CE Lincoln Cathedral Wed, 12th Feb 2014

[DracoM]

CE Lincoln Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: Regina Coeli (Howells)
Responses: Philip Moore
Office Hymn: Most holy God of heaven (Plainsong)
Psalm: 91 (Hylton Stewart)
First Lesson: 1 Samuel 1:19b-end
Canticles: Rose in C minor
Second Lesson: Luke 2: 41-end
Anthem: All wisdom cometh from the Lord (Philip Moore)
Hymn: The spacious firmament on high (Addison's)




Organ Voluntary: Elegiac Romance (Ireland)



Charles Harrison (Organist)
Aric Prentice (Director of Music)

[mw963]

Goodness, an on-air plug for the retiring collection. Is that a first?

Surely better done in the pre-broadcast "talk".

[ardcarp]

Goodness, an on-air plug for the retiring collection.

I think to be fair they were not making any concession to its being a broradcast (apart from the opening 'welcome'). Hence all the stuff about black and green books and the list of the departed...which reminded me naughtily of The Huntingdonshire Coachmen.

If the plug had included their BACS details, that might have been going a bit far.

[DracoM]

I quite liked that genuinely parochial, in the best sense, contextualising.

Singing OK - boys and girls together. Not unusually, Philip Moore's work caught the ear. Oh, and the gales blowing through the Minster.

[edashtav]

Not unusually, Philip Moore's work caught the ear.

Yes, Philip Moore's 50 year old anthem maintains its freshness and appeal with its clear textures, and rhythmic verve. I felt the John Ireland voluntary which is, perhaps, over-extended, was muddied by Lincoln's organ and the uncontrollable external wind conditions. It was written for the clearer acoustic and Walker organ of Holy Trinity, Sloane Square.

[weston752]

Yes, Philip Moore's 50 year old anthem... .

A bit of confusion about the Moore anthem: it dates from 1980, and was written for the 50th anniversary of Lanesborough Prep School (which provided the Guildford cathedral choristers).

[Wolsey]

... and was written for the 50th anniversary of Lanesborough Prep School (which provided the Guildford cathedral choristers).

It still does...

[Philip]

I think to be fair they were not making any concession to its being a broradcast (apart from the opening 'welcome'). Hence all the stuff about black and green books and the list of the departed...which reminded me naughtily of The Huntingdonshire Coachmen.

I have attended Evensong from time to time at Lincoln over the past few years and the prayers always follow this format, including the remembering of members of the Cathedral Foundation. What was done today was just as normal - likewise the Plainsong Office Hymn. In many ways these broadcasts should be a snapshot into the 'normal' - often they are anything but.

I didn't know the Rose canticles and thought they had some good moments. The Philip Moore anthem is a good piece, sung with aplomb. That John Ireland is perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, all Edwardian mush, although a 'Romance' is perhaps suitable just before St Valentine's Day!

[ardcarp]

Every place has its own way of doing the Psalms. Fascinating isn't it? Lincoln's method seemed to involve an all-embracing matrix of organ sound. The choir ended each quarter-verse with a very chopped-off syllable...which seemed at odds with all that overwhelming legato.

Anyway, enough of my foibles. The music in general was very musically directed, and maybe the solo voice in the office hymn deserves special mention for its rock-steady tuning.

[terratogen]

The music in general was very musically directed, and maybe the solo voice in the office hymn deserves special mention for its rock-steady tuning.

Only because you've mentioned it, Ardcarp, I'm going to ask what I'm afraid is going to be a spectacularly stupid question: that solo voice from the plainsong— was that the voice of the precentor? Or of one of the choristers? If the latter—and as the service continued, I began to expect the latter more and more, thanks to the presence of slightly sibilant endings so commonly affected by trebles—is that liturgically kosher, as it were, or at all common?

At any rate, I thought this a wonderful evensong both in material and in performance, which struck me as being incredibly rich, particularly in the tutti passages. I imagine that the cathedral itself, even with the wind howling around, lends the choir a bit of the warmth and vastness that characterised much of this service for me, but I couldn't care less. I found it lovely. Thanks to all at Lincoln. I think I'll give this another listen for some cheer when we get battered by tomorrow's storm.

[chitreb]

I quite liked that genuinely parochial, in the best sense, contextualising.

Singing OK - boys and girls together. Not unusually, Philip Moore's work caught the ear. Oh, and the gales blowing through the Minster.

At times I was convinced I was listening to girls on the top line and at other times equally convinced I was listening to boys. Thanks for clarifying that there were both!

Like others I enjoyed the Moore and the Rose but less so the Ireland.

[edashtav]

{...} the Moore anthem {...} dates from 1980.

Thanks for correcting me, Weston752 ... to damn with faint praise, it seems to me that it could have been written 50 years ago, maybe its virtues are timeless.

[ardcarp]

is that liturgically kosher, as it were, or at all common?

Perfectly kosher. Alternating soloist and choir has a long history, I think; and IMO it is a beautiful way of doing plainsong psalms too. As for who sang it, who cares? It was exceptionally well done.

[Vox Humana]

Perfectly kosher. Alternating soloist and choir has a long history, I think; and IMO it is a beautiful way of doing plainsong psalms too. As for who sang it, who cares? It was exceptionally well done.

I have no idea what might or might not be kosher, but, so far as the English church is concerned there is no ancient tradition of alternating a soloist and chorus in hymns - or psalms, for that matter. Nor was either of these ever begun by a high voice, except when sung by nuns. Psalms and hymns were sung traditionally by the two sides of the choir antiphonally, all joining for the Gloria. However, as you have probably gathered by now, my idea of English cathedral tradition is the Use of Sarum. Against that, I know of people whose views on what is liturgically proper seem to go back no further than Vatican ii. In any case, there is no imperative for cathedral DoMs to be traditional; they are perfectly free to do whatever they can get away with. At least alternating high and low voices is more audibly distinct on radio than alternating two similar tonal groups.

[ardcarp]

Well, Vox, I am no scholar, but I was lucky enough to study plainsong with the late, great Mary Berry. She herself became introduced to it by Nadia Boulanger, and thereafter became one of the principal authorities on Gregorian...and even other... forms of chant. She was a great advocate of chant and held courses and seminars worldwide. I seem to remember her talking of the origins of chant being something to do with 6th century [?] Frankish cantors...and there we have the word 'cantor', central to the whole thing.

One of Mary's points was that there is no (known) right and wrong way of doing things. This is partly because so much was done by aural tradition; and there are many different aural traditions. Anything that was notated was more an aide memoire than something to be 'sight read'. There are squiggles and hieroglyphs in various notated psalters whose precise meaning is uncertain. Anyway, under Mary's direction, we sang Gregorian chant in a number of different ways, one of which was the 'call and response' in which alternate quarter- or half-verses were taken by solo 'cantors'.

More prosaically, here is a quote from Briggs and Frere:

"The first half verse should be precented, then the whole choir or the whole side of the choir should join in at the colon; the succeeding verses should be sung alternately either from side to side or men's voices alternating with boys' voices, or Chanters with full choir."

Mary wasn't keen on accompanied plainsong, but for those who are, J.H. Arnold's Plainsong Accompaniment is essential reading.

I'd just mention that Mary Berry's book, Plainsong for Everyone, is brilliant. I also remember from her practical work being encouraged to sing (for instance) the Salve Regina rhythmically in triple time as a sort of experiment. So even a great expert was determined not to be categorical about performance practices.