CE: Ely Cathedral Wed 6.i.21 [R]

[DracoM]

CE: Ely Cathedral Wed 6.i.21 [R]
The Feast of the Epiphany


Order of Service:


Introit: Bethlehem Down (Warlock)
Responses: Clucas
Psalms 98, 100 (Robinson, Stanford)
First Lesson: Baruch 4 v.36 – 5 v. 9
Office hymn: Why, impious Herod, shouldst thou fear? (Veni redemptor)
Canticles: Sumsion in G
Second Lesson: John 2 vv.1-11
Anthem: Christus (When Jesus our Lord) (Mendelssohn)
Hymn: From the Eastern Mountains (King’s Weston)

Voluntary: Sonata No. 6 (Allegro risoluto) (Merkel)

Glen Dempsey (Assistant Director of Music)
Edmund Aldhouse (Director of Music)


Recorded 10 November 2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qyyv

[Quilisma]

Thanks for posting this, Draco. We are looking forward to hearing this; it seems like a very long time ago when we recorded it (entirely "as live", of course), as an awful lot has happened since then. As this was less than a week into the second lockdown in November we had feared that it would be cancelled, along with all our singing duties until a few days after Advent Sunday, but it was latterly clarified that, as it is our job, we were in fact permitted to continue, strictly behind closed doors, so long as all our services were being broadcast or streamed. The crib with the Magi figurines made a special appearance for this occasion, to remind us that we were observing Epiphany, which was a rather odd juxtaposition with the Remembrance poppies and petals around the altar platform in the Octagon; our (live) Armistice Day broadcast with the girls took place the following day.

As it happens, it was very prescient of the BBC to "bag" an Epiphany broadcast in advance while they had the chance, because as of Boxing Day we are in Tier 4 and things are a lot more complicated again. In the event we had a very different but very full Advent and Christmas schedule, and both sets of choristers have been quite extraordinarily dedicated and professional, especially considering the circumstances. Unfortunately the YouTube livestreams of the two Carol Services, Midnight Mass and Christmas Day Sung Eucharist seem to have been removed from view already, but as far as I know we intend to carry on streaming at least some of our services going forward, although of course it remains to be seen when we will be able to resume with the full choir. Thus far, the fact that both the boys and the girls (separately) have been in their own respective residential bubbles has been extremely helpful in enabling them to function with some degree of normality within their own respective units, but of course very stringent safety and hygiene measures are being observed at all times, and everybody else remains rigorously distanced from each other and from the choristers, and one set of choristers from the other.

Despite this, we have been pleasantly surprised by the extent to which the unfamiliar working conditions have not intruded too much into the focus on making music. It took a while to adjust to doing ALL our services in the Octagon, and, in the back row, to not always being able to hear everyone else as clearly as one might like because of being much more widely spaced out, but in fact it has highlighted just how lucky we are to have such a space available. The Quire has its own challenges too, of course! I actually think the "everything in the Octagon with wide spacing" experience has been doing us a lot of good, although of course this broadcast was recorded back in November...

As a taster, here is a recording of the Introit, filmed in mid-October. Lovely though the familiar SATB version is, this original "solo song" version is rather more harmonically advanced and sumptuous, and the langorous tempo makes the most of this! https://youtu.be/a1WaYhWNJ5A

If one were being pedantic one might remark that, having "done" an Epiphany Evensong already on 10th November, we can't really do another on the day itself. As it happens we marked Epiphany yesterday, three days early, and being out of termtime we are now in solo cantor season. As it happens, two of our choristers ("one of each") volunteered to do it, sharing the cantoring duties between them, which I think is a first for us. Plainsong is in their soul, and they are both very well used to cantoring, so I wasn't surprised that they did it well, but they have never had to do it without their respective teams there as well. Perhaps this is one relatively positive thing to come out of lockdown: getting accustomed to singing on your own and not relying on others. Anyway, it was a very different Epiphany Evensong from the one which we pre-recorded for broadcast on Wednesday, but I think people might appreciate it nevertheless! https://youtu.be/-zVFGh44UQ4

[ardcarp]

Thanks for all that Q. Always good to get 'an inside story'. I trust the choristers were kept in ignorance about how Bethlehem Down came to be written...both words and music! Looking forward to CE on Weds, but it'll be on catch-up for us as we're away for the day....possible future lockdowns permitted.

[jonfan]

I saw and heard the two choristers cantoring yesterday and very impressive it was. It was delicate but at the same time strong and defiant in a strange way, filling the huge space with solo lines of chant. Such professionalism, Ely can be very proud.

[DracoM]

[Quilisma]

I saw and heard the two choristers cantoring yesterday and very impressive it was. It was delicate but at the same time strong and defiant in a strange way, filling the huge space with solo lines of chant. Such professionalism, Ely can be very proud.

How very kind of you to say that, jonfan! We are indeed proud of them, not least because this very much "just what they do". (And certainly not just those two either.) Solo-cantoring an entire service on their own is a new venture for our choristers, but plainsong is right at the heart of the chorister experience in Ely, and all of them benefit from being given cantoring opportunities, commensurate with their current level of experience, throughout their time in the choir. The great thing is that somebody who is a reassuringly safe pair of hands as a cantor when they are eight or nine (or eleven or twelve) might well be outstanding when they are eleven or twelve (or fourteen or fifteen), and they are bound to take that somewhat niche enthusiasm and skill forward with them into adulthood. After all, a lot of it is instinctive and can't simply be delegated to an external micromanager!

[DracoM]

Give them a socially distanced pat on the back from me too!!

[Quilisma]

Give them a socially distanced pat on the back from me too!!

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[Quilisma]

In case anyone is interested, at the time the Cathedral posted some photos of our rehearsal for this broadcast, complete with strange juxtaposition of poppies and Adoration of the Magi, here: https://www.facebook.com/ElyCathedra...77515732305780

[DracoM]

Jolly, sung with great vigour and conviction. Many thx.
Light at a pretty dark time!

[cjsb]

Really enjoyed listening to this, especially the original version of Bethlehem Down to which Quilisma referred. I try to get over to Ely from my mid-Suffolk base as frequently as I can - the music there seems especially good this year and it's such a shame that the full choirs cannot sing at present. I must also mention the YouTube streaming of evensong last Sunday; the two cantors were absolutely marvellous! It's still up on YouTube at the moment - if anyone hasn't seen it, it's worth watching before it's taken down!

[jonfan]

Thank you Q for the picture link; this gave a good impression of the vast space involved and was reflected in the beautiful, rich sound the BBC gave the choir.
A rich, emotional and expressive experience, by turns restrained and then big; the boys' sound was unified with many different colours coming forward depending on the text. The high spot for me was the anthem with the spine tingling moment when the chorale enters very magically - it always comes as a surprise. [Mendelssohn's harmony as good as JSB's dare I say!]
A nice rounding off with the chorale in the organ voluntary. As DracoM rightly says, Light in a dark time, and my God we need it. Thank you Ely and best wishes for 2021 to all your choristers.
PS. I thought the original of 'Bethlehem Down' was the SATB version and the solo/organ arrangement was the last thing Warlock wrote before his death. Limpidly, gorgeously slow today as only the solo version allows. What an ear catching piece to put one in the right frame for the service!

[ardcarp]

I really enjoyed today's CE. The boys, I thought, sang with very natural haed-voices and an absence of unwanted mannerisms. Well done to the whole choir. The pointing of the psalms gave the words a realistic flow. Was it The English Psalter or some special Ely pointing? I'd be interested to know.

[cjsb]

PS. I thought the original of 'Bethlehem Down' was the SATB version and the solo/organ arrangement was the last thing Warlock wrote before his death. Limpidly, gorgeously slow today as only the solo version allows. What an ear catching piece to put one in the right frame for the service!

Yes - I've just looked at the list of compositions on Wikipedia and it dates the song version at 1930. Agree with everything you say about it.