It was boys on the top line I think, but being Peterborough, there will almost certainly have been a woman on the back row!!
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Correct on both counts: Boys (just 13 of them!) on the top line, and one of the altos is female.Originally posted by hector View PostComment
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Delighted to hear that it was the boys singing for all the reasons mentioned by decantor above.Originally posted by adrianwall View Post
It would, of course, have avoided all the doubt and paranoia if it was made clear in the programme details which forces were singing.
We listeners cannot see for ourselves and in these days of boys, girls and mixed forces I think it entirely reasonable that this should be done so we know exactly to whom we are listening.
In this broadcast it would also have ensured that the boys were immediately accorded the praise due to them rather than several of us being complimentary but not being absolutely sure whether it was boys or girls we had heard singing.
Draco was misled by the cathedral music list which could also have made things clearer.
I just don't understand this reluctance to show exactly which choir is singing a service. It has never been a problem at St Albans where I worshiped regularly for many years even when the girls' choir started up from scratch and were pretty awful they have always been accredited on the music list. Whoever is singing services at the Abbey it is clearly shown be it boys and men, girls and men, boys on their own, girls on their own, mixed forces ( rarely), men only, visiting choir,the flower ladies, the vergers or the lay Clerk of the Works!!
What is the problem.
VCCComment
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OK, but as said, the Cathedral site list it as a 'girl's day'? Which raises a few points.
According to postings above, it was not only NOT girls, but boys ONLY, and only 13 of them on top line on Wednesday. There is the get-out that on special occasions etc, but the girls apparently have not rehearsed that repertoire so......you tell the 13 'bad luck, lads, it's over to you?...or what...?
Or are we to infer that there were only 13 boys available, BUT as this was a girls' day, then a decision must have been taken some time ago to sub boys for girls on the rota - yet there is nothing on the website to make that clear. Or were there were also girls singing as well to make up the numbers given that only 13 boys were available? Because on the basis of cathedral's own site chorister numbers, no fewer than 7 boys of the 20 on the books were unavailable for a variety of reasons. Hmm.
I have to say that purely on the basis of what we heard on air, I find some of these postings pretty "surprising". I say no more on that topic.
If there really were 'only 13 boys' singing that service in that repertoire, they deserve medals. End of.Last edited by DracoM; 20-10-11, 16:46.Comment
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I attended choral evensong on Monday of this week. I had not heard the boys at Peterborough for decades and wanted to hear them sing. The choral rota told me that boys sing with the men on Mon, Tues, Thur and Friday. That is why I chose Monday. It turned out that the girls were singing and not with the men. This was not a problem and it was interesting to hear the girls. Presumably there had been a swap with Wednesday, when the girls normally sing. I wonder why they changed it. The girls may be less experienced but surely there was plenty of time to get them ready. The service sheet for the week tells us so much; what music will be sung, whether it is upper voices or lay clerks, when the book of common prayer is being used for a communion, the telephone number of the cathedral office, the name of the visiting choir, even the name of the preacher, so why miss out other interesting information? I have heard it said that it should not matter who is singing for it is essentially a worship event. Then surely it should not matter what is being sung either and yet that information is forthcoming and in great detail. I do wish cathedrals would be consistent.Comment
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Do the phrases 'boy treble' and 'ride of a lifetime' really belong in the same sentence? Sentence may be the operative word if they do.
It is a curious irony, it is not, that one of the most vociferous proponents of boys' choirs on here failed to spot one when he heard one.Last edited by Miles Coverdale; 20-10-11, 23:47.My boxes are positively disintegrating under the sheer weight of ticks. Ed ReardonComment
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An utterly disgraceful posting, Mr Coverdale.Comment
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Someone had to ask the question, so I thought it may as well be me.Last edited by Miles Coverdale; 20-10-11, 23:15.My boxes are positively disintegrating under the sheer weight of ticks. Ed ReardonComment
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Nice one, Mr Coverdale. The unutterably tedious and sanctimonious postings on this thread needed to be leavened somehow, and you did it. And got a telling off from the Headmaster too! I feel a quot homines tot sententiousness coming on.Comment
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Oh, and spot on re the cat's blind tasting failure.Comment
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Draco may have had his tongue in his cheek when he wrote that - at least I hope so...Originally posted by underthecountertenor View PostMy boxes are positively disintegrating under the sheer weight of ticks. Ed ReardonComment
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MCOriginally posted by Miles Coverdale View Post
I did say that sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. I am far from being alone in that.
VCCComment
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What a tedious and sanctimonious posting this is. If I was you I would get back under the counter and stay there.Originally posted by underthecountertenor View Post
VCCComment
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Leave it VCC. You are being trolled.Comment
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From Melvyn Bragg's latest newsletter
Hello
I’m standing under lights in the close of Wells Cathedral. The lights could be gaslights – there’s that yellow glow. Frankly, I feel incredibly privileged. The massive West Front of this cathedral, the outbuildings, the houses around the close, the twilight in the West Country here, those long grey clouds and a lot of blue fading away in the sky. What a place this can be. And I’ve just come out of the cathedral having heard Choral Evensong which I made sure I caught. It is the most magnificent service in any church that I’ve ever been to, and this
evening it was sung by young boys and men of the Wells Cathedral Choir, whom Gramophone have just voted as the best boys’ choir in the world. So I’m full of – what? Hard to say really, but certainly an incredible sense of being alive in this country, in this place, at this time. In an hour or so I’ll be back in the Cathedral, at a lectern, talking about my latest book, but for now I’m just looking at this front, remarkably unscathed, although there are gaps where the vandals of previous centuries could get to it.
... one little thought. I’ve just heard some of the best singing I’ve ever heard, with a fantastic choir, in this indescribably beautiful building, but the people in the choir outnumbered those of us in the church. Why is it that we have one of the greatest assets in all world music in these cathedral choirs and only a handful or two of people turn up to listen to them? It’s quite extraordinary.
[Thought people would find this interesting - should really be a new thread, but I don't know how to do that. AuntyKezia]Comment
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