Choral Evensong from Magdalen College

[Philip]

I'm just making my way through this week's R3 broadcast on iPlayer, and was intrigued to hear the dismissal come immediately at the conclusion of the office. This is probably correct, because Evening Prayer itself finishes after the collects I believe (someone will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure), but most places do reserve the dismissal for the very end of the service. Is the practice adopted by Magdalen common?

 

As to the rest of the service, it largely depends if you like Stanford I guess! I do sometimes think that the R3 broadcasts include rather more repertoire from off the beaten track than they might and so it was nice to hear some familiar pieces sung well. All the Stanford evening services are lovely in their own way, and fully deserve to be heard. I do also like the anthem 'O for a closer walk with God' a lot and the organ Postlude is a good romp too.

[HarmonicsV]

I'm just making my way through this week's R3 broadcast on iPlayer, and was intrigued to hear the dismissal come immediately at the conclusion of the office. This is probably correct, because Evening Prayer itself finishes after the collects I believe (someone will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure), but most places do reserve the dismissal for the very end of the service. Is the practice adopted by Magdalen common?

 

As to the rest of the service, it largely depends if you like Stanford I guess! I do sometimes think that the R3 broadcasts include rather more repertoire from off the beaten track than they might and so it was nice to hear some familiar pieces sung well. All the Stanford evening services are lovely in their own way, and fully deserve to be heard. I do also like the anthem 'O for a closer walk with God' a lot and the organ Postlude is a good romp too.

 

They were in rather a hurry though, weren't they...?

[Martin Owen]

Did anyone hear today's broadcast of Choral Evensong from Chester Cathedral? Am I alone in thinking it particularly poor and the singing somewhat ragid?

Martin

[Simon Walker]

Did anyone hear today's broadcast of Choral Evensong from Chester Cathedral? Am I alone in thinking it particularly poor and the singing somewhat ragid?

Martin

 

Yes I did. And I think you are probably alone in thinking that - I suggest you have another listen.

 

It was girls and men (augmented back row I presume as usual at Chester for important events.) And the blend sounds good to me. With the girls choir have an age span from around 10 - 18 years of age, there is inevitable difference in voice maturity of the trebles, but this doesn't come across too much in my opinion. The layclerks always sound more blended when they are 12 in number rather than the standard 6.

 

Please do think twice before putting negative comments up without proper justification - it doesn't do good things for the self esteem and confidence of those involved with the music there and more people read this forum than you might think.

[David Coram]

Yes I did. And I think you are probably alone in thinking that - I suggest you have another listen.

 

It was girls and men (augmented back row I presume as usual at Chester for important events.) And the blend sounds good to me. With the girls choir have an age span from around 10 - 18 years of age, there is inevitable difference in voice maturity of the trebles, but this doesn't come across too much in my opinion. The layclerks always sound more blended when they are 12 in number rather than the standard 6.

 

Please do think twice before putting negative comments up without proper justification - it doesn't do good things for the self esteem and confidence of those involved with the music there and more people read this forum than you might think.

 

 

Indeed. The R3 messageboards are the place for all that. (Though I think you get booted out if you can't spell 'ragged'!)

[iy45]

Indeed. The R3 messageboards are the place for all that. (Though I think you get booted out if you can't spell 'ragged'!)

 

The R3 messageboard has been closed down. Like this one, some of the more opinionated stuff could be infuriating but it was a good place to widen one's knowledge of things musical.

 

Ian

[jfdg]

Yes I did. And I think you are probably alone in thinking that - I suggest you have another listen.

 

It was girls and men (augmented back row I presume as usual at Chester for important events.) And the blend sounds good to me. With the girls choir have an age span from around 10 - 18 years of age, there is inevitable difference in voice maturity of the trebles, but this doesn't come across too much in my opinion. The layclerks always sound more blended when they are 12 in number rather than the standard 6.

 

Please do think twice before putting negative comments up without proper justification - it doesn't do good things for the self esteem and confidence of those involved with the music there and more people read this forum than you might think.

 

The Chester broadcasts from the past few years have been consistently very good indeed. I'm just listening to this past one again and I am particularly impressed by both the singing and the accompaniment.

[Barry Oakley]

The Chester broadcasts from the past few years have been consistently very good indeed. I'm just listening to this past one again and I am particularly impressed by both the singing and the accompaniment.

 

I did not hear the latest broadcast from Chester, but Philip Rushforth's ability as both an organist and choir director have always impressed me. I frequently witnessed his role at Southwell Minster over 10 years ago when he was Paul Hale's deputy and also when Paul was recuperating for a lengthy period after hip replacement surgery. I think today is Philip's birthday. Happy birthday.