CE Blackburn Cathedral 2.iii.Xl

[DracoM]

CE Blackburn Cathedral

Order of Service:

Introit: Bogoroditse Dyevo (Rachmaninov)
Responses: James Davy
Office Hymn: O God of earth and altar (King's Lynn)
Psalms: 12, 13, 14 (Flintoft, Croft, Gibbons, Armstrong)
First Lesson: Proverbs 8: 12-36
Canticles: Francis Jackson in G
Second Lesson: Colossians 1:9-20
Anthem: Salve Regina (Gabriel Jackson)
Hymn: Disposer supreme (Old 104th)


Organ Voluntary: Fantasia in G BWV 572 (Bach)

James Davy (Assistant Director of Music)
Richard Tanner (Director of Music)

[DracoM]

Should have added that this Evensong marks the end of Richard Tanner's 13 yr distinguished and energetic stint at Blackburn.

[Simon]

From what I recall, B/burn did themselves proud last time they were on. The organ was spectacular too. I don't know the responses. Unusual enough mixture on the face of it, but one expects that Mr T knows what he's doing.

[choralclerk]

I shall be looking forward to tomorrow. It's a good selection of music and I'm sure the choir will do itself very proud indeed and give RT a good send off. Also, the broadcast will I'm sure be making history in that it will have a current choral scholar, along with his two brothers - who will be (we believe) the first set of broken voice triplets in an evensong broadcast. Amusingly enough, they are A T B too! CC

[ardcarp]

I was intrigued by the sound. Was the top line mixed voices? The Gabriel Jackson was just a Goecki (et al) sound-alike to me and you can keep it! Give me Francis any day...a very finely wrought set of canticles IMO.

[DracoM]

Whole thing down with some energy and forthright conviction. Good organ work throughout.

Introit better than the anthem on which I am with ardcarp. Mixed top line....erm? Maybe, not sure about that at all, but lots of 'real' boy woomph about it, particularly in the lower registers. Decent little solo in the Jackson G anthem. Canticles pretty competently delivered, I thought.

I did slightly feel that in the 2nd set of responses something went wrong? Is that just me? The lead the precentor was giving on occasions can't have helped much. Not saying it was incorrect at all, just rather odd.

[Magnificat]

Blackburn have been an excellent choir under Richard Tanner and the musical life there is vibrant.

Considering their resources he has worked wonders.

I am surprised that he has not achieved preferment during the last 13 years looking at some of the appointments made during that time.

VCC

[RAC]

I was intrigued by the sound. Was the top line mixed voices? The Gabriel Jackson was just a Goecki (et al) sound-alike to me and you can keep it! Give me Francis any day...a very finely wrought set of canticles IMO.

Today's entry on their Spring Term Music List reads . . .
Choral Evensong sung by Boys, Girls & Men broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Scrolling down on http://www.blackburncathedral.com/news.asp there is a farewell item to Richard Tanner.

RAC

[decantor]

Thoroughly enjoyed this CE. The Blackburn service sheet reveals that boys and girls combined on top - and that they do so fairly regularly, as I thought was evident today from a well integrated, rich-textured treble line, with muscle and edge right across their range. I found the Introit excellent - nice stately pace and lots of quasi-Russian sonority - and the anthem too, as it seemed to balance the Rach. Of the canticles, I've always reckoned that the F.Jackson Nunc is much superior to its Mag. And I liked Blackburn's psalmody as well - clarity, variety,and responsiveness to text without undue showiness.

Richard Tanner obviously leaves a strong department as his legacy, and I wish James Davy well in taking over pro tem. My thanks to all for a fine evensong.

[subcontrabass]

I found the Introit excellent - nice stately pace and lots of quasi-Russian sonority

Inclusion of girls is, of course, not HIPP. The history books tell us that the work was first performed by the Moscow Synodal Chorus. What the history books usually omit to tell us aout this work is that for church music Moscow was very conservative, and the Synodal Chorus remained an all-male choir until it disappeared after the 1917 Revolution.

[Vile Consort]

Now, where was it that Francis was heard to say, "Oh, they're doing Me in G!"?

[decantor]

Inclusion of girls is, of course, not HIPP. The history books tell us that the work was first performed by the Moscow Synodal Chorus. What the history books usually omit to tell us aout this work is that for church music Moscow was very conservative, and the Synodal Chorus remained an all-male choir until it disappeared after the 1917 Revolution.

That's historically informative, SCB - thank you. But did you have a general point, and if so, what? That Rach and Russian music is a special case? That girls among the treble line preclude the "quasi-Russian sonority" to which I referred? Or that female voices should be excluded from the liturgical performance of Early, Renaissance, and Baroque music? In sum, to what extent is HIPP relevant in the execution of the Opus Dei in 2011?

[subcontrabass]

That's historically informative, SCB - thank you. But did you have a general point, and if so, what?

Not really. I should have put in a smiley. Real authenticity here would also demand a much bigger choir (I think the Moscow Synodal Choir had about 40 or more boys) and have alto parts sung by boys rather than falsettists. Authenticity is a very tricky thing.

[piper678]

Responses

I did slightly feel that in the 2nd set of responses something went wrong? Is that just me? The lead the precentor was giving on occasions can't have helped much. Not saying it was incorrect at all, just rather odd.[/QUOTE]

Well, if there were any problems with the responses, then they were entirely down to me, the composer. The precentor's leads were all entirely accurate, as was the singing of the choir. The only conclusion to be drawn, therefore, is that the responses weren't to everyone's taste. Let's leave it at that, shall we?

[decantor]

Well, if there were any problems with the responses, then they were entirely down to me, the composer. The precentor's leads were all entirely accurate, as was the singing of the choir. The only conclusion to be drawn, therefore, is that the responses weren't to everyone's taste. Let's leave it at that, shall we?

Well, no - if you don't mind. I actually welcomed a new set of Responses, and thought they worked pretty well - extremely well at some points - I loved the unison moment at "only". I also noted that their composer's name was well represented on the cathedral's music list for the term, and I would welcome the chance to hear those items. I was also grateful that the BBC did not fade BWV 572, even if it did over-run for a minute. Thank you very much for your input to a superb service.