Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge [R] Wed, 13th Oct @ 4 p.m.

[DracoM]

Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge [R] Wed, 13th Oct @ 4 p.m.
(Recorded 22 June 2021)

Order of Service:


Introit: O Lord, increase my faith (Loosemore)
Responses: Radcliffe
Psalms 69, 70 (Battishill, Goss, Talbot)
First Lesson: Isaiah 51: 1-6
Canticles: Second Service (Byrd)
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 1: 1-11
Anthem: See, see the word is incarnate (Gibbons)
Hymn: Lord, teach us how to pray aright (St Hugh)

Voluntary: Fantasia in C, BK25 (Byrd)

Paul Greally (Organ Scholar)
Daniel Hyde (Director of Music)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010gq2

[ardcarp]

Look forward to it (even if not live). I'm always slightly amused by the text of See, See the Word is Incarnate. It sweeps through Christ's incarnation, his life through to death and resurrection in very few lines. A sort of precis pf the New Testament!

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 4 p.m.

[cat]

The chapel sounds so very empty.

[ardcarp]

Choir obviously in good hands and a great treble sound. Whilst I enjoyed this CE, I was slightly surprised by the loudness of the chamber organ. With just an 8' flute, it seemed a tad too loud for the soloists in the canticles and especially in See, See the Word. Kings is not an easy place to record in, and I guess in this case the engineers thought they needed to mike the chamber organ (which they probably thought of as tiny) too closely. That's how it came over to me, and I was listening on my best stuff with headphones. It seemed just right to balance the full choir.

[backrow_gremlin]

Again, what an utterly Stonking ‘cast. Clearly Informator Choristarum DH knows what it’s all about…

[Magister Chori]

Another impeccable broadcast, only can't understand why choose the Radcliffe responses within a program wholly made of early music since there's no shortage of Reinassance P&R.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Choir obviously in good hands and a great treble sound. Whilst I enjoyed this CE, I was slightly surprised by the loudness of the chamber organ. With just an 8' flute, it seemed a tad too loud for the soloists in the canticles and especially in See, See the Word. Kings is not an easy place to record in, and I guess in this case the engineers thought they needed to mike the chamber organ (which they probably thought of as tiny) too closely. That's how it came over to me, and I was listening on my best stuff with headphones. It seemed just right to balance the full choir.

A very interesting observation. I thought the organ very closely miked as well and I was listening on loud speakers .

[ardcarp]

Another impeccable broadcast, only can't understand why choose the Radcliffe responses within a program wholly made of early music since there's no shortage of Reinassance P&R.

I know what you mean, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of 'mix and match' in CE.

Psalm chants, of curse, weren't invented in Tudor times so we have to use those. Changing the subject slightly, I know Dan Hyde likes unaccompanied psalms (based on his time a St Thomas NY), but my preference is for a bit of (preferably subtle) organ. Does he ever use it at King's services now?

[NHTL]

I know what you mean, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of 'mix and match' in CE.

Psalm chants, of curse, weren't invented in Tudor times so we have to use those. Changing the subject slightly, I know Dan Hyde likes unaccompanied psalms (based on his time a St Thomas NY), but my preference is for a bit of (preferably subtle) organ. Does he ever use it at King's services now?

I agree, I do miss the organ accompaniment to the psalms. Good organ accompaniment to the psalms is an art in itself.

[jonfan]

An accompaniment is there to support the singers and the listener should hardly be aware of it. However the organ can come out of the shadows to point up some facet of the text. However unaccompanied singing done well can’t be beaten as everything seems to hang there, suspended in time and space, with the text centre stage.

[ardcarp]

Good organ accompaniment to the psalms is an art in itself.

Indeed, but one must avoid the perils of 'overdoing it' with a well-endowed organ, e.g. colouring 'water pipes', ' hoar frost like ashes', 'skipped like rams', etc. I also remember being present at a CE at Wabbey where the psalms were overwhelmed entirely by sheer volume. Not usual, I'm sure.

There's definitely a place for some unacc. verses, and unison+organ verses. It all adds to pleasing variety.

[LTFC1990]

I have to say - both this broadcast and the previous offering from King's are among the best Choral Evensongs I have ever heard. The psalms in particular were wonderful - I loved them being unaccompanied. Boys and Men all sounding on great form.

[Vox Humana]

I agree, I do miss the organ accompaniment to the psalms. Good organ accompaniment to the psalms is an art in itself.

An accompaniment is there to support the singers and the listener should hardly be aware of it. However the organ can come out of the shadows to point up some facet of the text.

I concur with both these comments. There's nothing worse than an organist who regards the psalms as an organ concerto with choir accompaniment. But a discreet background organ, illuminating the choir and providing variety with subtle colours, textures and descants is a wonderful thing—so long as it never usurps attention from the choir. And, while I'm on that hobby horse, choirmasters could do a lot more to ensure that diction is crisp and the words clearly audible. That was something at which the late Michael Howard excelled, but I've hardly ever heard anything since to match it.

Merton also habitually do their psalms unaccompanied. Doing psalms unaccompanied certainly removes any tendency for the organist to over-indulge, as it also removes any time-lag problems. It also removes a potential distraction from the words. So I can understand why DoMs might do it. However, I do wonder how on earth the organ scholars in such places can hope to obtain the experience in psalm accompaniment they will surely need if they want to pursue a cathedral career. Are they expected to obtain a further scholarship in a cathedral? Or maybe all organ scholars nowadays are former cathedral choristers who already have some acquaintance with the psalms? Goodness knows. What I do know is that it takes years of experience to learn the psalms properly and IMO you can't start soon enough. The current scene seems a far cry from my youth. My experience as a choirboy and teenage organist taught me very little about psalms, so, as an organ scholar, I had to (try to) learn the skill on the job. You really need to know the texts and the pointing by heart—which I didn't—so I found it very difficult, yet the learning experience was invaluable and paid dividends later. It also enabled me properly to appreciate the skill of my then Lord and Master, who habitually tossed off the psalms of the day with an insouciant virtuosity that, half a century later, I still find unfathomable.

[ardcarp]

Or maybe all organ scholars nowadays are former cathedral choristers who already have some acquaintance with the psalms?

It helps surely.

You really need to know the texts and the pointing by heart

Knowing the chants by heart is probably the easiest.