CE Lichfield Cathedral 19.xii.12

[DracoM]

CE Lichfield Cathedral


Order of Service:


Introit: The Lichfield Antiphons: Advent (Richard Lloyd)
Responses: Tomkins
Office Hymn: O come, O come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel)
Psalms: 98, 99, 100, 101 (Attwood, Bellringer, A. Lumsden, Marshall)
First Lesson: Isaiah 39
Canticles: Third Service (Tomkins)
Second Lesson: Matthew 17: 14-21
Anthem: Vigilate (Byrd)
Final Hymn: Hark, what a sound (Highwood)



Organ Voluntary: Variations on 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland' (Heiller)



Martyn Rawles (Organist)
Ben Lamb (Director of Music)

[chitreb]

Deja vu (final hymn).

[chitreb]

And I see we are back to the same old picture of choristers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p9j84.
Surely the beeb has a picture of Lichfield somewhere in its archives (I know I can Google the CE venue each week and usually do) but it wouldn't seem to take much effort on the beeb's part to have a connected image on the web page. I found the Birmingham Cathedral picture to be a useful focus during CE last week and a surprise as it isn't somewhere I have visited and didn't realise it was baroque.

[DracoM]

Busy, hard-working service for the choir: introit, three necessarily briskly sung psalms, Tomkins canticles with solo groups, plainchant responsory, responses and Lord's Prayer, as well as leading two hymns, of which one included a descant. So plenty to rehearse for front line and back desks separately and together in a season when most cathedrals are also gearing up for some of the biggest sings of the year over the next few days. Very wisely, the choir had a dry run for this broadcast on Tuesday in Evensong - time well spent, or so it felt.

Handsomely done: no fuss, decent confidence, good discipline for the most part, a proper choir working for each other and not a collection of voices trying to muscle each other aside in their eagerness to get heard. I liked the pace and momentum built up, the bright treble timbre and some clear back desk ensemble too - altos notable.

Also liked the ingeniously set out fun in the voluntary.

Thanks a lot, Lichfield.

[Y Mab Afradlon]

The canticles were Tomkins Fifth Service not the Third as advertised. Misprint or late substitution.? Can anyone tell me which setting of the Lord's Prayer was used.
Enjoyed the service very much, especially Vigilate.

[DracoM]

Well, as hinted above, the Lichfield website says that it was Tomkins Fifth on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week. BBC clerical transcription error? Or did the cathedral change its mind?

[Op. XXXIX]

Also liked the ingeniously set out fun in the voluntary.

Wonderful broadcast.

[chitreb]

Excellent. I particularly loved the psalms. A slight wobble in the middle of the anthem perhaps but a really good solid CE.

[Wolsey]

A slight wobble in the middle of the anthem perhaps but a really good solid CE.

Was there? I noticed no uncertainty. The highly-syncopated section "ne cum venerit repente... (lest he comes suddenly...)" appears abruptly and sounds confused: an excellent example of word-painting, just like the crowing cock a few bars earlier.

[Disraelibrown]

The canticles were always supposed to be the Fifth - must have been a misprint by the beeb (long time followers may recall that in July 2011 Lichfield had planned to broadcast Tomkins 3rd, but replaced it with Stanford in B flat). The Lord's Prayer was a setting derived from Tomkins' own "I know that my redeemer liveth".

[Disraelibrown]

Excellent. I particularly loved the psalms.

You may be interested to know that a beautifully hardbound Lichfield Psalter is available from Lichfield Cathedral Shop at a very reasonable price!

[ardcarp]

In the 50s and 60s Lichfield Cathedral (if I recall correctly) used the BBC Hymn Book. As well as the usual hymn-tunes it had quite a few unique to the book. Also, a bound volume of Words of the Anthems was provided for the congregation. What happened if a new anthem with new words was sung I have no idea. Richard Greening, the O&C, had a minimal conducting style. He would stand in the stalls with the choir and a finger would wag a bit. He also had a nice sense of humour. Mounting the stairs to the organ loft (this was two re-builds ago) one was faced with an altimeter.

[Vile Consort]

I don't go back to the 50's or 60's but it does seem to me that much less conducting was done in the 70's than is done now. The responses and psalms were usually coordinated by the westernmost choirmen wagging their fingers, their hands resting on the music desk. Only the canticles and anthem were conducted by the DoM.

George Guest is reputed to have occasionally ascended to the organ loft during the psalms, slid onto the bench and accompanied a few verses before seamlessly handing back to the organ scholar.