Choral Vespers from Westminster Cathedral 7th Nov 2012

[Gabriel Jackson]

Returning to CBFTQ, is it likely that 'ordinary' choirs will order sets (like Carols for Choirs) and, most importantly, how much will it set them back?

It's £40 a copy. (Many of the pieces in it are already published individually, of course...)

[DracoM]

Crikey!! Work that out for the average size cathedral choir + organists + extras. Close on £1500, maybe?

[Gabriel Jackson]

Crikey!! Work that out for the average size cathedral choir + organists + extras. Close on £1500, maybe?

Yes, but as has already been stated, most of them have been given sets. Another way of looking at it is that it's less than £1 per piece...

[Miles Coverdale]

Crikey!! Work that out for the average size cathedral choir + organists + extras. Close on £1500, maybe?

Except, of course, that cathedrals are not having to pay for their own copies. Rather than attempt to explain it, I suggest you read about it how it's funded on the web site.

http://tinyurl.com/cysz6vd

I do wonder who it's aimed at. It seems to me that most of the pieces in are beyond the abilities of the non-cathedral or professional choir.

[Simon]

I suspect it isn't actually aimed at anyone. I suspect it's rather more a self-glorying thing dreamed up by the musical establishment, using the excuse of the Jubilee to manufacture a royal connection.

I expect that few people will buy it, except out of an academic interest, and I doubt that most cathedrals/foundations who have them would have bothered had they not been funded. We'll probably hear groups like the BBC singers performing the odd piece from time to time, for various reasons.

I have seen a copy and it's well printed and rather classily done, IMO, but I bet that less than a dozen of the pieces will ever enter the repertoire as well-loved favourites - though it's true that a few deserve to. Ms Burrell's gut-wrenching attempt will most certainly not, despite the touching support from some quarters...

Still, we'll wait and see if I'm right. Back here in 5 years, chaps, to see how many of each have been performed since? Put the date in your diaries!

[Gabriel Jackson]

I have seen a copy and it's well printed and rather classily done, IMO,

Actually it's not - it's poorly edited, it's full of mistakes, and all sorts of editorial/house style decisions are questionable, to say the least.

[Simon]

Thank you, GJ.

You're up late this evening! Composing, I hope. More power to your elbow. The more there is of your work out there, maybe the less we'll get of the noisome pestilences.

[mopsus]

Merton College Oxford is also preparing a choirbook of new church music, linked to the College's 750th anniversary in 2014. I think the settings of the 'O Antiphons' by seven different composers on their new Advent CD, which are a Merton commission, may be part of it. I haven't listened to my copy of the CD yet so can't comment on their difficulty, or that of other pieces in the choirbook, but I see that Gabriel Jackson is the composer of 'O Clavis David' so perhaps he could.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Merton College Oxford is also preparing a choirbook of new church music, linked to the College's 750th anniversary in 2014. I think the settings of the 'O Antiphons' by seven different composers on their new Advent CD, which are a Merton commission, may be part of it. I haven't listened to my copy of the CD yet so can't comment on their difficulty, or that of other pieces in the choirbook, but I see that Gabriel Jackson is the composer of 'O Clavis David' so perhaps he could.

The Advent Antiphons are indeed part of the Merton choirbook - none of them is outrageously difficult, certainly. Many of the pieces that will be part of it have not yet been written, and not everything has been commissioned yet (as far as I know) but the largest piece in it will be an hour-long Passion setting by me, two of its criteria being that it will be easily performable by cathedral, collegiate and good (secular) amateur choirs, and that it will have a substantial role for the chorus (which many Passions - Bach, Arvo Part and others - do not).

[ardcarp]

The Burrell piece challenged the trebles a bit, perhaps.

I posted this comment (#5) and rather regret that I did. I have listened to Diana's piece a few more times on i-player and have not only warmed to it, but find that the choir, including the trebles, made a very good job of it. In fact the choir was slightly less secure in the Howells 'Salve'...good treble solo BTW...and I wonder if that was due to a last-minute inclusion? But it was enjoyable none the less. Interesting that the choir now has a less 'continental' sound than previously.

[Wolsey]

I think the Choirbook for the Queen (whatever HRH may think about it)

Please do not address the Queen as 'HRH'. That is an error best confined to ill-informed BBC presenters.

[Wolsey]

In fact the choir was slightly less secure in the Howells 'Salve'...good treble solo BTW...and I wonder if that was due to a last-minute inclusion?

It was listed on the Cathedral music list, and is an early work of Howells - written expressly for R R Terry and the Westminster Cathedral choir. I stand to be corrected, but it's surely repertoire stuff for them.

[ardcarp]

Wolsey. I apologise if any offence is caused, but I may as well admit to not being much of a royalist nor to being unduly bothered about the finer points of addressing their excellencies. There! I've got it wrong again! (I'm just waiting for someone to ask if I'd prefer a President Blair/Cameron/Clegg. Go on......)

[decantor]

Wolsey. I apologise if any offence is caused, but I may as well admit to not being much of a royalist nor to being unduly bothered about the finer points of addressing their excellencies. There! I've got it wrong again! (I'm just waiting for someone to ask if I'd prefer a President Blair/Cameron/Clegg. Go on......)

I'm saddened to learn that your commitment to our monarchy is less than whole-hearted, ardcarp - I hadn't cast you as a republican. Even so, I'd hate to disappoint you, so I'll ask....... who do you want as President? Not Blair or Clegg?

I fancy that you have a friend or neighbour - a lady barrister perhaps - who is aching to replicate in UK the career of Mary Robinson. Please do tell us more about her qualifications.

[Miles Coverdale]

Please do not address the Queen as 'HRH'. That is an error best confined to ill-informed BBC presenters.

I think you'll find that Her Majesty should have a capitalised definite article - she is The Queen, not the Queen.