Many thanks indeed, Barry, for your two posts. Listening to the 1956 carol I uttered a silent cheer. I have a bee-in-my-bonnet about the pronunciation of the word 'Lullay'. i always wanted it to accord with Lullaby, not as 'Loollay'. Delighted to hear that Boris Ord thought the same!
On the matter of the St John's sound in George Guest's time. The following little reminiscence may be of interest. In the Autumn of 1972 I was appointed to run the music at St Michael's College Tenbury. I was assistant at Ely Cathedral, and got in touch with George Guest to ask for guidance in training boys' voices, never previously having had that responsibility. He was generosity itself, and invited me over to Cambridge to not only talk with him, but also to sit in on the boys' morning rehearsals as often as I could. These moments were absolutely invaluable for me, and I learnt so much. As Barry has said, he did have a musical speaking voice - partly the Welsh-ness in him, I guess. He treated the boys as his equals - they were never talked down to - and entered into quite deep conversations with them about the music and, most importantly the words. The exercises they did as warm-ups were pretty spectacular too, none more so that the 3 octave arpeggios starting on the E flat, E natural or F below mid.C., and going up to Queen-of-the-night height! He gave me a sheaf of his beautifully hand-written notes about training boys, which he had made after talking with the director of the Copenhagen Boys' Choir. (Maddeningly, just at the moment, i can't lay my hands on these notes.) He was also clear that the boys need to be able to adapt their sound to different repertoire, and his recorded legacy amply bears that out. He was a huge influence on me and many, many others ... in short, a genius.
RJ
On the matter of the St John's sound in George Guest's time. The following little reminiscence may be of interest. In the Autumn of 1972 I was appointed to run the music at St Michael's College Tenbury. I was assistant at Ely Cathedral, and got in touch with George Guest to ask for guidance in training boys' voices, never previously having had that responsibility. He was generosity itself, and invited me over to Cambridge to not only talk with him, but also to sit in on the boys' morning rehearsals as often as I could. These moments were absolutely invaluable for me, and I learnt so much. As Barry has said, he did have a musical speaking voice - partly the Welsh-ness in him, I guess. He treated the boys as his equals - they were never talked down to - and entered into quite deep conversations with them about the music and, most importantly the words. The exercises they did as warm-ups were pretty spectacular too, none more so that the 3 octave arpeggios starting on the E flat, E natural or F below mid.C., and going up to Queen-of-the-night height! He gave me a sheaf of his beautifully hand-written notes about training boys, which he had made after talking with the director of the Copenhagen Boys' Choir. (Maddeningly, just at the moment, i can't lay my hands on these notes.) He was also clear that the boys need to be able to adapt their sound to different repertoire, and his recorded legacy amply bears that out. He was a huge influence on me and many, many others ... in short, a genius.
RJ
Agree totally. Exceeding even their Rolls Royce standards. The feel of the Chapel excellently caught in well balanced sound. Wonderful colourful organ playing, especially the segue from Judith B’s anthem on ‘Hark the glad sound’ into the hymn with an immense organ sound. In fact many hymns followed on from anthems without a break, an AN original touch? I like it.
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