CE Chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford Wed, 12th March 2014

[DracoM]

CE Chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford



Order of Service:



Introit: Super flumina Babylonis (de Monte)
Responses: Byrd
Office Hymn: O kind Creator, bow thine ear (Audi Benigne)
Psalms: 65, 66, 67 (Plainchant)
First Lesson: Isaiah 49:1-10
Canticles: The Second Service (Byrd)
Second Lesson: Matthew 10: 24-39
Anthems: Quomodo cantabimus (Byrd)
Hymn: Lord Jesus, think on me (St Paul’s)



Organ Voluntary: Voluntary for my Lady Nevell (Byrd)




Thomas Allery (Assistant Organist)
Daniel Hyde (Informator Choristarum)

[Vox Humana]

Nice to have the de Monte and Byrd's reply to him in the same service.

[ardcarp]

I'm really looking forward to this CE. Daniel Hyde's first broadcast from Magdalen was impressive, and I'm intrigued to find out his 'take' on the peri-Reformation repertory.

[Matthew Martin]

I'm really looking forward to this CE. David Hyde's first broadcast from Magdalen was impressive, and I'm intrigued to find out his 'take' on the peri-Reformation repertory.

Who is David Hyde?

Sorry, Daniel...now corrected.... ed. ardcarp

[Oldcrofter]

Good question, Matthew Martin (Message #20). I believe David Hyde is an artist who runs courses, together with his wife, Maureen, on P & O cruises - I'm not sure, however, if he leans more towards Laudianism or Arminianism (vide Message #5 D dello S)

http://www.davidhyde.org.uk/cruises.htm

I'm sure Despina Pond-life will enlighten us.

[french frank]

Discussion on the content of the service is now here. Could we reserve this thread for the comments on the programme itself?

[edashtav]

I'm really looking forward to this CE. Daniel Hyde's first broadcast from Magdalen was impressive, and I'm intrigued to find out his 'take' on the peri-Reformation repertory.

Here, Here!

[DracoM]

Well, good grief, after all that, the CE in question is actually TODAY @ 3.30 p.m.

[ardcarp]

<< Magdalen have developed a distinctive sound, very different from Ives' days. I like it. I enjoyed the plainsong psalms very much and the Byrd Resonses and Canticles. It was a brave choice to do the two 8-part pieces. The da Monte came off the better of the two, maybe lacking a sense of horizontal line at times. The Byrd Quomodo was a valiant attempt; alas being valiant sometimes leads trebles to go sharp, and coupled with equally valiant attempts by the back desks to hold on to some sense of stable tonality, the result was less than happy in the tuning department. This all sounds curmudgeonly. It's not meant to be, and I'd like to congratulate all in the choir and their director on 'going for it'. Lovely hymn too. >>

[DracoM]

Agree with ardcarp in almost all respects.

But I DO very much like Daniel Hyde's project to get the Magd lads to sing out, sing big, sing with full round, unafraid tone. The plainchant psalms was for me a real demonstration of what such exchanges can generate. Terrific that mere walking distance apart in one smallish city, there are such illuminatingly diverse ways of coaching/persuading/encouraging boys to sing, and they are distinctively different. Byrd motet/anthem wobbled a bit as related above, but we're talking about a journey here, and this was a good snapshot of where Magdalen are at the moment.

Big sing in today's CE. Wish them all well. Real commitment and bags of energy from all parts.

Many thanks and congrats.

[ardcarp]

But I DO very much like Daniel Hyde's project to get the Magd lads to sing out, sing big, sing with full round, unafraid tone.

So do I.

[morebritishmusicplease]

I attend CE at Magdalen quite regularly, and I too would like to applaud Daniel Hyde's encouragement of the trebles to sing out more and do more solos. During the week they frequently do pieces which involve short solos for a number of voices, which I think gives them more confidence for the bigger moments. I've been going for about 14 years, and the choir was very good in Bill Ives' day, too, but I remember he almost always doubled up treble solos - I suppose for safety - but the musical effect wasn't very satisfactory! As said above, the broadcast was pretty representative of where Magdalen's choir are at the moment, and the future is looking bright! :-)

[morebritishmusicplease]

Also, have I gone mad or have they changed the time of Choral Evensong again on Radio 3?

[ardcarp]

When I last looked it was 3.30pm on Weds with the Sunday repeat being at 3pm. But you never know.........

[DracoM]

3.30 Weds, usually, but I agree they are mucking us about a bit on Sundays particularly.
I'll try to remember to post the time of the Sunday repeat as well.