CE Chester Cathedral Wed, 16th Dec 2015

[DracoM]

CE Chester Cathedral



Order of Service:


Introit: Adam lay ybounden (Howard Skempton)
Responses: Smith
Psalms 82, 83, 84, 85 (MacFarren, Cross, Woods, Hopkins)
First Lesson: Joel 3: 9-16
Antiphon: O Sapientia
Canticles: Great Service (Byrd)
Second Lesson: Matthew 24: 29-35
Anthem: Ad te levavi (White)
Hymn: Hills of the North, rejoice (Little Cornard)


Organ Voluntary: Cortège et Litanie (Dupré)



Benjamin Chewter, Organist
Philip Rushforth, Director of Music

[Vox Humana]

Nice to see some Robert White programmed. He's still far too under-performed. I shall be interested to hear what Chester make of Ad te levavi. I have always considered it a rather pedestrian, four-square piece and somewhat below White's very considerable best, but I would be delighted to be persuaded.

[jean]

Yes, and the Byrd Great Service, usually considered too long for liturgical perfpormance.

Is this a live broadcast? I thought I might go to it and checked the Cathedral website here, but there's no mention of it at all!

[DracoM]

From Chester Cath website: Wednesday 16 December
15.30 Choral Evensong (broadcast on BBC Radio 3)

The Cathedral usually conducts Evensong at 5.30
The given schedule has it at 3.30 p.m. on this upcoming Wednesday, thus hinting that it is live' IMO.

[DracoM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGF0C0Rfag

Vox Humana
This might convince you too!!

[jean]

From Chester Cath website: Wednesday 16 December
15.30 Choral Evensong (broadcast on BBC Radio 3)

That's good to know - but it's not on the page I found, linked to above.

[Keraulophone]

This might convince

That definitely convinced me. What a wonderful line-up of gents!

[Vox Humana]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGF0C0Rfag

Vox Humana
This might convince you too!!

Not bad at all. I prefer the performance on this disc however - and the one on this disc is just as good, if not better. To be fair, it's not a bad piece. I'm probably being picky because so much music by White is better.

[Chris Watson]

Not bad at all. I prefer the performance on this disc however - and the one on this disc is just as good, if not better. To be fair, it's not a bad piece. I'm probably being picky because so much music by White is better.

Can't remember if there is anyone who is on all three of these discs without looking at the booklets, but there is a strong connection between them and I'm pretty sure the H8 and Gallicantus discs have the same director.

[ardcarp]

This dignified CE had a really appropriate Advent feel to it. Not a sniff of premature Christmas! This is an accomplished choir, well directed, with an excellent top line. It is probably churlish to say that my enjoyment was slightly marred by (what appeared to be) one back-row voice which protruded not so much in volume but by having an edgy tone. This may have been over-emphasised by the mike-placing. I just wish it could have been rounded off a bit. The snag is, once noticed, it's hard to ignore! My problem. Good that local boy Robert White had an outing. I only know his Lamentations. Thanks for a great service (!) Chester.

[DracoM]

Endorse every word.

What always annoys pretty well every week is that the studio intro is one volume and the on-location singing site then sounds literally MILES away as if on another island.

[jean]

...This is an accomplished choir, well directed, with an excellent top line.

Girls, in case anyone was wondering - and only ten of them altogether, five of them to seven men each side, though the Byrd splits the trebles!

It is probably churlish to say that my enjoyment was slightly marred by (what appeared to be) one back-row voice which protruded not so much in volume but by having an edgy tone. This may have been over-emphasised by the mike-placing.

It wasn't evident at all to me, in the Cathedral.

The whole thing was quite wonderful.

What always annoys pretty well every week is that the studio intro is one volume and the on-location singing site then sounds literally MILES away as if on another island.

There's a whole thread about this sort of thing somewhere...

[Magnificat]

Girls, in case anyone was wondering - and only ten of them altogether, five of them to seven men each side, though the Byrd splits the trebles!.

Jean,

If the top line were girls of the same age range as the boys then the singing was outstanding.

If it was, as I assumed, older teenage girls/young women then you might expect a decent level of accomplishment and they were very very good indeed.

The Chester site is frustrating in this respect. It talks about the cathedral choir and shows a full view of some boys and a back shot of what looks to be older girls standing in front of the men. Nowhere, as far as I can see, does it mention separate boys' and girls' choirs only that the choristers are drawn from various schools in the city and surrounding area.

VCC

[terratogen]

Jean,

If the top line were girls of the same age range as the boys then the singing was outstanding.

If it was, as I assumed, older teenage girls/young women then you might expect a decent level of accomplishment and they were very very good indeed.

I had just been writing the following when I was beat to it:

Girls, in case anyone was wondering - and only ten of them altogether, five of them to seven men each side, though the Byrd splits the trebles!

So those who wouldn't extend choristerships to seven- to thirteen-year-old girls anyway can simultaneously dismiss the accomplishments of Chester's girls by obliquely implying that it's only by virtue of their age that they've done so splendidly here.

At any rate. Talk about a choir that punches above its weight. I've been listening in a disjointed way at my desk, but all that I've heard thus far has been terrific. Love that Skempton more and more each time I hear it-- slower this time than I'm used to, but no less compelling. So well done, Chester. Looking forward to having a proper listen tonight.

[jean]

If it was, as I assumed, older teenage girls/young women...

It wasn't, though they weren't very young, either.

They didn't get to wear surplices. Why might that be, I wonder?