CE Hereford Cathedral [L] Wed, 27th July 2022

[DracoM]

CE Hereford Cathedral [L] Wed, 27th July 2022
The Three Choirs Festival

Order of Service:

Introit: Eternal Light, shine into our hearts (Lloyd)
Responses: Radcliffe
Psalms 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131 (Cutler, Cooke, Goss, Garrett, Felton, Rogers)
First Lesson: Esther 6: 1-13
Canticles: Evening Service in D (Dyson)
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 8: 1-15
Anthem: Praise (Dobrinka Tabakova)
Hymn: Open are the gifts of God (Buckland)

Voluntary: Fantasy on ‘Sine Nomine’, Op 60 No 5 (Jackson)

The Choirs of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals

Peter Dyke (Organist)
Geraint Bowen (Conductor)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0019c6d

[Guest]

Oh for crying out loud! W H Vanstone's opening verse that should precede "Open are the gifts of God" is BEAUTIFUL! Snowflakes 1 Sensible People 0 :(

[Keraulophone]

Oh for crying out loud! W H Vanstone's opening verse that should precede "Open are the gifts of God" is BEAUTIFUL! Snowflakes 1 Sensible People 0 :(

Viz:


(W H Vanstone,1923-1999)


1. Morning glory, starlit sky,

soaring music, scholar’s truth,

flight of swallows, autumn leaves,

memory’s treasure, grace of youth:

.

2. Open are the gifts of God,

gifts of love to mind and sense;

hidden is love’s agony,

love’s endeavor, love’s expense.

.

3. Love that gives, gives ever more,

gives with zeal, with eager hands,

spares not, keeps not, all outpours,

ventures all its all expends.

.

4. Drained is love in making full,

bound in setting others free,

poor in making many rich,

weak in giving power to be.

.

5. Therefore he who shows us God

helpless hangs upon the tree;

and the nails and crown of thorns

tell of what God’s love must be.

.

6. Here is God: no monarch he,

throned in easy state to reign;

here is God, whose arms of love

aching, spent, the world sustain.

[Finzi4ever]

Oh for crying out loud! W H Vanstone's opening verse that should precede "Open are the gifts of God" is BEAUTIFUL! Snowflakes 1 Sensible People 0 :(

Being dumb here: is it the innuendo of the opening words that's led the first verse to be redacted?

[Guest]

I suspect so

[haldeman]

The hymn was shortened because of time.

[Finzi4ever]

Was anyone there this year and has some comments to make?

[DracoM]

HUGE apologies for not issuing my usual reminder for this CE. Had a major Google / Facebook / Email hassle. Still - alas! - unresolved

[ardcarp]

Was anyone there this year and has some comments to make?

I wasn't there, but am surprised no-one has chosen to comment, especially on a live broadcast, It was great to hear the combined forces of G,W and H being so well directed and so sensitively accompanied. It would be good to know where the massed choirs were situated for this Evensong. Having three different (albeit very good) choirs joining together to sing Psalms could cause difficulties. But not here. Geraint Bowen had got them at his fingertips...and they didn't hang about!
The Dyson canticles (presumably well known to all) were excellent, and Dobrinka's anthem 'Praise' was too. If I had to pick flies, there were times when the top line, in the otherwise well presented Psalms, wasn't always smack-on the centre of the notes, especially during a falling phrase. This very minor thing could be heard when a bit of organ was heard between verses.

It's great that the 3 Choirs tradition is continuing over the centuries. I just wish I were able to attend the Dream tonight with the Festival Chorus, The Philharmonia and three excellent soloists.

PS A shame the Festival website doesn't list all the musical events on a simple chronologically ordered page..

[DracoM]

Psalms caught my ear - v.surprised by that.

[haldeman]

The choirs were in the normal position in the quire using four rows.