York Minster and olive oil

[ardcarp]

According to BBC Radio 4's Material World.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qyyb

....York Minster may soon be coated with olive oil to preserve its stonework, which is becoming, er, friable.

[AjAjAjH]

You have to be of a certain age to know what I'm on about but is the Archbishop not John Sentamu but Popeye the Sailor Man in disguise?

[Simon]

....York Minster may soon be coated with olive oil ...

Yes, I'd heard that. Apparently, there is to be a special evensong at the start of the process, scheduled for the Feast of the Extra Virgin.

Introit by Cooke, Responses by Fry, Mag by Sturgeon and Nunc by Woodcock.

Psalm 16 to a chant by Parsley.

The anthem has yet to be announced...

[AjAjAjH]

Methodists would never allow it to be done to their buildings. Good Teetotallers never get well-oiled!!!!!!!

[ardcarp]

The sortie will have to be by Messiaen.......

[chrisjstanley]

Anthem, Simon, surely has to be " O taste and see" ........................................but seriously..........

FYI - I'm sure some might be interested in this short fragment from http://www.churchmonumentssociety.org/Geology.html

Magnesium Limestone

The geological map of England shows, usually marked in dark blue, a thin belt of stone that runs from Nottingham, northwards past Tadcaster and Ripon, before curling eastwards and meeting the coast in Teeside. This is the outcrop of the Magnesian Limestone, a stone that has been of great importance in the architectural and monumental history of northeast England since Roman times. In the Middle Ages, it provided the freestone used for the great ecclesiastical buildings of the region, such as the minsters at York and Beverley as well as numerous lesser buildings, and countless monuments. For some royal projects it was sent to London (appearing in written records as ‘Northern Stone’). It is still quarried near Tadcaster to meet restoration demands. At the southern end of the outcrop it is used in Southwell Minster, and its magnificence as a building stone there so impressed the commissioners who were recommending the stone for the new Palace of Westminster in 1839, that it was their first choice. A terrible mistake, for much Magnesian Limestone decays most horribly in polluted atmospheres, and within 10 years or so the London sulphur-rich smogs were starting to cause stone-rot and disfigurement.

[terratogen]

This should suit very nicely that Yorkshire man who's been going around licking cathedrals.

[ardcarp]

Thanks for all that erudition, chrisjstanley!

Another choice of anthem and a little conundrum. Why would Stanford's setting of Ps 23 be suitable but not Lennox Berkeley's?

[chrisjstanley]

Hello ardcarp,

Stanford goes the whole hog and includes the verses involving preparation of tables and anointing with oil while Berkeley got bored half way through the psalm and terminated it? Is that correct?

Both are rather beautiful works in their own way. Listen here.

http://cccmusicpages.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/charles-villiers-stanford-lord-is-my.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaJMfpI4xhw

bws Chris S

[Simon]

Hello ardcarp,

Stanford goes the whole hog and includes the verses involving preparation of tables and anointing with oil while Berkeley got bored half way through the psalm and terminated it?

... for which much gratitude. Ugh!


I reckon you are right, Chris! (Unless our host is being very tricky). Nice one!

[ardcarp]

Yep, cjs, you got it in one.

[ardcarp]

Also, cjs, thanks for the link (Youtube) to Lincoln and the Lemmox B Lord is my Shepherd. A lovely performance. Do you know when it was sung, who was conducting, etc ? (I couldn't fathom out how to 'access' the Stanford.)

[chrisjstanley]

Hello ardcarp,

Other than that the Lincoln recording was uploaded in August 2009 there are no more details. Hard to stress what a great advert a piece like this on youtube can be for a choir. There are still a lot of opportunities out there to replace a lot of substandard stuff (and currently stuff that doesn't have a youtube performance) with first rate recordings like this. Of course, IPR should be respected but it isn't clear if the Lincoln performance was from a professional recording or from a webcast or other source.

Regarding access to the Stanford, the instructions should be followed to the letter i.e.

right click here, then left-click on "open in New Window," then left-click on "8213 Part II," then hold button and slide to 41:12 (41 minutes and 12 seconds).

It's worth the fiddling around.
bws
Chris S