A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols [L] 25.xii.2020

[jonfan]

Agree with the above but oddly I missed the coughing and rustling of a congregation sharing the service with me. I liked the tweaks to the Bidding prayer and the extra choir pieces between the two final hymns. It will be good to have further tweaks in future years to keep things fresh, now it’s been done once. IMHO there’s only a ‘big 2’ for descants.

[DracoM]

Don't agree: the engineers made absolutely clear the CHOIR shuffling paper, rising, sitting - to keep that freshness in our ear.

PS: Reminder: R3 tomorrow - Christmas Day - will have BOTH vols.

[Petrushka]

Don't agree: the engineers made absolutely clear the CHOIR shuffling paper, rising, sitting - to keep that freshness in our ear.

PS: Reminder: R3 tomorrow - Christmas Day - will have BOTH vols.

They did, but I definitely missed the congregational presence much more here than I did in the Advent Service from St John's. I also wondered if the lessons were read 'on site' because they had a slightly 'dead' quality about them both acoustically and in terms of the actual reading.

[Roger Judd]

Agree with all the above ... an astonishing service given the extreme difficulty of presenting it this year. May I just give a shout-out for Christopher Robinson's descant for v.6 of Adeste, fideles (missed by Alpie above) - so good to hear that again ... reminded me of Windsor days! I would have preferred the Willcocks last verse for that hymn, but you can't always have everything! Happy Christmas everyone.
RJ

[Wolsey]

May I just give a shout-out for Christopher Robinson's descant for v.6 of Adeste, fideles (missed by Alpie above) - so good to hear that again ... reminded me of Windsor days!

Absolutely, Roger. I championed it on this forum in December 2017 and 2018, and use it myself. Incidentally, the Festival was recorded during rehearsals earlier in December by King's record label manager and sound engineer, Ben Sheen.

[ARBurton]

Agree with the above but oddly I missed the coughing and rustling of a congregation sharing the service with me. I liked the tweaks to the Bidding prayer and the extra choir pieces between the two final hymns. It will be good to have further tweaks in future years to keep things fresh, now it’s been done once. IMHO there’s only a ‘big 2’ for descants.

I thought the sound was excellent but missed the contributions (musical and rustling) from the congregation together with the mass of sound. Here`s hoping things are better next year...

[Nick Armstrong]

I also wondered if the lessons were read 'on site' because they had a slightly 'dead' quality about them both acoustically and in terms of the actual reading.

Spot on, yes: I’m half-way through and sensed something about the readings. I think you may have put your finger on it.

Gorgeous singing and engineering of the music. Speaking in total ignorance of the tempo indications in the scores, I felt that a couple of carols could have benefitted from a slightly more sprightly pace/pulse (Adam lay ybounden, for instance, and the Luto Holly & the Ivy)...

[mw963]

So judging by the foregoing none of you were aware of the fairly severe network processing that Radio 4 inflicted on the service.....? Constant and very obvious audio compression and limiting on the louder parts? As though the singing was constantly bumping its head against a level constraint?

I only heard the last half hour and will listen to the repeat tomorrow, where there should of course be no processing (apart from on FM) as it's on Radio 3, so we should get a better idea of what it really sounded like, particularly in order to compare this year's sound, recorded as it was by non-BBC staff.

That criticism of the BBC-inflicted compression apart, what I heard was uplifting, professional, and as good as it gets in the circumstances.

[jonfan]

So judging by the foregoing none of you were aware of the fairly severe network processing that Radio 4 inflicted on the service.....? Constant and very obvious audio compression and limiting on the louder parts? As though the singing was constantly bumping its head against a level constraint?

I only heard the last half hour and will listen to the repeat tomorrow, where there should of course be no processing (apart from on FM) as it's on Radio 3, so we should get a better idea of what it really sounded like, particularly in order to compare this year's sound, recorded as it was by non-BBC staff.
.

I was very happy with the sound and didn't detect any compression listening on headphones to BBC Sounds. I'll compare it with Radio 3 tomorrow. Who are the non-BBC staff you refer too?

[DracoM]

Yes, jonfan....good last Q.
I listened via headphones too and thought it a fine broadcast - did not detect compression at all. Hmm?

[Magister Chori]

A truly remarkable sound: kudos to Daniel Hyde and all the team!

But let me share some sparse thought about some details (no complaint intended!):

- "Adam lay ybounden" is marked Allegretto (108 the crotchet): I think that it really benefits from a slower performance, but today's tempo was exceedingly slow and unbearable. Also the leading tenor part in "and all was for an apple" was choked by the upper voices

- I am also amongst the ones who felt the absence of the congregation in the hymn singing, but more deeply felt the absence of the choral harmonies (and of the organ Tuba...) in Willcocks' last verse of "Of the Father’s heart begotten".

- being used to the Pearsall's original "In Dulci jubilo" this rearranged version with reduced parts sounded quite thin: other simpler 4-parts arrangements of this melody (from Bach and Buxtehude to Ledger, Chilcott and Moore...) are available: they would have surely worked better

- the organ interlude between "Still, still, still" and "Hark! The herald" was quite meaningless, and in general I found the organ playing quite resigned and without grit...

[cat]

Who are the non-BBC staff you refer too?

It was recorded entirely in-house by Ben Sheen their record label manager who produces all their albums. It was done just in case the BBC couldn’t turn up with their big van for the live broadcast, which of course they didn’t.

Unlike similar choirs e.g. New College and Westminster Abbey who tend to record albums away from home in chapels and churches with friendlier acoustics, and with third-party producers, King’s do all theirs in situ. They therefore have a pretty good handle on how to do things themselves.

[cat]

So judging by the foregoing none of you were aware of the fairly severe network processing that Radio 4 inflicted on the service.....? Constant and very obvious audio compression and limiting on the louder parts? As though the singing was constantly bumping its head against a level constraint?

How were you listening? I listened on BBC Sounds on a PC, and didn’t detect that. I have heard it before though on other programs and know exactly what you mean, it’s highly infuriating.

I also wondered if the lessons were read 'on site' because they had a slightly 'dead' quality about them both acoustically and in terms of the actual reading.

The lessons were definitely read in the chapel.

[cat]

Just listening back to the Sussex Carol and comparing it to past years - I noticed DH uses the version that omits the "so" from "Then why should men on earth be so sad", which is perhaps in keeping with the much reduced tempo. In Carols from King's last year he took 2:24 compared to SC's 1:42! However perhaps he decided that was a little too slow, because in this 9LC it's done in 2:05.

[mw963]

Thanks cat for confirming what quite a few here seemed to have missed.