CE Chapel of New College, Oxford 30th May 2012

[DracoM]

Not talking about the noise, but the kit required and the way that is presented and preserved against weathers etc.

Imagine R5L having to make the excuse that 'we missed the Cup Final because there was a passing thunderstorm that US'd the relay........erm....sorry?

[Keraulophone]

But isn't a (noisy) auxiliary generator the essential item of 'kit required' to guard against a failure of the local mains supply?

[Simon Biazeck]

But isn't a (noisy) auxiliary generator the essential item of 'kit required' to guard against a failure of the local mains supply?

You would think so! We're no where near the bottom of this. I'm recalling a recent conversation with a colleague who suggested that outside broadcast teams for CE used to have generators in the van but that due to fiscal constraints, they have been ditched. Perhaps there is a tech. expert who can confirm or deny this ... ? The BBC engineer's blog, however sincere, seems to sidestep this issue, saying that teams have 'for many years' used local mains, but what of the history? The excellent techie post above only discusses media connection systems. As someone who regularly participates in these broadcasts I am genuinely interested!

Whatever the Beeb says in print, I would wager that in budget meetings football is higher up the priority list than CE - call me old fashioned!

[DracoM]

Oh, yes, I'm certainly not pretending that CE has a higher priority than the Cup Final. I was politely hinting at what SB says explicitly, namely that budget cuts etc are more likely to be responsible for the vans carrying basic kit and relying on 'local connections'.

Is it apocryphal that in one CE, when things began to fail, they virtually relayed the CE via a mobile phone? Surely not, but.............? Well?

[DracoM]

Reminder: 4 p.m. today - at last - last Wednesday's service.
Will it remain on LA for seven days from now, given that it didn't happen last Wednesday at all?

[Y Mab Afradlon]

Just a note to those interested, I am currently listening to CE and watching the Semi Final of the Orange Top 14 French rugby match on ESPN from Toulouse. There has been some interference to the pictures and a message has just appeared on the screen “We apologise for the quality of the pictures. Weather in the locality is causing problems to our transmission.” So it either does happen in the world of sport or the ESPN production team is using the same excuse as CE.

[DracoM]

Smack in the middle of their comfort zone, repertoire as we surmised to allow NCO to do what NCO does. Disciplined, tight knit, focused sound.

The Andrew canticles were OK, nowt amazing, but well-delivered of course. Weird isn't it? The Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen strive to make their women sound like vibrato-less boys or nearly; NCO's soloist boys sound trained to sound like vibrato-rich girls. Ah, well: you either love or loathe it.
The Boyce was an unexceptionable Baroque romp, uplifting fun, and jolliness all round.
The Potts had its moments too: shrewd choice by EH, I thought. Genuinely choral. Some fine ensemble singing here, despite a number of divided parts [ for two choirs from time to time? Sorry don't have the score ] - altos particularly good. Trebles led confidently.

Mr Martin has personal experience of NCO Chapel, and I would guess he would be pleased with this performance.

Lovely sparkly voluntary.

[Y Mab Afradlon]

Mr Martin has personal experience of NCO Chapel, and I would guess he would be pleased with this performance.

Is this from the future or from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In?

[DracoM]

" As a performer, Matthew has also held positions at New College, Oxford, Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral, and since 2001 has been involved with the annual Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy where he is director of the Nave Choir of men and boys."

- from the biog on the Faber Music site.

[The Nightfly]

Andrews in D is a fine and unjustifiably neglected setting. However, no one will ever better the performance of Daniel Norman (treble) with Lichfield Cathedral Choir on one of their broadcasts of choral evensong from the early 1980s...

[DJY]

I gather NCO are singing in St Davids this week

[Roger Judd]

Well, it was worth the wait! From start to finish a thoroughly splendid service IMO. Fine psalm singing, aided by Robert Ashfield's characterful chant. I was sorry to see Andrews in D dismissed as 'nowt amazing' - did it need to be? I think it is a well crafted setting, and on this occasion gave a treble with a colourful and expressive voice a great solo opportunity.

It is a cause of some sadness to me that the music of Boyce and his contemporaries doesn't feature more in the music lists of our choral foundations. Apart from the few pieces that are in print, little else is explored. The Boyce that NCO gave us was typical of the genre, often featuring extensive organ parts, solo and full choral sections. Edward Higginbottom's lively direction was just what this music needed, and he was a persuasive advocate I thought.

It was very good to hear Francis Pott's take on the Elizabeth I / Byrd prayer. It was commissioned by St George's Windsor for The Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, and we were all thrilled with it when it arrived at the time. Francis must be pleased that it has made its way into The Choirbook for The Queen. It is not an easy sing, but the rewards are great. The NCO performance was excellent, though I wish that the balance in the choir had not favoured the top at the expense of the middle and bottom - the richness in the writing was not always apparent to the ear - possibly a fault of the transmission, rather than the performance. All-in-all a fine service.
RJ

[Magnificat]

I have only just managed to listen to this service.

I liked the Andrews too.

The Boyce is suitable for somewhere like NCO but perhaps doesn't work as well in larger buildings.

EH certainly trains his boys to have colourful voices but are they really trebles? The treble voice is capable of so much more than he gets from his boys ( no doubt the acoustic and size of the chapel governs ) and I can only take so much of that continual wobbling.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this service. The New College men are first rate.

VCC

[ostuni]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the choir sang the Boyce (along with other baroque coronation anthems) in St David's cathedral yesterday, with Boyce's original orchestral accompaniment. I was seated very close to the boys for the rehearsal & concert: I must say that the vibrato that some are complaining about didn't worry me - hardly audible in the tutti passages, and only really noticeable in the solo trios in the Purcell, to my ears anyway.

What did impress me, a lot, was the phrasing. Beautifully shaped: on a different level to that obtained by the boys of Hereford or Gloucester, the only other boys that I've heard at close quarters in this sort of repertoire. I'm a great fan of what both choirmasters at Heref & Glos do - but it seemed to me (and a few others that I spoke to yesterday) that the NCO boys are just that much better.

BTW, I'm talking about concert music here: I'm a bit of an interloper in this particular forum, and only very rarely hear any of these choirs in their liturgical contexts.

[DracoM]

Delighted to welcome you along. All opinions grist to the mill.

Yes, NCO boys are terrific musicians, and I suspect that radio's closer miking does them no favours. Their recent Monteverdi CD was nothing like as 'full-on' as we heard last week, and their tutti /ensemble singing are impeccable. They are a favourite choir of mine, but they are certainly an acquired taste for many, I would venture.