeter is a tricky one. Yes, a bit more mike-distance may have helped. Although the building is vaulted throughout, singing in the [architectural-term] choir is not especially rewarding...and sitting listening to the choir in the choir [if you get my meaning] is rather clinical. Listening from a distance in the nave is rather pleasant, but of course that is far too distant for any sort of clarity. Lichfield is rather the same IIRC.

[mopsus]

It used to have one of the nastiest clergy amplification systems - it was very obvious if you were sitting in the choir that the sound was coming from a different direction from the person apparently making it. But on my most recent visit I was pleased to see that had been replaced.

[mw963]

I didn't have quite the ring side view of the live broadcast as I had of the recording, but even so it sounded pretty good on site.

The organ is not the fiery-est thing in the world, although it's one I love, but having got used to Hereford via Hauptwerk at home in the last few years - and not having been into Exeter for a while - I was struck by how almost "boxy" it could sound, although I must stress that that impression quickly vanished as my aural compass adjusted back to an environment that I've known for forty years. Great accompaniment and playing on both occasions!!

I ought really to draw a diagram, but in terms of mic rigging the main array was just behind Timothy Noon, about nine feet high on a stand, and consisted of a horizontal fan of four mics facing west, spread to about 60 degrees at the limit, so that - roughly speaking - a mic was pointing at each of the two rows on each side of the aisle. There was a pair of spot mics, one on each side on stands, half way down the choir stalls, close to the trebles but at about 6 feet high pointing over their heads at the middle of the line of Lay Clerks. There was a cathedral stand just to the west of the choir stalls, 18 feet high, with a pair of mics looking at the organ. Then there was a "spaced pair", far to the east, on the first shallow step that begins the gentle ascent to the high altar east of the Bishop's Throne, ie a mic on each side, as far apart as was possible, close to the cloister walls, about ten feet high. There were various lectern mics, and what I assume was a snoop-mic by the Bishop's Throne.

My guess is that unless you go in quite close the organ would tend to swamp the choir in a lot of the music. That said, the old "tried and tested" doctrines of BBC mic placement have gone completely out of the window in the last few years, and the times I've been to an Exeter OB they have not once used the same rig technique. I've only had a quick listen to my recording made at home (off DSat) and it seems pretty good, but this change-it-every-time approach perhaps explains why we get the odd broadcast (nationally speaking, not referring to Exeter) that is less than totally successful in terms of balance, and particularly in terms of mono-compatibility. But I digress.

In the past the broadcast has often been done from the Nave, which probably would allow the main acoustic to come into play, but that said I've become so used to the sound of the choir in the Quire that it doesn't bother me, on the contrary I'd contend that it adds to the sense of intimacy and involvement - particularly as the "shadows lengthen" on a winter evening..... And as that's where the run-of-the-mill Evensongs take place I think it's appropriate to broadcast from there, even if it doesn't make things easier from a technical balance point of view.

I'm not that close to Exeter but I must make the effort to go in more often, it used to be a weekly visit for me in the days of Lucien Nethsingha and I must get back into the habit.

Incidentally, it's a minor quibble, but at no point did anybody from the BBC have anything to say to the congregation. In the past on my visits either Shipley or Billson have done the "BBC talk" beforehand, a little bit of the history of CE, the need to turn off mobiles, how nice it was to see us all etc etc. On the recording it was left to the Dean to ask us to switch off phones, and on the broadcast there was nothing at all, not even in the congregational notes. I can't help feeling that Auntie had slightly forgotten her manners on this occasion.....

Laters - with regard to my final paragraph above, please see my post 24 below. No lack of manners as it turns out.