CE Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Wed,19th Feb 2014

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  • DracoM
    Host
    • Mar 2007
    • 12986

    #31
    George Guest??

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    • Finzi4ever
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 601

      #32
      Originally posted by DracoM View Post
      George Guest??
      His choir's tone, though fantastic (and his are still my favourite Haydn masses), was of a much more European ilk. The St A evensong made me hanker for those uber rich and gooey, 'Nigella' sonorities that were nonetheless supremely musical.

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      • ardcarp
        Late member
        • Nov 2010
        • 11102

        #33
        Would that be Fastbuck Abbey, by any chance - where the Rollschweller operates in the opposite direction to German ones?
        I couldn't possibly comment.....

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        • DracoM
          Host
          • Mar 2007
          • 12986

          #34
          Ah, yes, John's 'continental sound'!

          It was always the knee-jerk reaction to what GG was doing at John's, and IMO a very inaccurate description. Listen to the German boy-led choirs eg Regensburg, Dresden et al and they make a VERY different sound. Listen to the Escallonia Monserrat and they make a very different sound again.

          John's never sounded like any of them. Yes, they sounded very different to KCC, but the lazy way KCC was always held up as the benchmark for what English cathedral choristers 'should' sound like - thanks to relentless showcasing over decades by the BBC among others - was already not a universal criterion in UK even then. Westminster Cathedral was far closer to the 'continental sound' and still is than John's ever was IMO.

          Listen to archives of St Albans et al, John Scott's St Paul's, listen now to Hereford, Truro, Winchester, Temple, and many others eg New CO, and CCCOx. Listen to St Thomas Fifth Avenue now: is that 'European', or ......well, what?

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          • mw963
            Full Member
            • Feb 2012
            • 538

            #35
            Originally posted by Gabriel Jackson View Post
            Indeed! Though, sadly, there are far worse pieces than that in the regular repertoires of many liturgical choirs and which, in the weird parallel universe that is church music, many people seem to think are great music.

            Of course people like that are *so* benighted aren't they, poor lambs.

            How you must feel for them....

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            • Gabriel Jackson
              Full Member
              • May 2011
              • 686

              #36
              Originally posted by mw963 View Post
              Of course people like that are *so* benighted aren't they, poor lambs.

              How you must feel for them....
              Not really

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              • jean
                Late member
                • Nov 2010
                • 7100

                #37
                Originally posted by mw963 View Post
                Of course people like that are *so* benighted aren't they, poor lambs.

                How you must feel for them....
                There is some truly dreadful modern liturgical music around. You're lucky if you have never had it inflicted on you.

                And it's all so unnecessary, because some of the best music is very simple, and might even be sung by congregations, if they could be bothered.

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