CE The Temple Church 16.ii.Xl

[DracoM]

CE The Temple Church


Order of Service:


Introit: I would find thee (Thalben-Ball)
Responses: Rose
Psalm: 59 (Stanford)
First Lesson: Isaiah 49: 1-13
Office Hymn: Let all the world (Luckington)
Canticles: Dyson in D
Second Lesson: Revelation 7: 9-17
Anthem: Hear my words, ye people (Parry)
Final hymn: Now thank we all our God (Nun danket)


Organ Voluntary: Iubilium (David Bednall)


Associate Organist: Greg Morris
Director of Music: James Vivian

[WmByrd]

So pleased to see some good, honest Anglican repertoire down without any attempt to put on some sort of concert of all things weird and wacky. James Vivian has done great work at the Temple. Probably the best back row in the country as well. One to look forward to! :-)

[Op. XXXIX]

I shall look forward to this also, though it might have been appropriate to include Walford Davies in G?

Did Thalben-Ball ever set the canticles? I am familiar with some of his organ works and hymn tunes, but that is all I have encountered. Perhaps someone with more experience -and age- might be able to enlighten me.

[bach736]

Mag and Nunc in C - Te Deum and Jubilate in B flat - Te Deum and Benedictus in C

[Simon]

One wonders if Mr Byrd above was pulling our legs - and one further wonders why a London church was chosen for today instead of one of the numerous cathedrals that are dotted about Britain and who could do with the money and perhaps also the exposure that a CE broadcast brings.

We had Dyson in D, mixed with Dyson in D# and occasionally Dyson in Db. Not to mention Dyson in ff most of the time. We heard about lighs, which apparently lighened the gentiles. We certainly heard the back row: I think that I might have managed that without the radio, had I put my head out of the door. We didn't hear much sweet, measured or sensitive singing, though admittedly I missed the introit, which could have been sublime.

The adjective that most easily comes to mind is raucous - a word which could also come in handy, amongst others, if one were asked to describe the particularly discordant voluntary, too.

Overall, not a pleasant listening experience for me, this week, I'm afraid, but nonetheless I'm looking forward to catching up with the ones I've recently missed.

S-S!

[DracoM]

Well, have to say, I think Simon is being a tad tetchy and ungenerous!

In the nature of the music choice, neither the Dyson nor particularly the Parry are for the faint-hearted, and neither could be accused of being shy and retiring pieces. Hence if you are a choir charged with that programme, you have to give it weliie! The Temple has precious little 'acoustic' to help textures float, which means that you really do have to work hard. 'Raucous' is a bit mean, isnt it?

Anyway..............FWIW.....>

Grave little GT-B introit – less is more? Psalms disciplined and focused, excellent diction, and made nicely expressive.
Dyson was mixed. Some anxiety perhaps among trebles maybe that they might not make the heights? Led to some forcing of tone.

And in fact, it was quite noticeable throughout the service that a cappella, the blend improved, the boys relaxed knowing they could easily be heard, and their natural richness replaced a tendency on a couple of occasions to shrillness when flat out at the very top of the stave and with both heavy organ and back desks out in force. Altos were very fine, and had a lot of tough stuff in this service.

We seem to be having a mini-festival of Parry in CE of late, and this one is a real snorter – testing baritone solo and perhaps even bigger treble solo which got the singer way down his register, against all manner of big scale textures, small groups, and some colossal organ to underscore the singing, as well having solos in its own right. Both soloists should be pretty pleased with their work. Baritone was idiomatic, and operatic in the best sense and relished his challenge. Again, when the treble soloist just sang, stopped being a bit over-anxious, and didn’t force or harden his tone, it was a lovely, rich timbre, and he can spin a line, even Parry's longest.

Loved the Bednall voluntary – played with a lot of panache.

Many thanks to all.

[DracoM]

Should add that the Dyson Nunc was arguably, for me, the best piece of singing of the afternoon.

[ardcarp]

Help! What's gone wrong with the i-player? Desperate to hear service, but pressing Listen Now seems to throw up a funny screen. Any suggestions?

[decantor]

As so often, DracoM, I largely agree with your comments. But in truth, with the exception of the Bednall (which I found invigorating), are you not almost agreeing with Simon's earlier post, simply adding more detail and diplomacy? I have to admit that, during the Mag especially, I expected the service to be interrupted by the sound of an exploding treble.

[Simon]

Sorry about all the interruptions to my posting today...

I intended to comment also that he top lines were most enthusiastic indeed - and credit due to them for that. That they haven't been shown how to sing loud and high with sweetness of tone is clearly not their fault.

I suppose just singing a service on Sunday isn't the best practice for the odd evensong - which begs further the question as to why they broadcast it. Lichfield, for example, need a lot of help with their East window, and as we read elsewhere the choir there did their bit for this the other week. They sing evensong almost daily, too. I don't know what the financial benefit of a broadcast CE is now, but every little helps doesn't it? - and if nothing else the congregation might increase a bit on a broadcast day...

[ardcarp]

Crikey! Well there were some quiet sweet bits; the GTB introit (blink and you'd miss it), the Nunc, and it was a good idea doing the pslam unacc given the amount of organ elsewhere. The men at the Temple are all pros, have singing careers and are quite well-paid for tipping up there. They do of course have big voices. The bass soloist in the Parry was one of the best I've heard on CE. So the boys do need to belt it out a bit. There was some shrillness (Dyson with death in the Mag) but they sang with terrific enthusiasm and gusto, and I must say I had a broad grin on my face all through the Parry. Mezzo- forte blending men and gently hooting trebles just isn't their style so vive la difference!

Simon, I don't see why CE should be only from cathedrals. Surely The Temple has a great musical tradition? I take it you wouldn't ban Kings and Johns? And occasionally an outsider (remember Bramdean School?) has been a great surprise.

Does anyone know what that unusual bit in the Rose responses was?

And finally, is it a closet joke to do Let all the world in every CORNER sing at The Temple?

[listen2counterpoint]

Dear Simon (and your delightful little Snowman!)

Might you be the sort of guy that runs for the hills at the slightest mention of anything more than mf? Or perhaps a man who likes the term 'Evensong Voice' when describing the soloist in Stanford in G Nunc Dimittis........

Either way, I suspect you may not be that familiar with the concept of open singing, in particular when it comes to church music. It is indeed rare that one comes across a choir like that of the Temple Church in the Church Music Scene; it is rather more of an opera chorus, but the one major thing it has above nearly every choir in its field is that the singing is healthy and properly connected. The boys are no exception to this. As Edward Higginbottom and Christopher Robinson will no doubt tell you, this is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve with boys voices, as they can easily misinterpret openness and 'support' for pushing and over-singing. I feel confident that the Temple Church Boys were on the right side of the coin this afternoon however.

James Vivian chose suitable repertoire for the choir, as noted by both wise choral commentators Ardcarp and DracoM, but the performance was not without subtlety - we were treated to some beautifully controlled singing in the Dyson Nunc and also in the Thalben-Ball.

Perhaps you shouldn't risk yourself with these more professional broadcasts of Choral Evensong Simon, and stick with schoolmasters, solicitors etc of cathedral choirs such as Carlisle, Derby and Portsmouth...........

In response to Ardcarp's request for info about the Rose - I think that alternative Gloria verse was written for King's Cambridge and therefore brought to Temple by the two DoMs who were Organ Scholars there.

Once again, Hats off to the TC, for showing what singing can be like in a church choir of boys and men.

L2C

[Magnificat]

The singing wasn't the best although I thought the soloists did well enough.

Seemed to me that the choir went completely wrong at one point at the start of the responses.

The psalm seemed to be sung full rather than antiphonally which isn't very good for a choir that some people consider one of the best in the country.

I'm glad the chaplain prayed for the Law - it needs praying for suffering as it does from the sin of pride - hubris in fact.

The Law has nothing to be proud about when you consider the terrible miscarriages of justice that occur frequently and never receive an apology, the obscene cost and fees charged by fat cat lawyers and the time it takes to obtain justice because of the delays due to arcane procedures and simple inefficiency.

Also the judges have not been very protective recently of the right of Christians to freedom of religious conscience and not to be forced to act against their beliefs which is their right under the European Bill of Human Rights based on Magna Carta no less. Disgraceful.

Offend against the Law itself - contempt of court, perjury, taking the law into your own hands, perverting the course of justice etc and the Law comes down on you like a ton of bricks even for a first offence by people who are not essentially wicked whereas violent yobbos who terrorise their neighbourhoods time and again are let off with a slap on the wrists. False pride indeed.

Sorry about the rant but the Service did come from the legal heart of London as the chaplain said so I thought I'd have my two penn'orth.

VCC

[DracoM]

Crumbs! Someone touched a raw nerve there!

BTW, not sure, undoubtedly effective as the Temple Church may be, that it could be described as one of the best in the country, could it?

[listen2counterpoint]

Perhaps a better medium through which to judge the true quality of the TC Choir might be through their recently released CD The Majesty of Thy Glory. Have a listen DracoM and then let me know whether your opinion has changed? It may not be your cup of cha, but there's a variety of repertoire on it too that displays the full range of the choir's capabilities - certainly much better than Dyson in D (in particular through the appalling BBC Filters - surely Mrs Frogatt in Sutton Coldfield has now bought a new radio which is capable of taking a bit more ooomph without busting the front off?!)

L2C