CE Guildford Cathedral Jan 15th 2020 [A]

[DracoM]

CE Guildford Cathedral Jan 15th 2020 [A]
(First broadcast 15 January 1997)


Order of Service:


Introit: Great and Marvellous Are Thy Works (Tomkins)
Responses: Millington
Psalm 78 (Bayley, Monk, Turle, Rogers, Walmisley)
First Lesson: Isaiah 49: 7-13
Canticles: Day in B flat
Second Lesson: 1 John 2: 1-14
Anthem: When Jesus Our Lord (Mendelssohn)
Hymn: O Worship the Lord (Was Lebet)


Voluntary: Toccata Prelude on Von Himmel Hoch (Edmundson)


Geoffrey Morgan (Sub-organist)
Andrew Millington (Organist and Master of the Music)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d81w

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 pm

[jonfan]

A total joy from beginning to end. Such attack and enthusiasm from the choir, the top line in particular. I relished the determination to savour all the varied corners of the psalm. The anthem was beautifully done with appropriate romantic feeling. Attention and excitement held to the end through the final hymn into the storming of heaven in the final voluntary. Great stuff.

[DracoM]

Indeed.
Q: is / was Guildford tricky to record in?

[Pulcinella]

Indeed.
Q: is / was Guildford tricky to record in?

A: I don't know, but the 'runner-up' BAL Enigma recording (RPO/Del Mar) was made there in 1975, according to the liner notes.

[Frances_iom]

Indeed.
Q: is / was Guildford tricky to record in?

Its acoustics were very bad - when the Guildford Philharmonic moved from the old civic hall (now totally rebuilt) to the cathedral for its concerts then unless you were in the front row of the seats you could not tell what language the choir was singing in - the acoustics were that bad. I believe some screens + other techniques were used to overcome the myriad of reflections from the brick walls.

[ardcarp]

Just in case anyone's forgotten:

Against all the odds, and without a single formal musical qualification to his name, in May 1960, Barry [Rose] was appointed as the first Organist and Master of the Choristers of the new Guildford Cathedral. This controversial appointment would not have been made without the foresight and wisdom of the then Provost of Guildford, The Very Reverend Walter Boulton, who was to be shamefully passed over, when the appointment of the first Dean of the new Cathedral was made.

Once in Guildford, Barry set about creating a musical foundation which would bring daily sung Services to the new Cathedral. Over the first year or so there was the inevitable hesitant start by the boys, but they were encouraged and supported by a most expert and musical group of Lay Clerks, many of whom were accomplished soloists in their own right. The Guildford choir soon established itself in the forefront of choral music of the time, achieving widespread recognition through its several best-selling recordings for EMI, both on the HMV label, and on the newly founded Music for Pleasure label

So quite a bit of recording went on.

[MrGongGong]

Its acoustics were very bad - when the Guildford Philharmonic moved from the old civic hall (now totally rebuilt) to the cathedral for its concerts then unless you were in the front row of the seats you could not tell what language the choir was singing in - the acoustics were that bad. I believe some screens + other techniques were used to overcome the myriad of reflections from the brick walls.

Is that "bad" ?


Asking for a friend

[Serial_Apologist]

Is that "bad" ?


Asking for a friend

Depends on the kinds of music the architects and their sponsors had in mind for the place I guess. The acoustics were just wonderful for Tallis and Byrd when I sang there in the early days of the cathedral in my school choir - amazing resonance.

[MrGongGong]

Depends on the kinds of music the architects and their sponsors had in mind for the place I guess. The acoustics were just wonderful for Tallis and Byrd when I sang there in the early days of the cathedral in my school choir - amazing resonance.

Absolutely

When I moved to Lincoln about 30 years ago I always found it amusing to read the review of the Halle's annual gig in the cathedral which usually described it as "cold and over resonant"

So you mean a huge symphony orchestra playing a Mozart symphony is a bit "blurred" ?
hummmmm

[Finzi4ever]

A total joy from beginning to end. Such attack and enthusiasm from the choir, the top line in particular. I relished the determination to savour all the varied corners of the psalm. The anthem was beautifully done with appropriate romantic feeling. Attention and excitement held to the end through the final hymn into the storming of heaven in the final voluntary. Great stuff.

Quite agree and a treat to have the full 15th evening, done (at speed understandably) with feeling and drama!

[Serial_Apologist]

Absolutely

When I moved to Lincoln about 30 years ago I always found it amusing to read the review of the Halle's annual gig in the cathedral which usually described it as "cold and over resonant"

So you mean a huge symphony orchestra playing a Mozart symphony is a bit "blurred" ?
hummmmm

Another bad experience of live non-intended Cathedral music was the one I had of the David Murray Quartet in Bristol Cathedral in around 1990. I was near the back; nevertheless, those right at the front said the sound was just as blurred, particularly when the band went into fast tempos. Ironically (perhaps!) the opening unaccompanied act judged the place exactly right: the berimbau-playing and chanting Brazilian musician Nana Vasconcelos, who understood the 11th century acoustics perfectly and deployed them as magnificently as if he was in ECM's recording studios in Oslo!

[cat]

Another problem with Guildford besides the acoustic is that the two sides of the choir are half a mile apart.

[Miles Coverdale]

Its acoustics were very bad - when the Guildford Philharmonic moved from the old civic hall (now totally rebuilt) to the cathedral for its concerts then unless you were in the front row of the seats you could not tell what language the choir was singing in - the acoustics were that bad. I believe some screens + other techniques were used to overcome the myriad of reflections from the brick walls.

When the cathedral was first built the acoustic was very reverberant, some would say too much so. Later, acoustic plaster was added to the ceiling to dampen it down. When I was there, one of my colleagues played me a tape made by a small group of singers shortly before the plaster was added, and the acoustic was certainly quite a lot bigger than it was when this service was recorded (not sure it's worth asking for a repeat fee 23 years after the event). What certainly could make ensemble with the organ difficult was the fact that most of it was round the corner in the north transept, with only the choir organ above the stalls on Cantoris, the organ loft being on Decani. There were also a couple of spots in the nave where the choir didn't sound quite together with the organ, even though it did elsewhere, which was a bit odd.

[DracoM]

Distance apart is what I vaguely remembered from many years ago, BUT it is pretty disconcerting to sing in such 'geography' I find. Would pro-lays / front line trebs etc have the same feeling? Is it a nightmare for the DoM quite apart from the recording engineer? Or do you just get used to it?