CE St Martin-in-the-Fields, London Aug 12th 2020 [L]

[DracoM]

CE St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Members of the BBC Singers


Order of Service:


Introit: My Eyes for beauty pine (Elizabeth Coxhead/Thomas Coxhead)
Responses: Byrd
Psalms 65, 66, 67 (Wills, Maxim, Grindle)
First Lesson: Isaiah 49: 1-7
Canticles: Stanford in B flat
Second Lesson: 1 John 1: 1-10
Anthem: Behold, O God our defender (John Scott) – to mark the fifth anniversary of the composer’s death
Prayer anthem: God be in my head (David Hill)

Voluntary: Triptych (Errollyn Wallen)

Rachel Mahon (Organist)
Nicholas Chalmers (Conductor)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lpl5

[DracoM]

Ahem.

[Simon Biazeck]

Here you go!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7fAfydXVYo

[BasilHarwood]

Ahem.

?

[oddoneout]

?

Possibly BBC Singers?

[Alison]

Ahem.

[DracoM]

Couldn't put it better.

[BasilHarwood]

Possibly BBC Singers?

Christ, the anti-BBC Singers thing really is TIRING. In the current climate you should be glad you’ve any live music making at all.

Please remember that the professional singing world in the UK is on a knife-edge. We should be supporting all outfits - salaried, freelance, religious, secular, large or small, ‘straight’ toned, ‘full’ toned, with children, without children, etc, etc.

As a pro (who does ad-hoc with the BBC) these constant snipes are noted and all you do is make yourselves look incredibly backward.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Christ, the anti-BBC Singers thing really is TIRING. In the current climate you should be glad you’ve any live music making at all.

Please remember that the professional singing world in the UK is on a knife-edge. We should be supporting all outfits - salaried, freelance, religious, secular, large or small, ‘straight’ toned, ‘full’ toned, with children, without children, etc, etc.

As a pro (who does ad-hoc with the BBC) these constant snipes are noted and all you do is make yourselves look incredibly backward.

Paraphrasing the words of the Parry so splendidly sung this am on R3 I am glad that live music is back and I'm really enjoying the live Evensong . It might be because I'm used to it through countless nights at the opera But I have no problem with vibrato (within reason) . There has to space for a variety of performance styles.
As a fellow freelance I hope you're back in work soon...

[DracoM]

Well, I think back with some fondness to the BBC Northern Singers under Wilkinson and the sound they made. Completely different.
Currently, the BBC Singers as set up are most certainly brilliant musicians, fantastic sight-readers, have delivered much worthwhile modern repertoire etc,...yes, yes yes.

..... but to my ears they sound like a very accomplished, too-strong vibrato handful of a WI with men friends doing the under-parts. That sound is as if The Sixteen etc etc etc had never happened i.e. way back in 1950's.

So yesterday.

I've never dared to put it that strongly into words before on this forum, but........well..... occasionally...........

And, of course, this is a purely personal opinion...

[Simon Biazeck]

Christ, the anti-BBC Singers thing really is TIRING. In the current climate, you should be glad you’ve any live music-making at all.

Please remember that the professional singing world in the UK is on a knife-edge. We should be supporting all outfits - salaried, freelance, religious, secular, large or small, ‘straight’ toned, ‘full’ toned, with children, without children, etc, etc.

As a pro (who does ad-hoc with the BBC) these constant snipes are noted and all you do is make yourselves look incredibly backward.

This!

[Rolmill]

Here you go!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7fAfydXVYo

Thanks for this - I enjoyed it very much, some lovely singing, well worth quarter of an hour of anyone's time.

Re the (yawn-inducingly frequent) BBC Singers debate, I propose to listen to the service and form an opinion based on that - it may be an unusual approach, but it works for me.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Yes - 2020 August live performance, so no continuance of a criticism which might be in the past. (Also - we can hear live again - they will no doubt be performing live as a larger group in the live Proms later). See if the selection - "members of..." can manage to avoid the sort of performance which has given rise to the reservations about them on this board.

If its not possible to refer to those reservations here because of the automatic defence (similarly tedious) it might become a case of the "The Emperor's Clothes". If it hasn't already.

[DracoM]

Q: if the 'reservations' are that regular, similar and frequent, then why?
A: = ?

[edashtav]

Christ, the anti-BBC Singers thing really is TIRING. […]

I agree, the BBC Singers are not the Antichrist, and do not exist in opposition to the 16. I've heard the Singers live twice in the past five years and, on both occasions, I was delighted by the way they animated and characterised rarely heard works.