CE St George's Chapel, Windsor 23rd Nov 2011

[DracoM]

CE St George's Chapel, Windsor



Order of Service:

Introit: One thing have I desired of the Lord (Sumsion)
Responses: Francis Grier
Hymn: Te lucis ante terminum (Tallis)
Psalms: 114, 115 (Garrett, South)
First Lesson: Jeremiah 31:1-9
Canticles: Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense (Leighton)
Second Lesson: Matthew 15: 21-31
Anthem: Lord, thou hast been our refuge (Bairstow)
Hymn: We have a gospel to proclaim (Fulda)



Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Willan)


Richard Pinel (Assistant Director of Music)
Timothy Byram-Wigfield (Director of Music)

[ardcarp]

Unless they've smuggled some you know what into the Royal Peculiar, then I guess this will please some greatly.

[terratogen]

Count me among the greatly pleased; that Bairstow anthem is one of my absolute favourites. And with all the recent talk about those little you-know-whats, there's a line in the second lesson that's giving me a kind of a wry laugh. I'll be looking forward to this one!

[DracoM]

A reminder of today @ 3.30 p.m.
Please remember that there will be NO repeat on Sunday, which is the Advent Carol Service from St J's.

[DracoM]

Tenors and organist to the fore - they ran the show as far as I could hear - Choir came third.
One or two iffy entrances and bits of very slightly queasy intonation - tho' Leighton is never easy. Trebles sounded very, very young to me-but they deserve a medal for battling gamely in a jostling, crowded penalty area.

[ardcarp]

Yes, very hearty men especially the tenors. As you say, Draco, a valiant effort from the trebles. It was interesting in the psalms to hear the difference in tone between Dec and Can; one side quite steely and the other more head-voicy. I hate being critical of the sort of choir we all love to hear. There are (to over simplify) two sorts of choir at the moment; (i) where evryone is given their head, the men are allowed full voice and the boys produce a very powerful often chesty sound to balance things up, and (ii) where the men are held in reserve to some extent and the boys can thus produce a gentler, more blending sound. I like both sorts if they work. I felt St George's today was falling between two stools.... trying to do the former but with the resources of the latter.

There again, sound engineering may have been a bit cruel, as it was (I think) to the Temple Church a little while ago. As I recall it, the Harrison at St George's is a big beasty; one wants an accompanying organ to be able to make appropriate noises (e.g. snarling reeds where necessay) but without blowing everyone's head off. In a former life I remember how easy it was do do the latter at Hereford, for instance.

[Anna]

Unless they've smuggled some you know what into the Royal Peculiar, then I guess this will please some greatly.

Oh, that made me laugh!! Matthew 15: 21-31 You lot, although you seem fierce and foreboding, really are very humourous!

[DracoM]

Yes, very hearty men especially the tenors. As you say, Draco, a valiant effort from the trebles. It was interesting in the psalms to hear the difference in tone between Dec and Can; one side quite steely and the other more head-voicy. I hate being critical of the sort of choir we all love to hear. There are (to over simplify) two sorts of choir at the moment; (i) where evryone is given their head, the men are allowed full voice and the boys produce a very powerful often chesty sound to balance things up, and (ii) where the men are held in reserve to some extent and the boys can thus produce a gentler, more blending sound. I like both sorts if they work. I felt St George's today was falling between two stools.... trying to do the former but with the resources of the latter.

There again, sound engineering may have been a bit cruel, as it was (I think) to the Temple Church a little while ago. As I recall it, the Harrison at St George's is a big beasty; one wants an accompanying organ to be able to make appropriate noises (e.g. snarling reeds where necessay) but without blowing everyone's head off. In a former life I remember how easy it was do do the latter at Hereford, for instance.

Agree with every word: big beast indeed, and it took no prisoners this p.m.

[decantor]

I can’t disagree with any of the views expressed above, yet in sum they seem to me to do less than justice to the music as a whole. From the introit (taken at a faster tempo than expected) onwards, I felt there was both dynamism and diligence in all the choir’s contributions: pianissimos with a spring in the step, well prepared climactic fortissimos, a sense of coherence across the voices, a determination to bring the compositions to life….. well, I won’t go on. Suffice to say I enjoyed the music. I too felt that the organ accompaniment was often too dense in texture, but this must surely be a microphone problem, else TB-W would have applied the remedy in rehearsal, if not months before.

I subscribe to the ardcarp theory of Two Types of Choir: Peterborough’s recent CE was a fine example of Type 2, and I suspect we might hear a bit of Type 1 next Sunday. But his “between two stools” judgement is perhaps a trifle harsh in that it implies failure – I would prefer “compromise”: for the bulk of this service, the trebs held their own without resort to a chesty WMD. Incidentally, I am convinced that the glass-cutting ‘Roman’-style voice on Dec emanated from a single treble – not ideal, of course, but not easy to tame or reject such a voice: at least he knew his stuff and provided some extra penetration in the mid-low range. All in all, I think HMQ can take pride in her Peculiar singers today – and I fervently hope she does.

[Magnificat]

I thought the boys sounded much better than last time out when the overall treble sound was really quite thin.

The St George's men are always first rate.

I don't like the heavy sound of the SGW organ but Richard Pinel is a fine player. I remember him as organ scholar at St Albans. Organ scholars can be variable to say the least but Richard could play anything and play it all extremely well.

VCC

[ardcarp]

I felt there was both dynamism and diligence

Dynamism certainly in the Leighton Mag.

[Finzi4ever]

The H&H is not (IMHO) one of Hawthorn Terrace's - as was - best but rather a mixed bag that doesn't quite gel with itself let alone the choir. That said it sounds very different on either side of the screen as indeed does the choir, with the West being more resonant. The acoustic of the quire is very unyielding at best and not very helpful even to a choir that sings there daily.

The choir did sound better than last time out, but has been through some tricky times and the days of CR's Parry & Tavener (sic) CDs seem long ago.

I thought the boys sounded much better than last time out when the overall treble sound was really quite thin.

The St George's men are always first rate.

I don't like the heavy sound of the SGW organ but Richard Pinel is a fine player. I remember him as organ scholar at St Albans. Organ scholars can be variable to say the least but Richard could play anything and play it all extremely well.

VCC

[Finzi4ever]

Not a great fan of the Grier Responses (see earlier thread on contemporary responses) - with their Taveneresque spacing and mix of unison chant and harmony, but was amused by metallic clunk before final A-men, not so much 'dropped tray of spoons' this time as cracked Buddhist bell. Choristers did well not to lose it.

[Finzi4ever]

Sorry - me again - I shall shut up after this. Hadn't got to the end of LA when I wrote last two messages: the Willan (new to me) sounded great, despite the Orchestral Trumpet voicing/tuning, thanks to to truly fine playing, but it that how Richard P. pronounces his surname with the stress on the first syllable?

[Double Diapason]

The H&H is not (IMHO) one of Hawthorn Terrace's - as was - best but rather a mixed bag that doesn't quite gel with itself let alone the choir. That said it sounds very different on either side of the screen as indeed does the choir, with the West being more resonant. The acoustic of the quire is very unyielding at best and not very helpful even to a choir that sings there daily.

The choir did sound better than last time out, but has been through some tricky times and the days of CR's Parry & Tavener (sic) CDs seem long ago.

Haven't listened yet but that organ is one of the best in the country, I have played it twice now and there is either a problem with he way it was recorded, played or your equipment (technical OR otherwise!).............