Choral Evensong Ensemble Pro Victoria 20/10/2021 [L]

[ardcarp]

Having just re-listened to this week's CE, paying slightly more attention, I quite enjoyed the plainsong and the fauxbourdons even if (apologies to the experts) they were inappropriately used. I found the Fayrfax, especially the Regale Mag, somewhat disappointing...and I don't want to say why because it might refer to individuals. Let's just say the tuning was a bit off sometimes. For anyone not knowing that magical period (which I always think of as a bridge between Medieval times and the early Renaissance) might care to listen to other recordings of that ilk.

I wonder if anyone knows the O Bone Jesu Magnificat by Fayrfax? I sang it first very soon after Paul Doe had edited it:

https://stainer.co.uk/shop/ec4/

It's a great piece and I can recommend it. This is what Fayrfax ought to sound like IMVHO, though no-one can know of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2q4DkKyQns (ficta a bit different..and the occasional notated note)

[Keraulophone]

The ‘h’ as in hodie is not pronounced, for example, so in the spoken language is comes out as ‘odie Christus natus est’, whereas if I’m not mistaken 'h' would be pronounced in a choral setting.

Normally we don’t pronounce the ‘h’ in the cathedral choir when singing in Latin. For example, Weelkes’s great setting of Hosanna to the Son of David begins with an emphatic ‘Ho’ in English, but concludes with ‘Hosanna in Excelsis Deo’ which is sung ‘osanna’.