CE St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh Wed, 31st Aug 2011

[DracoM]

CE St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh
The Charles Wood Summer School


Order of Service:


Introit: Oculi omnium (Wood)
Responses: Rose
Psalms: 70, 71 (Pepin, Parrat)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 9: 24- 10:13
Canticles: Gloucester Service (Howells)
Second Lesson: Mark 15: 1-11
Anthem: Salve Regina (Howells)
Armenian Hymn (Theo Saunders)
Hymn: How shall I sing that majesty (Coe Fen)



Organ Voluntary: Fantasia and Fugue in G (Parry)




Daniel Hyde (Organist)
David Hill (Director of Music)





NB: this is a recording of a live service.

[DracoM]

Briefest reminder.

[DracoM]

Liked the forthrightness of the singing, sopranos naturally very powerful in delightfully well-chosen repertoire, though increasingly my ear was caught by some good alto singing too. Both the Gloucester Service and the Salve Regina are early Howells, the latter c 1915, and it had a kind of airiness that was well conveyed after a very slightly anxious start.

I very much liked David Hill's tempi in the canticles, good vigorous forward movement, and bold tone from a choir that responded energetically to direction.. Where I did have a problem was in the Armenian Hymn by Theo Saunders. It just felt to me that we maybe needed a bit less sop and much more alto /bass to give it weight, but still a piece worth re-hearing.

Thanks to Daniel Hyde for the Parry as well.

[Simon]

The Wood summer school didn't disappoint as regards effort, enthusiasm and achievement and as usual I for one enjoyed most of the service. The psalms were especially clearly sung, IMO.

The major fault, this time, was in the choice of canticles. Howells Gloucester is about as inappropriate as you can get for a mixed choir, and though they made an excellent job of it at one level, any large choir with warbling sopranos having a go at this is going to sound wrong. And it surely did.

[DracoM]

I'm sure they will be delighted by your attention, simon.

[weston752]

The Gloucester Service 'early'? Howells was certainly in his early fifites when he wrote it....

[Simon Biazeck]

The Gloucester Service 'early'? Howells was certainly in his early fifites when he wrote it....

Yes, indeed, written in 1946 - Collegium Regale Evening Service was written the year before. It is certainly a work of his maturity.

[decantor]

Yes, indeed, written in 1946 - Collegium Regale Evening Service was written the year before. It is certainly a work of his maturity.

But, IMO, the date of composition does not undermine Simon's point, with which I happen to agree. CE last gave us the Gloucester service last February - sung by the Gloucester choir; a year or two before that, it was delivered by the Winchester choir. None of this would prevent the CWSS from matching those earlier offerings, but I fear they didn't: the soar to a top A, for example, at "As it was in the...." should appear as a blinding light, a breath-taking moment, but somehow it missed. There were other similar moments that lacked the required urgency.

That said, I thought the choir did pretty well - they are presumably a group assembled only four days before this recording was made, and they'd formed a decent ensemble in that time; the psalms had dignity and clarity, and both Wood introit and Howells anthem worked for me. Strangely enough, I thought the choir was at its best in the Armenian Hymn - they captured well the dense, gravelly feel of much Eastern Orthodox liturgical music.

I was amused that we were invited to pray for 'musicians' and 'singers' separately!

[DracoM]

Sorry - I meant the Salve Regina, of course, not the Gloucs Service. My apologies.

[Simon]

I'm sure they will be delighted by your attention, simon.

I'm sure they will be, too, Draco. After all, my comments about the choir and my enjoyment of the service were, as almost always, positive. As well as accurate. It's not their fault if a part of the repertoire didn't suit them.

PS I'm sure everyone is delighted with your return to the "review" style of commentary that you seem to have started up again. Errors included.

[Simon]

Both the Gloucester Service and the Salve Regina are early Howells...

Sorry - I meant the Salve Regina, of course, not the Gloucs Service. My apologies.

?

Check facts before putting fingers to keyboard in future, eh!

[Simon Biazeck]

But, IMO, the date of composition does not undermine Simon's point, with which I happen to agree.

Not intending to undermine my name sake's point - merely commenting on the minor error in Draco's post and adding to Weston's.

[Simon]

Now it's getting confusing. In future, would anyone referring to the several Simons on this forum please make it clear which one of us they have in mind.

Ithankyou.

[Keraulophone]

End of the Nunc ruined by the dreaded 'John's Button'. Why do otherwise sensible musicians go in for this gross distortion (a sfp< on the word GLO-ry) of the composer's intentions? Christopher Robinson is the usual culprit, but his Johnian successor follows his lead here. So unmusical and totally unnecessary. I just can't take any performance seriously that indulges in such a vocal gimmick. Rant over... till we suffer the next button.