CE Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London 15th Feb 2012

[Miles Coverdale]

Psalms 59, 60 & 67 are the set psalms for Evening Prayer / Evensong on the 15th February 2012 in the Common Worship Lectionary used by most Anglican churches in this day and age, apart from the odd cathedral foundation.

I think I'm right in saying that the number of cathedrals that sing the BCP psalms for the day as a matter of course is now under 10.

[AscribeUntoTheLad]

I think I'm right in saying that the number of cathedrals that sing the BCP psalms for the day as a matter of course is now under 10.

13 I reckon currently....

[ardcarp]

I was much taken by the introit - but not as an introit: it was no scene-setter (soul-settler, or whatever), but sucked in too much space for its own. From then on, all a touch...... well, I would have chosen the word 'soporific'. Despite my affection for Part's music, I do not think he captured the spirit of the Mag, with its emotional ups and downs; the Nunc does better.

I haven't had time to listen to this CE yet, but in the true spirit of Forum users, this doesn't inhibit me from replying. I don't think Part attempted to 'express' sentiments appropriate to the Mag (or the Nunc for that matter). Rather in the same vein as Stravinsky's pronouncements about his Mass setting, Part's music doesn't attempt to describe or word-paint, merely to create a meditative space in the mind. That's my inept way of putting it anyway.

I am slightly worried that talented singing youngsters don't have their horizons or their technique broadened as much as maybe students in the 60s and 70s. There is such a fashion for mood music, that many choirs (including some of the top recording choirs) get locked into programming wall-to-wall meditation. It is undeniably a fact that there is a big audience among the general public for it, and a lot of folk who are not normally 'classical music' buffs are drawn to it. [God preserve us from giving people what they want!] There is a very good semi-pro choir near here which regularly fills a big abbey with its combination of Renaissance stuff and late 20th/early 21st century minimalism. So it puts bums on seats.

[DracoM]

What one writer called the Morton Lauridsen Tendency - to which some might probably feel like adding some names that feature regularly in some choirs' repertoires? As well as Lauridsen, what about Whiteacre, O'Regan, and, perhaps, of an earlier generation, John Tavener?

[Gabriel Jackson]

I am slightly worried that talented singing youngsters don't have their horizons or their technique broadened as much as maybe students in the 60s and 70s. There is such a fashion for mood music, that many choirs (including some of the top recording choirs) get locked into programming wall-to-wall meditation.

What nonsense! What is this "mood music" that these young singers are forced to perform? What music that was regular fare for student choirs in the 1960s ad 1970s is being denied them today?

[DracoM]

Well, GJ, the kinds of "easy listening" and generally "religious / meditative" mood music that these days regularly features in not terribly brave programmes that might mean that said choirs don't programme some of your own much more challenging but satisfying music?

[Gabriel Jackson]

Well, GJ, the kinds of "easy listening" and generally "religious / meditative" mood music that these days regularly features in not terribly brave programmes that might mean that said choirs don't programme some of your own much more challenging but satisfying music?

Nicely put, but I don't think it's fair to cast Bo Hanssen or Vytautas Miskinis in that mould.

[fisheman]

Well, GJ, the kinds of "easy listening" and generally "religious / meditative" mood music that these days regularly features in not terribly brave programmes that might mean that said choirs don't programme some of your own much more challenging but satisfying music?[/QUOTE]

Whoever said Part Mag and Nunc was easy....actually it is incredibly hard to pull off, both vocally and textually.

[DracoM]

But maybe not for the audience / congregation? 'Wash' sound can be difficult to pitch. keep in tune, but I doubt the audience being lulled into a meditative peace actually realises that.

[Simon]

13 I reckon currently....

(who use BCP psalms)

Really? As low as that? Why on earth have so many changed?