CE St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh 17th August 2011

[DracoM]

CE St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh



Order of Service:


Introit: The glory of the Lord (Gabriel Jackson)
Responses: Francis Grier
Office Hymn: Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom (Alberta)
Psalm: 89 (Walmisley, Howells, Surplice)
First Lesson: Isaiah 55: 8-13
Canticles: The Second Service (Leighton)
Second Lesson: 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
Anthem: Haec deum celi (Tarik O'Regan)
Hymn: Sing ye faithful, sing with gladness (Lingwood)



Organ Voluntary: 'Ite, missa est' from Missa de Gloria (Leighton)



Nicholas Wearne (Assistant Organist)
Duncan Ferguson (Organist and Master of the Music)





[Apologies for such early posting, but I will almost certainly be away early next week for usual posting time ]

[decantor]

I hate to barge to the head of the queue to comment on this service, but I have to say that I enjoyed it. It was a bold, modern music list to mark the Festival, and the choir negotiated it very successfully. It was good to hear once again Gabriel Jackson's choral fanfare as an introit, where it set a bright tone from the start. Both Grier Responses and the O'Regan anthem were previously unknown to me, and I am grateful for the introduction - the latter especially was both beautiful and arresting - while the cherished Leighton canticles sat well in the context. If I were pressed to find a relative weakness, I would say that the psalmody was just a bit anodyne in its presentation, but I repeat that I did enjoy the whole service.

Presumably the choir has to reconvene to offer services during the Festival. I thank them all for that, as a real CE in mid-August is a great delight.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I thank them all for that, as a real CE in mid-August is a great delight.

I enjoyed it too, all the more for it being, as you put it "real".

[DracoM]

Loved the Jackson introit - for me much the most arresting thing in the service. And a big, bold, confident choir too, mix of boys and girls worked really well particularly in the Leighton where some good chest voices were needed. Tarik O'Regan I can take or leave on most occasions, but this choir made me listen and take notice. Real credit to all involved. .

[muticus]

And what joy to hear the Grier responses - not done anywhere near enough anywhere but The House.

[Magnificat]

[QUOTE=decantor;75782] I would say that the psalmody was just a bit anodyne in its presentation, but I repeat that I did enjoy the whole service.

The psalm singing was dreadful. The shrieky girls didn't help much either. I turned it off.

VCC.

[AscribeUntoTheLad]

The psalm singing was dreadful.

VCC.

What didn't you like about the psalm singing? No worse than the majority we've heard this year. Ensemble was good, did the right things in the right places...what more do you want?

[Magnificat]

They just bashed out the notes. There was no nuanced singing or word painting for example.

Psalm singing really does show how good a choir is.

VCC

[DracoM]

The psalm singing was different, and that is not saying the same thing as 'dreadful'. It had a forthrightness and well-disciplined that I found engagingly other than that we usually hear from English cathedrals and as such interesting. There was no shrieking at all - woops, letting your prejudices show a bit, VCC?

[gainasbass]

Didn't have chance to hear this service in its entirety. Will have to LA. However, with regard to psalm singing, I was brought up to appreciate that you could judge a choir's overall standard by the quality of its psalmody (eg Peterborough/Stanley Vann)!

[Simon]

Managed to LA and I too enjoyed this very much, with the exception of the introit, which I thought most unappealing - and I usually enjoy GJ's works. I'll hope to hear this service again, time permitting.

I don't agree that the psalms were dreadful: I thought that they could perhaps have done with a better and more varied choice of chant, but the diction was largely good and the pace was spot on. Perhaps some imbalance at certain places and the odd strain, but still very much on the good side of average, in my opinion.

I too think that the quality of psalmody is very reflective of the general quality of a choir and it has been good to hear the overall improvement in standards over the past six years, from almost everywhere.

Congratulations and many thanks to all involved - clergy too! Special thanks (from us two here at least) to Mr Wearne for such a virtuoso performance of (IOO) one of Leighton's most invigorating organ works.