BBC Singers live from St Paul's, Knightsbridge

[MrGongGong]

Views on the BBCS seem to split into two main camps.

The first is those who accept that they are very gifted musicians, but find their style soulless and nauseating. I'm in that group, along with my former DoM, and many others.

The second is those who work with them, or are otherwise involved, and many others.
.

You are not even vaguely hinting that those who work with them or an involved with the group are somehow biased in their assessment then ?

("and many others" reads like an afterthought to me )

[doversoul1]

I expect the name BBC Singers draws a bigger audience than the names of specialist ensembles, and if the name brings in a ‘wider / new audience’ to this not quite the main stream music, it can be a good thing. And to those who were not so familiar with the repertoire, maybe it didn't matter so much how it sounded (I know this is debatable but that’s another matter), as the music was there (it wasn’t turned into anything more ‘accessible’). BUT I do wish they wouldn’t attempt solo singing. The quartet was DIRE.

[ardcarp]

I'd like to make a general point about this Forum, if I may be so bold. EVERYONE'S opinion is very welcome here. Members include lots of 'amateurs de musique' (in the French sense) many who are or have been involved in practical music making at various levels, and a few who are well-known in their field. It is very good to have the latter group as part of our online community as they can offer useful inside knowledge and valuable insights. I remember, for instance, when Rob Cowan used to contribute regularly to the old BBC forum. And it is great to have Catherine Bott contributing to both The Choir and The Early Music Show Forums. But being a bit of a celeb does not carry with it the right to esteem personal opinions more highly than anyone else's...and I'm sure most celebs don't. We have to be very careful not to intimidate the many, many Forum members who would like to post up their thoughts here but feel worried about having their comments rubbished. I repeat, this Forum is for the opinions and discussions of all its members.

[jean]

Does anyone remember how the BBC Singers used to sound in the days when John Poole directed them?

[Simon]

A good question indeed

I'm looking forward to seeing all the regulars from CE at Cafe Oto this weekend

I thought you'd been banned from this part of the forum, GongGong, as your generally negative posts seem simply aimed at a) poking fun at anything to do with the church or church music or the regulars who post here and b) attacking me every time I write something.

[Simon]

Does anyone remember how the BBC Singers used to sound in the days when John Poole directed them?

I don't think I do Jean. How long ago was that, and did they sound very different?

As far as I recall I've never liked them much, though.

[MrGongGong]

I thought you'd been banned from this part of the forum, GongGong, as your generally negative posts seem simply aimed at a) poking fun at anything to do with the church or church music or the regulars who post here and b) attacking me every time I write something.

That wasn't an "attack"merely agreeing with what seemed like a pertinent comment ........

and , i'm not "poking fun" at church music at all as it's quite able to poke itself without my help !

something about pots and kettles etc etc etc

[Simon]

i'm not "poking fun" at church music at all as it's quite able to poke itself without my help !

Is he real?

As I said, I thought you'd been banned. Why are you back?

[mercia]

should we really be surprised if a composer/musician strenuously comes to the defense of his/her colleagues/friends when they come under attack [and can't speak for themselves] ?

[paul duggan2]

I'd like to make a general point about this Forum, if I may be so bold. EVERYONE'S opinion is very welcome here. Members include lots of 'amateurs de musique' (in the French sense) many who are or have been involved in practical music making at various levels, and a few who are well-known in their field. It is very good to have the latter group as part of our online community as they can offer useful inside knowledge and valuable insights. I remember, for instance, when Rob Cowan used to contribute regularly to the old BBC forum. And it is great to have Catherine Bott contributing to both The Choir and The Early Music Show Forums. But being a bit of a celeb does not carry with it the right to esteem personal opinions more highly than anyone else's...and I'm sure most celebs don't. We have to be very careful not to intimidate the many, many Forum members who would like to post up their thoughts here but feel worried about having their comments rubbished. I repeat, this Forum is for the opinions and discussions of all its members.

Gabriel has the guts to put his name to his comments, often in the defence of his colleagues. Perhaps we should all come out?

[Simon]

should we really be surprised if a composer/musician strenuously comes to the defense of his/her colleagues/friends when they come under attack [and can't speak for themselves] ?

Good heavens, no. But they could speak for themselves, if they wanted.

[doversoul1]

should we really be surprised if a composer/musician strenuously comes to the defense of his/her colleagues/friends when they come under attack [and can't speak for themselves] ?

I wouldn’t say I am/we are ‘attacking’ BBC Singers. We are making comments on their performance as we do on anybody else’s on any other thread. When you perform or do anything in public you do expect to be criticised without being given a chance to defend yourself. Most of us who criticise BBCS on this thread do appreciate them in other repertoire. Personal connection shouldn’t come in, since we are not criticising BBC Singers as person(s).

[Alain Maréchal]

I'm writing as an amateur de musique who attended this concert. Not an habitual concert-goer in london, I accompanied a friend who regularly attends the BBC Singer. I went because of the opportunity to hear music infrequently performed, and although I was wary of the "BBC Singers Sound" I was surprised to note that in the church large solo soprano voices were not too evident. There were moments when I heard 24 voices, not a choir, and one of the quartets (there were various combinations) did sing some difficult music with apparent difficulty, but sitting near the front and to one side I was generally happy with the blend.

There may be other groups performing this repertoire, but could somebody make it clear when, where and who? And is it, like the nhs, "free at the point of use"? It was evident last night that the audience (a full church) was enthusiastic not out of duty. My preference would have been for fewer breaks for applause - I think the mass setting with interpolations could have been performed without breaks. One point that doesn't seem too obvious from the posts - did any of you actually enjoy the music? Are you all getting sated - it was mostly new to me and I was very pleased to be there.

[Simon]

You make good points, Alain.

Many of those of us who live outside London and in the sticks consider ourselves fortunate in many respects; one way in which we are disadvantaged is in the lack of opportunity easily to see/hear good artistic/musical productions. I suspect that, live and in a big acoustic, this group would sound different from it's usual sound on the radio.

That said, in the unlikely event that I were to make the trip to St Pauls, I think I would prefer to hear its own choir!

[DracoM]

http://www.stpaulsknightsbridge.org

This is where the concert in question took place.


Erm, Simon, I've been wondering in reading your posts if we are we talking the right St Paul's?