CE Guildford Cathedral 14th March 2012

[DracoM]

CE Guildford Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: The Holy Spirit (Philip Moore)
Responses: Ebdon
Psalms: 73, 74 (Clark, Soaper, Battishill, Vann, Walmisley)
Office Hymn: Word of the Father (Verbum Dei)
First Lesson: Genesis 9: 8-17
Canticles: Collegium Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiense (Philip Moore)
Second Lesson: 1 Peter 3: 18-end
Anthem: The last and greatest Herald (John McCabe) ('Choirbook for the Queen')



Organ Voluntary: Psalm Prelude Set 2 No.1 (Howells)



Paul Provost (Sub Organist)
Katherine Dienes-Williams (Organist and Master of the Choristers)

[DracoM]

Respectful bump: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[DracoM]

[Am I the only one who listened?]

Well, last week CCCO had a dead or nearly acoustic, but Guildford runs them pretty close.

The Moore introit possibly the best sung / composed thing we heard in the service. Variety, nicely sustained tone, louds and softs controlled and focused.
Psalms seemed not entirely unanimous at times, but certainly sung with pretty relentless force.
Canticles OK, nothing special. Altos assertive and held things together from time to time. Nunc had some very good solo work by the boys, men just a tad woolly.
Anthem: hmm. Didn't much care for it, I have to say. A bit quirky?
Voluntary - just seemed like an aimless drift. Never thought I'd ever write that about anything by Howells, but.....couldn't put my finger on it. Pace? registration?


I just had this feeling that somewhere in those trebles in tuttis from time to time there was a more mature voice - lady? Might be totally wrong.

[W.Kearns]

I caught some of the service on my way to pick up the daughters from school. What I heard I liked, fierce angular anthem and all - in fact, having looked up the William Drummond of Hawthornden poem, I'm struck by the words' power. Thanks, Guildford, for rewarding & prayerful music.

[ardcarp]

Sorry you're feeling like a voice [or perhaps an ear] in the wilderness, Draco. I am afraid my listening experience was hampered by not-very-distant violin practice and interrupted by phone calls from anonymous people asking if I had been compensated for PPI whatever that may be. I was aware of a slightly unorthodox sound....from Radio 3 that is....but feel I must LA in more tranquil surroundings before commenting in all fairness. Whatever one might think of John McCabe, at least he is not guilty of rank minimalism!

[decantor]

[Am I the only one who listened?]

I always listen, Draco - you know that. But it is worth posting only if there is something to say, and an amateur will hesitate longer than a pro. However, I'm assured by someone who attended Guildford's 'dress rehearsal' last Sunday that the top line was sung by the girls' unit. Since this is the first time this year that girls (as opposed to women) have had their chance on CE, they do merit their turn - and I thought they seized the moment pretty well, with some lovely rounded tone at times; soloists were commendable, too.

I thought highly of the introit and the anthem. At first hearing of the canticles, I was less convinced than usual of Moore's inspiration, though even then there some attention-grabbing passages. While some object to a welcome (or more) at the start of a service, I feel patronised when the reader explains the import of the lesson to me in advance: is the Bible really so obscure? But it didn't spoil the impact of the service as a whole for me. Nicely done, Guildford - thank you.

[Double Diapason]

I just LA'd! I like Guildfords acoustic more than CCCO and the organ too - naturally!
Nice to hear the Ebdon responses - do we get them often on CE? I dont think so. Wonder why the men only sang the Lords Prayer - unusual!
This was the girls choir Draco but it would explain why you thought the trebles sounded like mature ladies!! From the first phrase it was obviously not boys. I'll let VCC take up that argument but is this yet another cathedral choir that cant field a respectable boys choir on the wireless? I may be wrong but did we not get Guildford girls last time too??
One or two eye-brow upwards "moments" in the introit but what a cracking piece!
Good enough psalm singing (good selection of chants - not altogether the normal mix) and remember the great distance the organ has to cover here so well done to Paul Provost for maintaining good balance.
Canticles; what one would expect, didnt float my boat especially.
The McCabe made my boat sink to the bottom i'm afraid - awful racket!
I thought the Howells Psalm Prelude was spot on - I can understand why perhaps non organists would fine it a bit rambling though.
Despite my own personal dislikes on the repertoire choice I found Guildfords service set the right tone with some very good singing and I liked the Precentors (?) singing as well as his general style and good straight forward "Anglican" approach!!
I wonder was St Barry listening..........

[Magnificat]

I'm assured by someone who attended Guildford's 'dress rehearsal' last Sunday that the top line was sung by the girls' unit. Since this is the first time this year that girls (as opposed to women) have had their chance on CE, they do merit their turn - and I thought they seized the moment pretty well, with some lovely rounded tone at times; soloists were commendable, too.

At first hearing of the canticles, I was less convinced than usual of Moore's inspiration, though even then there some attention-grabbing passages.

.

decantor,

I felt the same about the canticles.

I was told on Monday that the service would be sung by the girls this time because the boys did the last one.

Fair enough I suppose and the girls did very well as you say; but being as paranoid as you have also said in the past that you can be about the traditional cathedral choir of boys and men I start to get concerned when the girls do the broadcast from a cathedral with a boys' choir that has always been well regarded and always done CE in previous years that perhaps the boys might not now be quite up to it. Has your friend heard the boys and men recently - it is two years since they last broadcast?

Can you assure me that my fears are groundless and that this was simply CE being fairly shared between the cathedral choirs - please.

Absolutely daft I know and at least it wasn't mixed boys and girls which really would have had me worried!!

VCC

[Magnificat]

Nice to hear the Ebdon responses - do we get them often on CE? I dont think so.
This was the girls choir Draco but it would explain why you thought the trebles sounded like mature ladies!! From the first phrase it was obviously not boys. I'll let VCC take up that argument but is this yet another cathedral choir that cant field a respectable boys choir on the wireless? I may be wrong but did we not get Guildford girls last time too??

Canticles; what one would expect, didnt float my boat especially.
The McCabe made my boat sink to the bottom i'm afraid - awful racket!

I wonder was St Barry listening..........

dd

As usual we share the same thoughts.

St Albans did the Ebdon responses this time last year.

I spoke to Barry at his organ recital in St Albans Abbey in October. I doubt if he was listening as he told me he is hardly ever at home.

VCC.

[mua06dt]

Guildford

That would probably be because they were all girls. No boys involved.

I just had this feeling that somewhere in those trebles in tuttis from time to time there was a more mature voice - lady? Might be totally wrong.[/QUOTE]

[mua06dt]

The last time Guildford Cathedral Choir were broadcast was with boys, this is the girls first ever broadcast

[paul duggan2]

[Am I the only one who listened?]

Well, last week CCCO had a dead or nearly acoustic, but Guildford runs them pretty close.

The Moore introit possibly the best sung / composed thing we heard in the service. Variety, nicely sustained tone, louds and softs controlled and focused.
Psalms seemed not entirely unanimous at times, but certainly sung with pretty relentless force.
Canticles OK, nothing special. Altos assertive and held things together from time to time. Nunc had some very good solo work by the boys, men just a tad woolly.
Anthem: hmm. Didn't much care for it, I have to say. A bit quirky?
Voluntary - just seemed like an aimless drift. Never thought I'd ever write that about anything by Howells, but.....couldn't put my finger on it. Pace? registration?


I just had this feeling that somewhere in those trebles in tuttis from time to time there was a more mature voice - lady? Might be totally wrong.

All girls, I think S

[DracoM]

Well, I was totally fooled.

In my own defence, it is suggested on the website that Wednesday is not a 'girls' day'. [and no choir on Wednesdays at all?] so............. Like others above, please believe me when I say that I DID actually think from the first note of the introit that this had to be girls, listened hard, doubted, and kept on thinking it, at which point I looked on the website to confirm - no choir on Wednesdays, BUT...........:
"The girls sing separately from the boys; they rehearse on Tuesday evenings, sing Evensong on Fridays and have one duty on a Sunday." - from the website.

Then as the service went on and I had 'tuned in', as I said in my post, I began to think that there were girls / women somewhere in that mix and said so.

[mopsus]

Ebdon responses, being rather subdued and largely in the minor, tend to come out in Lent. They used to be a standard fixture of Ash Wednesday broadcasts from St. John's College Cambridge; indeed when I hear 'The Lord's name be praised' by Ebdon my mind still automatically moves on to the opening chord of Allegri's Miserere.

[Double Diapason]

Well, I was totally fooled.

In my own defence, it is suggested on the website that Wednesday is not a 'girls' day'. [and no choir on Wednesdays at all?] so............. Like others above, please believe me when I say that I DID actually think from the first note of the introit that this had to be girls, listened hard, doubted, and kept on thinking it, at which point I looked on the website to confirm - no choir on Wednesdays, BUT...........:
"The girls sing separately from the boys; they rehearse on Tuesday evenings, sing Evensong on Fridays and have one duty on a Sunday." - from the website.

Then as the service went on and I had 'tuned in', as I said in my post, I began to think that there were girls / women somewhere in that mix and said so.

Sorry Draco, can't resist, Ps 115:6 springs to mind!!