CE Chapel of St John's College, Cambridge May 8th 2013

[Magnificat]

I think the St. John's treble line has sung with a bit more vibrato than King's for a long time - people were making this sort of generalised comparison of the two choirs back in the 1980's.

mopsus,

Yes but when AN took over he envisged the SJ sound as becoming more Christopher Robinson than George Guest, perhaps he has changed his mind? I have to say that I found the boys tone a bit inconsistent actually.

I am not great fan of Bach cantatas, for me they just go on and on and become boring in the extreme. I thought the Durante was the best part of the service - very well sung.

The responses sounded so dead in the chapel acoustic unfortunately.They are one of my favourites and it was a shame that the Lord's Prayer wasn't sung to Clucas's setting rather than being chanted.

The chaplain's lisp in the versicles and collects was quite delightful though.

VCC.

[Vox Humana]

Hahahahaha! Or even ROTFL...

(Not sure whether Dr Guest is chuckling from Welsh Heaven.)

Well, yes, but I know what chitreb means. There is a (hugely enjoyable) Naxos CD from St George's, Windsor, of anthems by Sir William Harris and I would defy anyone to listen to that without wondering at times whether there is a soprano stiffening the top line. I'm not for a minute suggesting that there is, but the thought always crosses my mind. The boys have an amazingly mature tone with a fair degree of vibrato and the whole sound seems almost verging on the operatic. It's about as far from King's or Guildford of the late '60s as I have heard from an all-male church choir - including St John's. Much as I love those older sounds, I also enjoy this more dramatic approach when it is done well (though I do wish such choirs would sometimes let us have a proper, magical pianississimo - I've never heard one yet).

I enjoyed the St John's broadcast very much indeed.

[ardcarp]

Roger. However mis-attributed it might be, it's still Pergolesi's Magnificat to me. It's a piece that used to be done a lot by all sorts of amateur choirs.

[Roger Judd]

Vox Humana - how most amusing! I can assure you, and anyone else, that the top line on the Harris CD were all boys, and yes, one or two of them were of a certain age and maturity... I'm sure that 'Doc' H would not have approved of the sound, but it did suit some of the pieces rather well.

Ardcarp - thanks for that reassurance - I guess that I did hear the 1966 King's recording of the Pergolesi / Durante Magnificat when it was issued, but had forgotten all about it in the intervening years. Whoever wrote it, I enjoyed it and was glad to meet up with it, possible for a second time!
RJ

[Vox Humana]

I can assure you, and anyone else, that the top line on the Harris CD were all boys

I would have been shocked to have learnt otherwise! I did not really think that there was a woman singing. Rather it interested me to realise that boys who have been taught to sing properly, as these obviously were, can approach the richness of a soprano. I thought it was perhaps just one "mature" one, but of course it's very difficult to tell just from listening to a CD and it's not as if he stuck out like a sore thumb; he didn't and the style is uniform throughout the choir. As you say, not at all the sound "Doc H" would have had in mind, but none the worse for that. I was so pleased that it included the Evening Hymn. I find it a very imaginative, atmospheric piece and rate it very highly. I wish we heard it more.

Sorry - this is all rather off topic.

[mopsus]

it was a shame that the Lord's Prayer wasn't sung to Clucas's setting rather than being chanted.

Is the Clucas Lord's Prayer in print? It isn't included in the standard edition of his responses. (Although of course I imagine that if it is circulating privately SJC would have the means to get hold of it if they wanted to.)

[ardcarp]

The original version of the Responses (which immediately caught on when published) did not, as you say, include a Lord's Prayer setting....which I guess was composed later. This might help:

http://www.scorestore.co.uk/choral/the-lords-prayer-and-closing-responses-satb-clucas-choir.html