CE: The Queen's Free Chapel of St George, Windsor Castle [R] i.vi.22

[DracoM]

CE: The Queen's Free Chapel of St George, Windsor Castle [R]
To mark the platinum jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen
Recorded 24 May 2022


Order of Service:


Introit: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth (Byrd)
Responses: Radcliffe
Psalm 46 (from Luther)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 3: 3-15
Canticles: Stanford in A
Second Lesson: John 13: 3-14
Anthem: God is our hope and strength (Greene)

Voluntary: Orb and Sceptre (Walton)

Luke Bond (Assistant Director of Music)
James Vivian (Director of Music)

[Guest]

Hmm. One would have thought a live broadcast was warranted on the occasion......?

[DracoM]

School holidays?

[ardcarp]

Yes, clearly the case. I guess it must have been a decision whether to let choristers have a special half-term holiday, or whether their duties in a Royal Chapel took precedence for this special occasion.

Sorry Draco...I must have accidentally pressed edit on your post. I didn't change anything. Sincere apologies. I'm a liability to computers!

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 4 p.m.

[omega consort]

Cracking performance of the Walton at the end! Loved the canticles - supurb singing. Cared less for the anthem though!

[ardcarp]

Yes singing wonderful, especially the top line which soared. I call it the ascending crescendo which gives such a great shape to melodic lines. Luke Bond certainly gave the Walton some welly. I always feel that in Orb and Sceptre, as in Crown Imperial, Walton had his tongue slightly in cheek, doing a sort of Elgar plus. Sorry you didn't like the Greene OC. The Croft/Greene/Boyce stuff is very out of fashion these days, but I'm glad they did it. Their anthems were mainly verse anthems which were written to showcase the excellent solo voices in the Chapels Royal. They wrote dozens of them. Often the choral parts are short and simple...though a bit more extended in this one.

Well done St George's.

[jonfan]

The Greene was splendidly done with superb solos and beautifully balanced by the engineering.
The whole service showed great care in the details with tender moments contrasted with exciting rhythmic energy. A worthy celebration from Her Majesty's own chapel. Orb and Sceptre thrillingly executed, with a tune to die for.
Those of a certain age will remember Walton appearing on BBC TV's 'Face the Music' and the panalists thinking Crown Imperial was by Elgar-he didn't look best pleased.

[DracoM]

Clarity of pronunciation, clear tone, nicely managed, unfussy.

[haldeman]

A really excellent CE. I applaud the choice of anthem; it’s a shame that the works of Greene (and especially Boyce) have fallen so completely out of cathedrals’ rep. They may not be to everyone’s taste but they definitely deserve an airing and this is the perfect choir to showcase them.

[Peanut]

This morning's Radio 4 'Sunday Worship', recorded at the same time as this evensong.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00180xm

[DracoM]

CE rpt this afternoon at 3 p.m.

[Keraulophone]

Cracking performance of the Walton at the end!

Regal and virtuosic in turn.

[Finzi4ever]

I couldn't agree more, h. I have a particular fondness for the Boyce verse anthems, perhaps having recorded them way back when as a callow youth: O where shall wisdom be found? By the Waters of Babylon, I have surely built Thee an house, Turn Thee unto me O Lord etc. Greene's Lord let me know mine end is only rivalled in pathos by the last of Parry's Songs of Farewell.

[Keraulophone]

O where shall wisdom be found? By the Waters of Babylon, I have surely built Thee an house, Turn Thee unto me O Lord etc. Greene's Lord let me know mine end is only rivalled in pathos by the last of Parry's Songs of Farewell.

The Greene you mention is the only one remaining in the Cornish cathedral’s repertoire. The others were still there in the early 1990s, and I wish that some were reinstated. On the other hand there isn’t room for everything, and since then many contemporary works have been added.
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