Choral Vespers from Westminster Cathedral Oct 9th 2013

[DracoM]

Choral Vespers from Westminster Cathedral
Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman




Order of Service:



Introit: Tout puissant (Poulenc)
Hymn: Iste confessor (Plainsong)
Psalms 14, 111 (Plainsong)
Canticle: Magna et mirabilia (Plainsong)
Responsory: Iustus Dominus (Plainsong)
Magnificat for Double Chorus, Op.164 (Stanford)
Motet: Iustorum animæ (Stanford)
Antiphon: Salve Regina (Poulenc)



Organ Voluntary: Præludium in E minor (Bruhns)




Organ Scholar: Edward Symington
Assistant Master of Music: Peter Stevens
Master of Music: Martin Baker

[Vox Humana]

A Salve Regina by Bruhns??? Shirley not?

[DracoM]

Just checked the Drome website and indeed the Salve REgina is by Poulenc.
Thanks for the deads up.
I've corrected it on the service list above. The BBC site is incorrect despite my having very kindly [I thought] contacted them to correct it!!


0953 Wed: Aha! I notice it has now been corrected!!

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[DracoM]

Little if any dignified Anglican reticence here! Full bore, semi-operatic stuff in a sound spectrum that rarely got less then f and frequently climbed to fff plus.

This was truly demanding repertoire – that Stanford Double Choir [ or Chorus – maybe a clue?] Magnificat was fiendishly complex, requiring mighty concentration, discipline and stamina, and testing every singer’s compass from depths to heights in all parts. Brave and occasionally thrilling stuff. Yet every time the basses opened up with their cavernous, vibrato-wrapped wham, I kept thinking of some mighty Leviathan rising inexorably from the depths to collect all upper voices in one gulp of their capacious maw. They certainly took no prisoners.

Against that, the trebles were young, agile, bold, not faultless but they were singing more or less flat out from start to finish in challenging stuff. Love to have heard those trebles able to sing and shape as a unit solo.

Is it London? Is there some kind of cultural or mathematical law that the closer to London you get, the louder you have to sing to get noticed? Earlier I put a bracket round ‘Chorus’, and the men – altos excepted whom I thought were first rate – certainly sang as if the top line was populated by robust, professionally-trained women, possibly with operatic background or ambitions. It made for a dramatic service in no uncertain terms.

For me, the two Poulenc pieces stood out. Uncluttered in style, tricky occasionally, some wit, but all carried off with great skill and terrific discipline - as was the psalm.

[Lordgeous]

Thrilling indeed, especially the sopranos - some of those top notes! I thought there was some beautiful quiet singing (when asked for), intonation was superb but it would have been good to hear at least one choral piece with organ. Nevertheless this still has to be one of the top Cathedral Choirs, certainly in this country, if not far beyond.

[DracoM]

Certainly agree with those last sentiments.



[Incidentally, I did NOT 'edit' your posting, sir. Slip of the send key ]

[Lordgeous]

No problem!

[Simon Biazeck]

Thrilling indeed, especially the sopranos - some of those top notes! I thought there was some beautiful quiet singing (when asked for), intonation was superb but it would have been good to hear at least one choral piece with organ. Nevertheless this still has to be one of the top Cathedral Choirs, certainly in this country, if not far beyond.

A great deal of this choir's rep. is, obviously, traditional unaccompanied RC fare (polyphony and chant). As a regular weekday deputy I have rarely sung with the organ in motets and Mass settings save the occasional Mozart Mass, although on Sundays there is often a strong possibility of a French-style organ Mass. Interestingly, the majority of recent commissions of the Mass Ordinary have favored the organ. Composers seem inexorably drawn to the dramatic possibilities of West-end and Apse organ cases. Even in RVW's Mass in G-minor (not a direct commission but inspired by this choir and given its first liturgical outing under R.R. Terry) and those glorious Marian motets and the Nunc dimittis by Howells and Holst's Nunc we find an ear for slotting in with the trad. style of this choral tradition. It would seem rather queer to me to hear this choir signing traditional CofE rep.! They do, of course sing Elgar! I have long thought that there is something in the stonework of this building that wills the sound to passionate exclamation. In the 19th and early to mid 20th c. the back row here (and in other Catholic choirs, including the London Oratory) was made up of men who sang in the West End theaters rather than Ox./Cam. graduates. The same is still true today, although not entirely. There's nothing like a good technique for a full dynamic range.

[ardcarp]

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed today's offering from The Drome. Yes the men (esp. the basses!) give it some wellie....they always do. But there was no sense in which the trebles were overwhelmed. Indeed I thought they sang absolutely superbly, navigating their way expertly through the sometimes tricky terrain of Stanford's Bach-tribute Magnificat. Did anyone else appreciate how beautifully phrased and crafted it was? The quieter Quia Respexit section had real tenderness. So it wasn't just a big blast...and the same applies to the much simpler Justorum Animae. I'd go so far as to say this was one of the best interpretations of this small and much-sung piece that I've heard.

Choral Evensong in a quiet provincial cathedral it ain't. Nor was it Vespers as one might hear it in an abbey-full of monks. But this was surely a vintage WCC performance, and I feel that Martin Baker has flowered not only as a choir trainer but as a very musical interpreter too.

I wonder if Westminster Abbey choir just has to get through too much repertoire and too many services? I have the feeling that, notwithstanding the acres of plainsong (which I like) WCC is probably able to devote more time to preparing its motets and mass settings. Today it all had the feeling of being well-known and well-crafted.

[DracoM]

I think the Stanford Magnificat had been sung earlier in the week [?], so it was indeed well-prepared under liturgical conditions. And indeed what a huge contrast between this week in Westminster and last. I think part of the shock/ thrill is that West Cath sing with such un-Anglican style, even repertoire that is usually thought of as being smack in the High Anglican tradition. Interesting.

[mopsus]

I ought to point out (not for the first time round here) that the Vaughan Williams Mass was written for a mixed-voice choir, the Whitsuntide Singers.

[Simon Biazeck]

I ought to point out (not for the first time round here) that the Vaughan Williams Mass was written for a mixed-voice choir, the Whitsuntide Singers.

Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor is dedicated ‘To Gustav Holst and his Whitsuntide Singers’. This group and Sir Richard Runciman Terry’s Westminster Cathedral Choir, which specialized in ‘early’ choral music, were the inspiration for the work. Indeed, the completed Mass was sent to Terry for comment—he was delighted by it—before its first performance by The City of Birmingham Choir conducted by Joseph Lewis on 6 December 1922. Terry gave the first liturgical performance of the work on 12 March 1923.

[yorks_bass]

I think the Stanford Magnificat had been sung earlier in the week [?], so it was indeed well-prepared under liturgical conditions.

Well yes, although a glance at the sign-up reveals that only four out of the eleven men were present when it was performed at Vespers on Sunday! One of the quirks of the system, I suppose.

I wonder if Westminster Abbey choir just has to get through too much repertoire and too many services? I have the feeling that, notwithstanding the acres of plainsong (which I like) WCC is probably able to devote more time to preparing its motets and mass settings.

I'm not sure this is the case - WCC as a whole has 30 mins a day to prepare 2 services (psalms/canticles for Vespers, mass setting and usually 2 motets for Mass, as well as associated chant), and I imagine the Abbey and Cathedral boys have roughly equivalent preparation time.

There's nothing like a good technique for a full dynamic range.

Indeed - in fact I was quite surprised by how much dynamic range was apparent on this broadcast. I thought there was rather a lot below forte, with proper soft singing (not whispering!) through to some more dramatic moments. A decent effort by the beeb!

[ardcarp]

...mind you, I do wish they'd ditch that awful Lord's Prayer setting which seems to be churned out all the time. No doubt it's hallowed by some.