CE Exeter Cathedral 11th Dec 2013

[DracoM]

CE Exeter Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: E'en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come (Paul Manz)
Responses: Byrd
Office Hymn: O heavenly Word of God on high (Verbum supernum)
Psalms: 59, 60, 61 (Barnby; Parratt; Kelway; Stewart; Goss)
First Lesson: Amos 9:11-end
Canticles: Radcliffe in F
Second Lesson: Romans 13: 8-14
Anthem: Laetentur coeli (Byrd)
Hymn: Hark, a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Advent Responsory: Christopher Gower
Benedictus in G (Stanford)


Organ Voluntary: Toccata in D minor (BuxWV 155) (Buxtehude)



David Davies (Assistant Director of Music
Andrew Millington (Director of Music)

[ardcarp]

Exeter will be minus its fine organ which is in bits with Harrisons at the moment No doubt the electronic stand-in will be OK.

Christpher Gower was a former assistant organist at Exeter

[Wolsey]

Exeter will be minus its fine organ which is in bits with Harrisons at the moment No doubt the electronic stand-in will be OK.

Having heard it live in May, I can confirm that it is more than 'OK'.

[ardcarp]

I can confirm that it is more than 'OK'.

Careful, Wolsey! If we say they're too OK then the powers that be will wonder why they're forking out six- (or even seven- ?) figure sums to maintain "that damn'd kist of whistles".

[Op. XXXIX]

Having heard it live in May, I can confirm that it is more than 'OK'.

I also heard it live last May (12th to be exact), and I thought it remarkable.

[LTFC1990]

V hooty alto sticking out in responses! Does anybody know if they have the full compliment of 12 men or not? Other than that minor criticism, a very enjoyable service so far, sounded as though perhaps they were a bit light on boys, but they did a good job with the repertoire. Very enjoyable service

[DracoM]

Sounds as if the men enjoyed that service - robust tenors doing their stuff and maybe a bit more, but somewhat reticent basses. Altos prominent, sometimes doubling trebles here and there. At times, the trebles may have welcomed support, because after that introit - at times demanding - in which some of the them seemed to suffer from vertigo, they needed a sense of the team round them. Curiously, at the very end, the Stanford Benedictus saw the boys in better fettle and with more confidence negotiating the challenges so that the singing part of the service ended on the up very satisfactorily.

Liked the Buxtehude.

[mw963]

Thirteen men, thirteen boys. Copeman Hart organ, which sounds better as broadcast (the little I've just sampled) than it did at the venue.

More when I've had something to eat.

[decantor]

Lovely service – exuded a warm, intimate glow, I thought. The choir won me over in seconds, and built on that success: it never worries me if a voice pops out of the mix occasionally so long as it spoils nothing. The treb timbre was a joy – a rich bloom, like boy altos, though they coped OK with a top Bb (?); I’d have guessed there were eight of them, which speaks well for their blend, and the nerveless soloist impressed. Psalms delivered very much to my taste – bit of drama, and some tautly luscious hushed singing, too. The organ sounded a cracker – perhaps that’s down to the player, who gave especially fine voice to Buxtehude. Thank you, Exeter – an hour well spent.

[NHTL]

In my opinion Exeter Cathedral has a difficult acoustic, there seems to be little reverberation and the sound is deadened very quickly. I attended the service yesterday and when listening to the recording of the service was pleasantly surprised at what a good job the BBC engineers had made of capturing the atmosphere of the occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed the service, the psalms were a pleasure to listen to and the organist did a splendid job with the temporary organ. Thank you Exeter.

[DracoM]

Yes, second the closeness of the acoustic. Always a surprise in a huge cathedral, but could it be that a closer acoustic is for community monastic worship, and that they original architects did not envisage the demands of later music making? Always been fascinated by these conundra.

[chitreb]

What strikes me listening to CE week by week is that not only do we have some very fine choirs in these islands (and their DOMs of course) but also an amazing number of very fine organists.

Add to that some wonderful contemporary composers and our musical heritage continues from strength to strength. Long may the finances be found to support it.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Yes, second the closeness of the acoustic. Always a surprise in a huge cathedral, but could it be that a closer acoustic is for community monastic worship, and that they original architects did not envisage the demands of later music making? Always been fascinated by these conundra.

I doubt the builders of Medieval monastic churches (and they weren't architects in the modern sense) were acousticians, and we can be fairly certain they weren't building with an eye (or ear) to what other use people might put those buildings several centuries hence!

[Chris Watson]

I suspect you're right, Gabriel, though of course we can't really know for sure. I think Exeter's dry acoustics can be explained by the fact that it is built from local stone, which is quite soft and porous.

[bach736]

Not a great fan of electrophones myself but, much as I love that Exeter organ, on this hearing I'd be inclined to keep the Copeman Hart. Mind you, I was listening on fm, coming out of Cambridge in the car. Excellent service.