CE King's College, Cambridge: Wed 22nd January

[DracoM]

CE King's College, Cambridge



Order of Service:



Opening Antiphon: Verbum caro (Tavener)
Introit: Hymn to the Mother of God (Tavener)
Responses: Plainsong
Psalms: 108, 109 [omitting verses 5-19] (Tone VIII & Tone II)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 19: 9-15
Canticles: Collegium Regale (Tavener)
Second Lesson: Mark 9: 2-13
Anthems: There is no rose (Tavener) & Today the Virgin (Tavener)
Hymn: Ave, Maris Stella (Plainsong)
Closing Antiphon: Verbum caro (Tavener)



Organ Voluntary: Le Verbe (from La Nativité du Seigneur) (Messiaen)




Douglas Tang & Tom Etheridge (Organ Scholars)
Stephen Cleobury (Director of Music)

[ardcarp]

Good idea to use plainsong for everything sung that isn't Tavener. Keeps it pure. I suppose Tavener's love for the Orthodox churches meant that a set of Anglican responses would be an unlikely child of his. And I can't see the average precentor getting his head around Cyrillic! No organ voluntaries either?

[jean]

...I can't see the average precentor getting his head around Cyrillic!...

What's wrong with a bit of judicious transliteration?

[subcontrabass]

No organ voluntaries either?

Tavener seems to have written only one piece for solo organ, and at 22 minutes it is perhaps a bit long for a voluntary.

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 3.30 p.m.

[mw963]

I shall be shot for saying this but I felt one can have too much of a good thing. I'm afraid I left after the Mag and went and split some logs. I also have to admit that Messiaen is no draw for me either, although I did hear the last few minutes.

And that's not to say I don't like Tavener - hearing Lucien Nethsingha doing the Kontaktion at Exeter was an experience (several in fact over the years) never to be forgotten.

But I enjoyed the professionalism of what I heard....

[DracoM]

Not sure about what to say on this one.

Undiluted Tavener. Men seemed very comfortable, boys far less so IMO, and were frequently and rightly supported by good altos - is that as writ, I wonder, or lifeboat drill? Certainly some very tricky little corners in this CE despite the grave and largely slow moving and repetitive figures. Bassi dredged well.

Whether it's a good to fixate on one composer for an entire CE, still not sure, particularly one with as idiosyncratic a signature as Tavener's, but I suppose we do get all-Byrd or Tallis services, so...........what's the difference?

Not sure I took to the first reader. Declamatory, minatory, OTT maybe??

I love Messiaen generally, but this vol came across as just a bit lack lustre, but that may just be my mood - bad afternoon here with bitingly cold, strong SE wind, sheeting down with rain.

[Miles Coverdale]

Whether it's a good to fixate on one composer for an entire CE, still not sure, particularly one with as idiosyncratic a signature as Tavener's, but I suppose we do get all-Byrd or Tallis services, so...........what's the difference?

Er, Byrd and Tallis wrote better music?

[DracoM]

What does that 'er' mean? You think Byrd/Tallis wrote better music? Or not? Sorry, not sure I follow.

[Miles Coverdale]

What does that 'er' mean? You think Byrd/Tallis wrote better music? Or not? Sorry, not sure I follow.

I meant to put 'because' after the 'Er', which does not of itself mean a great deal. (There's no tone of voice on the internet.)

Yes, I think Byrd and Tallis wrote much better music. Tavener's music crosses the line between repetition and tedium rather too often, in my opinion.

[ardcarp]

All seems a bit negative so far! I thought the blend of men and boys in all the plainchant/plainsong was excellent. The service was most dignified and presented without fuss or unnecessary announcement. It was a most fitting tribute to Tavener, who was an original voice. I've never been a huge fan of the minimalist repetitive tendency, and I wish it had not been copied so widely, but I just get this feeling Tavener will make it to posterity where others might not. I was amused that my 12-year-old grand-daughter, listening by chance, began joining in with that 'Seraphim' trope in the Mag, and had more or less got the piece sussed by the end. I did not know the final 2 anthems well, and maybe there was a slight hint of untidiness in the trebles at one point, but on the whole I thought they sounded on good form and did a good job. The lessons were read with the clarity needed for KCC chapel; I was charmed by both the boyish delivery (was it a boy?) of the first lesson and by the northern vowels of the second. No slips or stumbles...professionally done.

If I were to join in the quibbling, I'd have liked the plainsong done alternately by boys and men rather than unison throughout. This was often the practice for psalms in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, where they only joined together for the Gloria. But the psalmody was cleanly done.

I enjoyed the service, and although no expert in these matters, thought it well-engineered too.

[edashtav]

I endorse all that ardcarp wrote in #11.

The canticles brought back happy memories of singing the Magnificat 20 years ago at Stowe under Paul Drayton, and that experiernce helped me to appreciate the greater articulation, cleanness of rhythm, sense of propulsion and care over the placing of climaxes displayed by King's College.

A effective and affecting memorial tribute.

[Lento]

I shall similarly be shot for admitting to finding plainsong tedious after the first minute or so; but, then, with my concentration span ......

[jean]

But psalm tones (which were the only actual plainsong we got here) are the very plainest of plainsong, and even in something as psalm-heavy as Vespers you could expect a more melismatic antiphon or two!

[ardcarp]

There is something rather pleasing about simple plainsong psalmody as found in Briggs and Frere, the book beloved of the High Anglicans. Using men and boys separately definitely relieves any sense of monotony, as does a very discreet organ accompaniment. (Quite an art, doing it with as few chord changes as possible, preserving the correct modal flavour and not drawing attention to yourself. The late Arthur Hutchings always claimed to score-read the Rasumovsky Quartets in the background...and nobody noticed.) I agree with Jean that antiphons are good, but maybe a step too far for Anglican CE from Kings?