CE Durham Cathedral Wed, Feb 27th 2013

[DracoM]

CE Durham Cathedral


Order of Service:


Introit: Remember not, Lord, our offences (Purcell)
Responses: Reading
Office Hymn: Teach me, my God and King (Sandys)
Psalms: 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131 (Cutler, Cooke, Goss, Garrett, Armes, Rogers)
First Lesson: Genesis 44: 18-end
Canticles: Purcell in B flat
Second Lesson: Hebrews 2: 10-end
Anthem: Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei (Purcell)
Final Hymn: Christ is made the sure foundation (Westminster Abbey)



Voluntary for Double Organ (Purcell)



Francesca Massey (Sub-Organist)
James Lancelot (Master of the Choristers and Organist)

[Simon]

Wow! Great repertoire. Purcell-fest. Some time since JQM was broadcast. Good to have the full set of psalms, too.

Durham struggled a little bit last time, IIRC. This looks a good service for them to show what they can do, as I gather they have improved a lot. Good luck!

[terratogen]

What a music list. Not to complain by any means, but is there any particular reason for the Purcell-fest?

Very happy to be hearing from Durham. I was so looking forward to a webcast of the cathedral's Lessons and Carols this past Christmas Eve, only to be disappointed--through no fault of the choir's--by a fairly shocking recording quality-- as though the mic for the readers had been set neatly at the pulpit and the mics for the choir had in fact been a tape recorder in the coat pocket of one of the congregants. I hope and trust that this CE broadcast will do Durham's choir justice, and I'm eager to listen in.

[chrisjstanley]

Unsure as to whether I had heard or even sung Purcell in B flat I did a google search as one does and came up with the following gem:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X2nV9-IxeasC&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=%22Purcell+in+B+flat%22&source=bl&ots=tyyjIB26KF&sig=N3sA31XG-3U7ucPtXPjIy1LaFTU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CYcsUfTxDYqX1AWj4IHQCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Purcell%20in%20B%20flat%22&f=false

Not sure who wrote that but thanks anyway.
bws
Chris s

[ardcarp]

Reminder...today 3.30

[mopsus]

I read in an interview with Martin Neary in the most recent 'Cathedral Music' that editions of Jehova used to tone down some of the dissonances. Can anyone supply any details? I would guess that this was in the opening and 'ego cubui' sections.

[ardcarp]

In the dim past I remember a version where the false relation (English cadence) at 'suae maximae' had been airbrushed out. I also dimly remember a certain tenor joining the (very low) alto line to airbrush it back in again. But sorry, I can't remember which edition it was. It was the sort of thing Vincent Novello might have done. (I seem to remember the downward stalks being on the right, so it would have been of that vintage.)

Chrisjs; I have a copoy of the Purcell canticles in Bb edited by Watkins Shaw. I've done them a few times but not as often as the G minor ones.

Did I detect a few of the old gremlins in today's broadcast? Had usual disturbed household, so must LA.

[mopsus]

Yes, there were gremlins and they were apologised for at the end.

[chitreb]

Lots of Persil (sic) in today's CE according to the continuity announcer. Just as well the service didn't include Wesley's 'Wash me Throughly'.

I hope todays transmission gremlins don't presage a return to last year's problems. You would have thought that after 80 or so years the Beeb would have got the hang of outside broadcasts.

A long time since I have heard or sung the Jehova, quam ... and it brought back fond memories. I was less moved by the opening Purcell item which lacked crispness. I'm a complete sucker for the final hymn and joined in with gusto, being alone in the house. The Purcell voluntary was new to me and most enjoyable.

[fsharpminor]

So what's the preferred pronunciation of Our 'Enery? Gerard Manley Hopkins rhymes the name with 'reversal'. I've always preferred Pursll (stress on the first syllable) to Pur - sell (stress on the second). The BBC Pronouncing Dictionary recommends 'pursll' as 'appropriate for the 17th-century composer . . .' but then announcers obviously don't look at their dictionary.

[W.Kearns]

The evidence of John Dryden, who often worked with Purcell and knew him well, suggests that Pursll was the usual form. Here are lines from Dryden's 1796 'Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell.'

So ceased the rival crew when Purcell came;
They sang no more, or only sang his fame.

To read the couplet aloud pronoucing the name 'Pur-sell' calls for some ugly wrenching and squeezing of the metre. Try it.

[chrisjstanley]

Well, the mystery of "why the Purcell-fest"? raised by Terratogen in message 3 gets deeper when looking across the pond at the Purcell on offer from St T NYC for yesterdays (February 27th) service.

http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/music/services/show/3993

Regarding Durham, let me say that I enjoyed the service very much with the exception of the psalms which were rather gabbled IMO and the chants less than inspiring, the singing of the gloria after each one was tiresome in the extreme. The Purcell in B flat was not a setting I was familiar with although I might have heard it before. Was the Watkins Shaw edition different to that produced by Boyce ardcarp? Again IMO this service is not as thrilling to sing or to hear as the G minor which is the common pairing with Jehova Quam Multi Sunt. The latter was done very well and was most enjoyable.

bws
Chris S

[fsharpminor]

The evidence of John Dryden, who often worked with Purcell and knew him well, suggests that Pursll was the usual form. Here are lines from Dryden's 1796 'Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell.'

So ceased the rival crew when Purcell came;
They sang no more, or only sang his fame.

To read the couplet aloud pronoucing the name 'Pur-sell' calls for some ugly wrenching and squeezing of the metre. Try it.

Here's a piece about the subject:

http://david-crystal.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/on-pronouncing-purcell.html

[chitreb]

I wish I hadn't started this! The good folk of Durham Cathedral clearly pronounce it as Pur-Cell - as announced before the anthem. In my singing days I only ever heard it pronounced Pur-Cell. How do the people at the Purcell Rooms pronounce their name? I wash my clothes with Persil (well Sainsbury's actually).

Now it would be nice to see some more comments about the service.

[terratogen]

Have been picking my way through this service at work, and while I fear I may have invited the technical/balance gremlins in with my previous comment, they were hardly enough to mar this earnest service of worship.

I heard almost nothing but treble through my headphones during the introit—and indeed for much of the first half of the broadcast—which was a bit of a disappointment, as—not to diminish the work done by the choristers here or anywhere—the lowest voices truly ground that particular piece for me, and I found it not quite as compelling without them.

All told, though, I thought this a wonderful service, particularly from a treble line not four years in existence. I’m glad that a few of the choristers had their moments to lead and was surprised and delighted by the differences in the solo voices we heard. Curious and lovely, I thought, to hear a bright, young tone sometimes reminiscent of the sound of Salisbury’s girls and sometimes to the sound I’ve heard on recordings of next week’s choir. The anthem was a highlight, I thought, and the choral entrance after the tenor solo gave me a chill. I suppose I’ll be better able to listen to the psalms when I’m not at work!

Congratulations to the girls on their first Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcast, and may they and all in Durham’s music department continue to go from strength to strength. Can we look forward to a joint Canterbury-Durham musical venture for the enthronement of Justin Welby in March, I hope?