Advent Carols in the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge 29th Nov 2020 [L]

[CallMePaul]

Terrific service! 10/10 all round.

Agreed!

[Quilisma]

I must apologise unreservedly for having caused offence with my comments. I hope it goes without saying that I completely respect the opinions and feelings of others, even if they might sometimes be hard to face, particularly in these horrendous times. I just want to stress that NONE of us would have wished to exclude physically present public congregations under any circumstances, but we cannot and must not be condemned for consenting to work strictly within the spirit and letter of the current regulations: after all, the virus is real and those regulations are in place for a specific reason.

I'm confident that when (if!) this is all over the congregations will be encouraged to return, and with them all the atmosphere whose absence this year Andrew finds intolerably distressing. Believe me, I understand. But do forgive us all for feeling compelled to carry on insofar as possible. What we are doing in our respective places is indeed "not the same" at the moment, and cannot possibly be "the same" at the moment under the current circumstances, but for now it is all we have and all we can do. Obviously it is entirely fine to abhor it, to want nothing to do with it and to make a point of boycotting it, if that happens to be one's determined position, but please do at least be mindful of the fact that, even though it may be "not the same", for many people it is an enormous consolation in the unavoidable absence of "the real thing", and it most certainly IS still authentic worship.

In any case, I'm afraid I definitely AM going to listen to the St John's Advent Carols service as soon as I have time. Our Assistant DoM is a recent St John's organ scholar, so we all take a keen interest in what is going on there, and of course they are perennially an absolutely outstanding choir. Our own Advent Sunday Eucharist, and Advent Procession late this afternoon, were, of course, "not the same", but, in line with the policy of doing the very best one possibly can under the circumstances which present themselves at any given time, it was a productively exhausting day's liturgico-musical work.

[oddoneout]

Very moving. I am an emotional wreck at the moment, but I was on the verge (shivers up the spine and a knot in the stomach during Veni Emmanuel) because I won't sing any Carol or Christmas services this year. That vibrant treble tone! I soon calmed down. The atmosphere of fervent prayer seemed evident to me, perhaps because of the circumstances and the absence of a congregation...?

Gardner's 'Gallery Carol' actually caught me by surprise in the end - shades of Count Basie! The McDowell was OK - perhaps a little self-consciously itchy for my taste, however well-crafted.

It does feel like the season has begun. Blessed Advent, all!

SBz

You didn't quite get to the "deeply wailing" stage then!

[Simon Biazeck]

You didn't quite get to the "deeply wailing" stage then!

No, I got that out a few days ago - there's obviously some left over!

SBz.

[Keraulophone]

"deeply wailing"

...aka Deep Sea Whaling

Will listen to SJC tomorrow as I’m rather Advented-out after two webcasts today from the cathedral (see the Truro Cathedral website for YT links).

Looking forward to hearing John Gardner’s Gallery Carol. He wrote the popular ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’, but his other 248 opus numbers, including many jazz-imbued compositions, don’t get much of an outing.

[ardcarp]

The Gardner (which I didn't know) is in the same up-front exuberant manner as 'Tomorrow....'. Possibly a tad less jazzy, but a straightforward cheering-up piece.
Loved the whole service...and yes, plenty of organ,enough for a full chapel even if it was half-empty.

[Miles Coverdale]

Slightly oblique to the title of the thread, but having French TV (proper French TV, not the international channels) here in England I can tell you that all the news broadcasts yesterday made much of - and sometimes led on - the protests from Catholic Churches on the national edict of a max of 30 worshippers, regardless of the size of the building. Versailles I think ignored it and (I think it was there) had five separate masses, each with 150 in the congregation. Another priest was interviewed, and declared that he wasn't there to count people in and out of the building. Many of the big churches and cathedrals flouted the numbers limit.

Such a fuss has been made in fact that the Church there has managed to get an order which requires the govt to "revoir sa copie", in other words take another look at the legislation.

The religious demanding special treatment? Surely not.

[Ein Heldenleben]

In my case I was furloughed from March to October, thus saving the parish money - and the powers that be then decided money in the coffers was worth more than a DOM.

I have every sympathy - that phenomenon is happening in all sorts of industries other than music believe me. People with Skills that have taken years to be developed have been tossed aside .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Please keep further comments here on topic. I've moved the diversionary posts to a new thread.

[Magister Chori]

I quite enjoyed the service and - being especially interested in contemporary music - particularly admire Andrew Netsingha who massively includes new works in the music list every year. But I would also have liked the opportunity to hear some of the simpler carols that were common in the George Guest era and Guest's own beautifully crafted advent carols arrangements which sadly, since his times, I have never heard anymore from SJJC.

Furthermore, I thing that the absence of a congregation should be regarded by a DoM as an opportunity for a more adventurous and imaginative hymn singing rather than having the usual harmonies for every verse. David Hill's and moreover Christopher Robinson's descants are truly fabolous, but I think that some extended arrangements (for instance: "O come o come Emmanuel" by Carter or Willcocks or Rutter, "On Jordan banks the Baptist cry" by Archer and so on) might have worked better this year.

[jonfan]

While not denying the superb singing and programme of music we heard on Sunday, I too miss the simpler carols GG inserted mainly from the OBC of 1928. There’s a fascinating recent discussion somewhere on YouTube between Andrew Nethsingha and present and former organ students discussing this topic and the Welsh carols GG included with much time spent on learning the language. I got the impression there’s no going back to simpler fare.

[DracoM]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pxnz

R4: particularly relevant perhaps?

[Magister Chori]

While not denying the superb singing and programme of music we heard on Sunday, I too miss the simpler carols GG inserted mainly from the OBC of 1928. There’s a fascinating recent discussion somewhere on YouTube between Andrew Nethsingha and present and former organ students discussing this topic and the Welsh carols GG included with much time spent on learning the language. I got the impression there’s no going back to simpler fare.

Here is the discussion you're talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5u8ONndMQ

Quite interesting also the fact - quoted in the same discussion by Nethsingha - that some of this simple OBC carol were extemporarily arranged by the organ scholars with improvised interludes and varied harmonies.

[Andrew Butler]

Sorry this is off topic - I am trying to find how to unsubscribe from the forum but can't see anything in "settings" Can anyone advise please? TIA

[Vox Humana]

Sorry this is off topic - I am trying to find how to unsubscribe from the forum but can't see anything in "settings" Can anyone advise please? TIA

So far as I can see, only moderators can delete your forum membership. Have you tried messaging one directly? Alternatively, if you go to either 'forum actions' or 'settings' and then 'general settings' you can turn off every type of email notification. That ought to have the same effect.