Advent Service from St John's: 2 December, 4pm

[Petrushka]

Most enjoyable. A shame though that someone decided to build a college chapel on a road with such noisy traffic!

Agreed. Can't say I noticed the traffic though!

[Nick Armstrong]

I am listening, I just wish I had bought some Christmas Cards to write and therefore feel infused with warm glow, (I fear I've missed the last postal dates for US)

I've done my foreign ones with the sounds of St John's... "Adam lay ybounden", "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" and the Rutter carol were the ones that caught my ear... (Didn't know it was Rutter, my defences were down )


My office manager circulated the dates, here for easy reference:


Royal Mail last guaranteed delivery dates

Friday 21st December - Special Delivery
Thursday 20th December - First Class Post & Recorded Delivery
Tuesday 18th December - Second Class Post
Monday 10th December - Europe
Friday 07th December - USA
Wednesday 05th December - Rest of the World

[Mary Chambers]

I've done my foreign ones with the sounds of St John's... "Adam lay ybounden", "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" and the Rutter carol were the ones that caught my ear... (Didn't know it was Rutter, my defences were down )


[/I]

I knew it was Rutter, but when sung so well it sounds less banal than it is.

[Nick Armstrong]

I knew it was Rutter, but when sung so well it sounds less banal than it is.

[Wolsey]

That's interesting - the first of those was commissioned by Stephen Darlington and Christ Church 21 years ago - I didn't know it was still in the repertoire!

Oh, come, come, Gabriel! They're both featured in the excellent OUP anthology Advent for Choirs, so let's hope that their inclusion there will guarantee their longevity.

[Wolsey]

A shame though that someone decided to build a college chapel on a road with such noisy traffic!

Have you thought of lodging a complaint with Sir George Gilbert Scott's customer service centre? :rolleyes:

[Simon]

Mostly lovely, many thanks to all involved.

Unfair to programme M. Martin's Magnificat after the Rachmaninov, though.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Oh, come, come, Gabriel! They're both featured in the excellent OUP anthology Advent for Choirs, so let's hope that their inclusion there will guarantee their longevity.

Sorry - I meant still in the repertoire at Christ Church...!

[Simon]

I knew it was Rutter, but when sung so well it sounds less banal than it is.

I think your automatic "it's Rutter so it's bad" attitude is past its sell-by date, Mary.

I expect most of us would consider that some of his stuff is twee, but any objective assessment indicates that other pieces are good to sing and very well-written.

Similarly with Britten. Some excellent. Some not so.

[Alison]

Yes I agree with Simon here.

[Gabriel Jackson]

I think your automatic "it's Rutter so it's bad" attitude is past its sell-by date, Mary.

Indeed!

[Wolsey]

Yes I agree with Simon here.

[Petrushka]

Yes I agree with Simon here.

As do I. This was a well prepared and well sung service. Full marks also to the engineers.

Isn't Helmsley a wonderful tune?

[mangerton]

Yes, Helmsley is a wonderful tune. I enjoyed the programme, I didn't find the Rutter as offensive as some of his other pieces, and I didn't notice the traffic, but living as I do on a fairly busy main road, I wouldn't necessarily expect to.

[Mary Chambers]

I think your automatic "it's Rutter so it's bad" attitude is past its sell-by date, Mary.

I expect most of us would consider that some of his stuff is twee, but any objective assessment indicates that other pieces are good to sing and very well-written.

Similarly with Britten. Some excellent. Some not so.

It's not automatic. I've just never heard anything by him that I like. It's very Classic FM.

Sorry, but although some pieces by Rutter are is undoubtedly better than others, I find it almost all (all that I know, which isn't everything by any means) cringeworthy, including today's "There is a flower", beautifully performed as it was. I found the pieces I've sung in the past (the carols, Requiem, Gloria, probably a few others but quite a limited selection, I admit) of very little interest. What pieces do you find 'good to sing'? I don't really understand his hold on the choral world, except that most of his stuff is easy.

I'm not joining in about Britten, but you must admit his good is better than Rutter's, and his less good not nearly as bad! There's no comparison, really, and I suspect Rutter (who sang in War Requiem as a boy) would be the first to admit that.