CE Bridlington Priory 3rd August 2011

[DracoM]

CE Bridlington Priory
The RSCM Millennium Youth Choir


Order of Service:


Introit: O nata lux (Tallis)
Office hymn: O raise your eyes on high and see (St Magnus)
Psalms: 141, 72 (Ogden, Norris)
First Lesson: Exodus 34: 29-35
Canticles of Mary and Simeon (James Whitbourn)
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3
Anthems: Here, O my Lord (Barry Rose); Jesu, the very thought of thee
(Cecilia McDowall)
Hymn: Immortal, invisible, God only wise (St Denio)


Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in B major (Dupré)



Organist: Daniel Moult
Director of Music: David Ogden

[Magnificat]

No Responses?!!

[gainasbass]

They are doing Ayleward's Responses at York Minster.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I would have liked the Bridlington Priory Choir to have been singing - one of the jewels of Bridlington.

[gainasbass]

I, too, would have liked to have heard the Priory Choir. I can remember the days when Bridlington Priory, Beverley Minster and Selby Abbey were regarded as the best Parish Church Choirs in Yorkshire - worthy of the buildings (excluding Leeds PC of course - a different kettle of fish). Did they ever do a "three choirs"?

[gainasbass]

Regarding the above post, I should have said that St Mary's, Beverley, had an excellent choral tradition at one time.

[Magnificat]

Beverley Minster and Leeds PC used to broadcast CE. Haven't heard them for years.

VCC

[DracoM]

Just bumping as a reminder of today's CE.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thanks Draco. I think I'll go to the service.

[DracoM]

Well, a big bunch of thanks to Daniel Moult I have to say with that brisk and virtuosic Dupré which enlivened and even rescued a curious service.

A much, much more than decent RSCM Youth Choir - good top, forthright tenors particularly - were given precious little to do in the way of challenge IMO, and most of it at very slow tempi. Couldn't quite work out if the viola weaving round the psalms / canticles was a good idea - certainly neatly enough played, but....was it homage to Hilliard and Jan Garbarek, or as an echo of ancient Jewish improvisational cantoring? Or?

No second set of responses?

But at the heart of the service - sandwiched round a 'deliberate' reading of 2 Corinthians 3 - were two pieces that puzzled. The Whitbourn Canticles I found worthy but pretty dull stuff to be honest, taken at an almost funereal pace - presumably the composer's own marking - while the second anthem by Cecilia McDowall sounded uncomfortably like sub-MacMillan and was also pretty slow, yet in a way had more musical challenge in it at times than anything apart from the Tallis.

And that Tallis introit had promised so well too!

So to the voluntary which was full of terrific energy, shape and power. Thanks, Daniel.

Look, am I being sour and niggardly here? It just seemed rather dreary fare to my ears.

[gainasbass]

No, you are not being niggardly at all Draco. I second every word you have uttered. Nothing but praise for the young singers, who performed very well; ably assisted by the Director and Organist. The youngsters didn't choose the music they had to sing, did they? Those of us who expected a traditional CE were disappointed (was it even Evening Prayer?). Anyway, well done the youngsters, hopefully mature church musicians of the future!

However, it'll be back to normal next week when we will be treated to (recorded) CE from the Three Choirs Festival.

By the way EA, was it a good atmosphere in the Priory this afternoon?

[chorister49]

Yes you are being more than a little unenthusiastic. The choir prepared for this broadcast in just three days. Here are 35 young singers, real champions and enthusiasts of church music, exploring new repertoire - commissioning new repertoire - and they deserve a huge pat on the back. Well done, RSCM Millennium Youth Choir.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, a big bunch of thanks to Daniel Moult I have to say with that brisk and virtuosic Dupré which enlivened and even rescued a curious service.

What you may not have noticed on Radio 3 was that the organist's page turner "enlivened and even rescued" the Dupré itself after the organist had got muxed ip with with his stops.

A much, much more than decent RSCM Youth Choir - good top, forthright tenors particularly - were given precious little to do in the way of challenge IMO, and most of it at very slow tempi.

I must listen to Sunday's repeat, but it didn't sound at all slow in the Priory, with its mighty acoustic.

Couldn't quite work out if the viola weaving round the psalms / canticles was a good idea - certainly neatly enough played, but....was it homage to Hilliard and Jan Garbarek, or as an echo of ancient Jewish improvisational cantoring?

Again, most atmospheric "live".

The Whitbourn Canticles I found worthy but pretty dull stuff to be honest, taken at an almost funereal pace - presumably the composer's own marking - while the second anthem by Cecilia McDowall sounded uncomfortably like sub-MacMillan and was also pretty slow, yet in a way had more musical challenge in it at times than anything apart from the Tallis.

The Mag and Nunc were great "in the flesh" - superb, in fact, but I found the McDowell somewhat tedious. She writes some nice flute music, but her choral writing doesn't impress.

[DracoM]

BIG acoustic? Tu plaisantes, mon vieux? The acoustic came over as singularly dead. I kept thinking poor kids having to spin out long, hanging lines like that and they just die with no feedback. But on site it's 'big'? Well, well............!

Always fantastic to get the 'on site' take, so many, many thanks. And when all's said and done, that service was presumably conceived for the congregation there rather than a rather remote cloud of witnesses. Shows just how much modern religious composers so often work for dramatic effects in real buildings and not some virtual space.

Anyway, LA on Sunday and see what you think. Choir not at all bad, some good strong voices.

[DracoM]

I did NOT inveigh against the choir - on the contrary, I actually wrote enthusiastically about particularly strong sections , nor diss their or anyone's musicianship, nor anyone's commitment, nor did I sneer at the course, nor dismiss the time they had to learn new repertoire, nor did I say anything about the fact of new commissions - NONE of that.

I just didn't much like the pieces and said so - am I allowed to say that? I do happen to think they were conducted too slow for my taste, but I did actually comment that maybe composer's intentions were being observed. Maybe the conductor expected more 'acoustic' to enhance the 'atmosphere' to come over on live broadcast as AS says, but it will be interesting - as so often on these boards - to get the comparison between live on site and live on air. Happens most weeks.