CE Lichfield Cathedral Wed, Dec 4th

[DracoM]

CE Lichfield Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: Advent (The Lichfield Antiphons) (Richard Lloyd)
Responses: Disraeli Brown
Office Hymn: Creator of the starry height (Conditor Alme)
Psalms: 22, 23 (Camidge; Walford Davies)
First Lesson: Isaiah 43:14-end
Canticles: Statham in E minor
Second Lesson: Revelation 2: -7
Anthem: Prepare ye the way (Wise)
Final Hymn: Hills of the north, rejoice (Little Cornard)



Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in D (Schmidt)



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

[DracoM]

Robust singing, no holding back, nicely chosen canticles for girls' first broadcast I'd have thought. Brave but ambitious verse anthem with a number of solos.
Use of Advent Prose [unscheduled by BBC] good use of time, and a forthright bit of Schmidt to round things off.

Thx to Lichfield.

[ardcarp]

Congratulations to Lichfield girls for their first broadcast CE. You did a great job.

It seems churlish to make any sort of critical comment. Several of us (OK we're the despised armchair experts) have recently been troubled by over-powerful back-rows. I regret that...as it came over the airwaves....we had another example here. The psalms were, for me, spoiled by a very obtrusive tenor...but it was not just he. I shall probably get drummed out of the club for saying this, but can't choir-directors step back, have a listen, and get individuals to throttle back a bit? I hate to bring up the subject of St Barry, but he called a spade a bloody shovel in such circumstances. And if the fault were to lie with the engineers, I have seen the holy one, during the practice for a live broadcast, go into the van and tell the blokes how to twiddle their knobs. Do DoMs these days get a chance to hear how things are being balanced up behind the scenes?

[edashtav]

Congratulations to Lichfield girls for their first broadcast CE. You did a great job.

It seems churlish to make any sort of critical comment. Several of us (OK we're the despised armchair experts) have recently been troubled by over-powerful back-rows. I regret that...as it came over the airwaves....we had another example here. The psalms were, for me, spoiled by a very obtrusive tenor...but it was not just he. [...]

Robust singing, no holding back, nicely chosen canticles for girls' first broadcast I'd have thought. Brave but ambitious verse anthem with a number of solos.
[...]

Thx to Lichfield.

I'm nearer to DracoM than ardcarp in terms of Lichfield's singing of the psalms. Psalm 22 is all blood, guts and thunder. Frequently, it calls for "robust singing, no holding back". These colourful moments are not fully expressed in a traditional "English" performance full of hooting boys, and expression blunted by an over-concern for blend. Catherine Lamb filled both psalms with drama. The story-telling was excellent. The use of dynamics and rubato was splendid. Yes, blend was sometimes undermined but I was irritated more by excessive vibrato in one soprano voice than the forward tenor. I felt that, both in the psalms and in canticles, there was much fresh imagining of the music and words. Yes, their were blemishes, occasionally poor intonation, and some "nervous" wobbles, but that's better than a bland safety blanket. Catherine was pushing her forces towards a new 21st century interpretation of English Church Music. More power to her elbow - I'm looking forward to more of her work.
Forward to the Future with Lichfield.

[ardcarp]

excessive vibrato in one soprano voice

Yes, noticed that too but didn't dare to comment, but:

I'm looking forward to more of her work.

Me too.