CE Birmingham Cathedral 12.12.12

[DracoM]

CE Birmingham Cathedral 12.12.12


Order of Service:


Introit: Kyrie Eleison (Mendelssohn)
Responses: Gastoldi and Plainsong
Psalms: 65, 66, 67 (Buck, Atkins, Hopkins)
First Lesson: Amos 9:11-end
Office Hymn: Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth (Veni Redemptor)
Canticles: Collegium Regale (Howells)
Second Lesson: Romans 13: 8-14
Anthem: This is the Record of John (Grayston Ives)
Final Hymn: Hark, what a sound (Highwood)


Organ Voluntary: Allegro (Sonata No 5 in C minor) (Francis Jackson)


Timothy Harper (Assistant Director of Music)
Marcus Huxley (Director of Music)

[ardcarp]

http://www.birminghamcathedral.com/content/content_main.asp?idarea=5&idareasub=5

[DracoM]

Girls / men singing.

[DracoM]

Reminder Wed @ 3.30 p.m.

[Keraulophone]

...and it was all going so well until the final note of the Coll Reg Gloria!

[DracoM]

Admirably crisp, disciplined, fine clarity of line, and nigh on impeccable diction. Fine cantoring too - lovely unfussy tenor.

Latin responses neatly done. Yes, the odd twinge here and there with very slightly untidy entries etc , but I could shrug a lot off in a service where Coll Reg, away from the more customary big acoustic, was laid out so analytically and actually showed it to be an even finer work than is often the case in more rhetorical venues.

Didn't know the Ives 'This is the Record of John' and what a fine piece it is. Many thanks for that.

[decantor]

...and it was all going so well until the final note of the Coll Reg Gloria!

Just so! I thought it was a lovely service throughout - well done to all at Brum, and thank you - apart from those twin JBs.

[ardcarp]

I can't think where those fp-crescs on the final Amens came from. I haven't got a copy in front of me but having both sung and played the piece on innumerable occasions I don't have any recollection of such markings. Anyway, whatever, it was a slight idiosyncratic blip in an otherwise very transparent and well-focused performance. I did like the straight sound of the back desks...no overblown individual voices...and I guess there may have been a few young men amongst them. Indeed the tenor solo in the Nunc was very 'straight', very well controlled, and didn't have to struggle against the rest of the choir singing too loudly. (I've had to Pavarotti that solo on occasions in a vain attempt to be heard.) The cantor in the collects did sharpen a bit.

The psalms were brisk and tidy, and whilst the organ, as last week, used the 'holding on between verses' style, it kept to its role of adding background support and colour.

St Phlip's is a lovely building in classical style, and whilst it doesn't have a vast acoustic, it lends a pleasant bloom to any music done there. The organ is a bit of a rag-bag (OK I know it's been rebuilt by Nicholsons) but it did pretty well as an accompanying instrument, I thought.

Bill Ives' anthem was interesting; the narration done in a quasi plainsong style, the crowd interjections being a bit St John Passion-like and the words of Jesus being grave. Very apt for Advent.

A cathedral in the centre of a city like Brum has to do lots of varying things as part of its mission, and it is good to know that 'proper' music isn't being neglecetd. I hope the boys' choir (which was Roy Massey's pride and joy long ago) is still thriving.

[ArpSchnitger]

I was able, despite the closure of the M6 and the failure of the overhead rail lines between Rugby & Northampton (causing all London Midland services to New Street to be cancelled) to get into (and out of) Birmingham fairly trouble free this afternoon- well done Virgin Trains! So I was able to attend my first live BBC Evensong in goodness knows how many years, and indeed get to a weekday choral service in St Philip's Cathedral (if I get into Birmingham, it's normally a Wednesday afternoon when Evening Prayer is said- and if weekday services are sung, it's usually a shortened form with one canticle, fewer responses etc)
A few observations from the pew-
A decent-sized congregation- 30-40 present, supplied with full order of service. Short and appropriate briefing by producer ten mins beforehand.
Choir-top line of 11 girls and 4 senior boys- none of the top line would have been younger than 12-13.
Seated on chairs angled facing west where Nave Altar usually stands.
Mikes- as far as I could tell 2 at front of nave, 4 covering Dec & Can, 1 for Coll.Reg soloist, 2 for organ, 1 each for three clergy. Cables strung out of a Nave window, across the churchyard to the OB truck.
Opening voluntary (not broadcast): 2nd movement of Mendelssohn 3rd sonata- which led well into the Introit.

The service came across very well in the pew. In particular it was clear that a lot of work had gone into preparation of the psalmody, with every nuance conducted and lots of tonal variety in both voices and accompaniment.
I had to smile at the Dean's introduction with description of the fiery setting sun shining through Burne-Jones stained glass. Sorry, not today it wasn't!
Opening Gastoldi responses were an interesting choice, though not sure I quite went with the Stone Lord's Prayer and a (Tudor?) sung Amen in what were otherwise plainsong responses.
Can't say I was too taken with the anthem, though well sung, but I was glad to hear it and will certainly listen again- it may grow on me!
I did enjoy my one moment of participation, as Highwood is such a good tune to sing.

I was very pleased to have gone along- well done to all involved. I must now have a listen again on iPlayer to hear how it compares with the live experience.

[ardcarp]

Thanks rogbi2000 for setting the scene in such a vivid way! (Your getting there at all is reminiscent of the old Milk Tray advert.) Glad they mixed the treble line for the broadcast. Was I right about some young-ish voices in the ATB?

[Philip]

I can't think where those fp-crescs on the final Amens came from. I haven't got a copy in front of me but having both sung and played the piece on innumerable occasions I don't have any recollection of such markings.

I have checked the score and it is marked with a > over the beginning of the '-men', and then a crescendo a beat or two later to the end of the note (as is common with Howells). In terms of musical language, as I understand it this is intended to mean that the note should start loudly and taper off, but obviously a crescendo then follows, so it could certainly be argued that what we heard this afternoon is what Howells intended. I agree that it sounds a bit silly (and I've heard it done this way elsewhere)...one place where it is perhaps best not to follow the markings to the letter (although the crescendo obviously can't be quite so fierce if it starts from an already loud sound).

Leaving that note aside, I thought this was a very nice broadcast. The only bit I didn't feel fitted in were the Latin opening responses, which seemed a little at odds with the later plainsong. Coll Reg is a classic and one of the great 20th century settings; I can only echo all the previous comments here. I have glanced past the Ives anthem in our 'Advent for Choirs' books previously but have never looked at it - certainly an interesting setting (clearly very different to the much better-known Gibbons!) and it came over very well this afternoon. The Francis Jackson voluntary sounded good as well - I've not really explored his Sonatas much (beyond hearing him play one in a recital a couple of years back which made no great impression on me), but this sounded quite engaging.

A good selection of music, nicely done all round.

[decantor]

I have checked the score and it is marked with a > over the beginning of the '-men', and then a crescendo a beat or two later to the end of the note (as is common with Howells). In terms of musical language, as I understand it this is intended to mean that the note should start loudly and taper off, but obviously a crescendo then follows, so it could certainly be argued that what we heard this afternoon is what Howells intended.

Philip, my Howells score (Novello, 1962 imprint) is marked exactly as yours - and presumably all others. But surely the > over the final chord of the Gloria indicates an accent, not a diminuendo? The dynamic is ff from the word "World" to the end, so one imagines Howells wanted King's chapel to be filled with a beltissimo B-flat triad at the end.

But I'd hate these deliberations to obscure the value of Birmingham's musical effort overall. I do agree with ardcarp that the Ives anthem - new to me - was an attractive and appropriate offering for Advent.

[Gabriel Jackson]

I have checked the score and it is marked with a > over the beginning of the '-men', and then a crescendo a beat or two later to the end of the note (as is common with Howells). In terms of musical language, as I understand it this is intended to mean that the note should start loudly and taper off, but obviously a crescendo then follows, so it could certainly be argued that what we heard this afternoon is what Howells intended. I agree that it sounds a bit silly (and I've heard it done this way elsewhere)...one place where it is perhaps best not to follow the markings to the letter (although the crescendo obviously can't be quite so fierce if it starts from an already loud sound).

Howells's markings aren't always terribly clear (he regularly writes hairpins with no dynamic at the end of them, for example) so arguably he's left himself open to that fp interpretation, but surely an accent simply means that the attack of the note should be slightly stronger than what precedes it?

[Philip]

Well my (reliable!) source for the quote was wikipedia! Seriously, I agree that this could be open to a number of interpretations, and I'd personally avoid the one we heard from Birmingham, which does annoy me rather as well...but as said, the overall broadcast was very good.

[DracoM]

Agree about younger sounding voices on back desks, and for me, all the better as balance. A 'choir' rather than a collection of voices, perhaps? We did not have one line striving to outdo and thus muscle past other lines. Fairly unusual to hear Coll Reg sung like that and IMO all the better for it. There is a place for what decantor rightly calls 'beltissimo' and I love that as well, but this service offered spare and pointed inter-relations between parts that made the music re-live.