CE Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London 15th Feb 2012

[DracoM]

CE Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London
St Alban's Church, Holborn, London



Order of Service:



Introit: Lighten mine eyes (Bo Hansson)
Responses: Clucas
Psalms: 59, 60, 67 (Turle, Tomkins, Crotch, Stewart, Pike)
First Lesson: Isaiah 52:13-53: 6
Canticles: Arvo Pärt
Second Lesson: Romans 15: 14-21
Anthem: Time is endless (Vytautas Miskinis)
Final Hymn: Father hear the prayer we offer (Cypress Court)



Organ Voluntary: Praeludium in E minor (Nicolaus Bruhns)




William Mason, Matthew Searles (Organ Scholars)
Rupert Gough (Director of Choral Music)

[chrisjstanley]

OMG what a wasted opportunity.

How many times a year do we get the chance for a full rendition of Psalm 78?
Once or twice maybe. Now not again until 15 August 2012 then 15 May 2013.

However, on the bright side, chants to 59, 60 and 67 look traditional enough though. Interrupts the Baltic theme. Anyone for soused herring?

bws
Chris S

[ardcarp]

....and I wonder if Time is Endless consists of sitting on a C major chord for twenty minutes? Nothing like approaching new music with an with an open mind!

[DracoM]

What latitude is there to ignore the psalms set for the evening?

[DracoM]

IMO, in all but name, this was more or less a concert of the choir.

All round perfectly competent and uncontroversial but not terribly memorable - psalms a bit iffy in places, quite apart from them not being those set for the day. Found the combination of the very long Hansson introit, Part canticles and the Vytautas Miskinis anthem all a touch lugubrious and much of a muchness.

But there you go - what do I know about service planning? Answer = nothing, so don't bother to reply.

[decantor]

All round perfectly competent and uncontroversial but not terribly memorable .......... all a touch lugubrious and much of a muchness.......

Quite so. I was much taken by the introit - but not as an introit: it was no scene-setter (soul-settler, or whatever), but sucked in too much space for its own. From then on, all a touch...... well, I would have chosen the word 'soporific'. Despite my affection for Part's music, I do not think he captured the spirit of the Mag, with its emotional ups and downs; the Nunc does better. It was a pity, IMV, that we returned instantly to Baltic angst for the anthem - I was left with the feeling that only Clucas had really put us in touch with Evensong, though I found the shifting chants of the psalmody interesting. I thought the choir did pretty well - minimum wobble from the girls! - on the material given them, but my final uncharitable thought was of relief that half term would be over by next week.

[bach736]

What latitude is there to ignore the psalms set for the evening?

Psalms 59, 60 & 67 are the set psalms for Evening Prayer / Evensong on the 15th February 2012 in the Common Worship Lectionary used by most Anglican churches in this day and age, apart from the odd cathedral foundation.

Sometimes, I despair of you guys.

[DracoM]

Sorry - my mistake. I was checking in BCP.

[Magnificat]

Sorry - my mistake. I was checking in BCP.

Draco

There are cathedrals that don't always sing the BCP appointed psalms for the evenings of the days but always do so for CE because they know that there are a lot of listeners who complain about these deviations!!

VCC

[Simon]

Psalms 59, 60 & 67 are the set psalms for Evening Prayer / Evensong on the 15th February 2012 in the Common Worship Lectionary used by most Anglican churches in this day and age, apart from the odd cathedral foundation.

Sometimes, I despair of you guys.

I always despair of Common Worship!

[Miles Coverdale]

Psalms 59, 60 & 67 are the set psalms for Evening Prayer / Evensong on the 15th February 2012 in the Common Worship Lectionary used by most Anglican churches in this day and age, apart from the odd cathedral foundation.

I think I'm right in saying that the number of cathedrals that sing the BCP psalms for the day as a matter of course is now under 10.

[AscribeUntoTheLad]

I think I'm right in saying that the number of cathedrals that sing the BCP psalms for the day as a matter of course is now under 10.

13 I reckon currently....

[ardcarp]

I was much taken by the introit - but not as an introit: it was no scene-setter (soul-settler, or whatever), but sucked in too much space for its own. From then on, all a touch...... well, I would have chosen the word 'soporific'. Despite my affection for Part's music, I do not think he captured the spirit of the Mag, with its emotional ups and downs; the Nunc does better.

I haven't had time to listen to this CE yet, but in the true spirit of Forum users, this doesn't inhibit me from replying. I don't think Part attempted to 'express' sentiments appropriate to the Mag (or the Nunc for that matter). Rather in the same vein as Stravinsky's pronouncements about his Mass setting, Part's music doesn't attempt to describe or word-paint, merely to create a meditative space in the mind. That's my inept way of putting it anyway.

I am slightly worried that talented singing youngsters don't have their horizons or their technique broadened as much as maybe students in the 60s and 70s. There is such a fashion for mood music, that many choirs (including some of the top recording choirs) get locked into programming wall-to-wall meditation. It is undeniably a fact that there is a big audience among the general public for it, and a lot of folk who are not normally 'classical music' buffs are drawn to it. [God preserve us from giving people what they want!] There is a very good semi-pro choir near here which regularly fills a big abbey with its combination of Renaissance stuff and late 20th/early 21st century minimalism. So it puts bums on seats.

[DracoM]

What one writer called the Morton Lauridsen Tendency - to which some might probably feel like adding some names that feature regularly in some choirs' repertoires? As well as Lauridsen, what about Whiteacre, O'Regan, and, perhaps, of an earlier generation, John Tavener?

[Gabriel Jackson]

I am slightly worried that talented singing youngsters don't have their horizons or their technique broadened as much as maybe students in the 60s and 70s. There is such a fashion for mood music, that many choirs (including some of the top recording choirs) get locked into programming wall-to-wall meditation.

What nonsense! What is this "mood music" that these young singers are forced to perform? What music that was regular fare for student choirs in the 1960s ad 1970s is being denied them today?