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R3 evensong from Hereford


nachthorn

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Through a combination of flu and incompetence, I've missed the chance to listen again to the Hereford evensong broadcast from Hereford on the 17th. Has anyone grabbed a recording off iPlayer? Very grateful for any help!

 

Can't help I'm afraid though it was good. Did anyone catch Christchurch Oxford? I felt that the Goodall Mag. & Nunc. was rather too much like background to a 'Dibley' episode and personally felt the way the psalms were done was just a touch odd - especially the ends of each chant 'section'. I liked the overall sound though and the organ sounds better over the air than it should. I'd better stop.....

 

A

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Can't help I'm afraid though it was good. Did anyone catch Christchurch Oxford? I felt that the Goodall Mag. & Nunc. was rather too much like background to a 'Dibley' episode and personally felt the way the psalms were done was just a touch odd - especially the ends of each chant 'section'. I liked the overall sound though and the organ sounds better over the air than it should. I'd better stop.....

 

A

 

I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up the psalms from Christchurch! I had to pull over and stop the car! Quite extraordinary. I have a feeling there is an ancient psalter (perhaps the old cathedral psalter?) that was popular in the early 20th century and advocated this style of chanting; if I remember correctly in the preface, it suggested that if there was a long "gathering" on the penultimate syllable of each half verse, then the following verse would start together!!!

I dont remember Christchurch singing the psalms this way before - maybe they did it for a dare, but whatever the reason, to me, it made a nonsense of the meaning, let alone the musical flow!

 

Richard

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Through a combination of flu and incompetence, I've missed the chance to listen again to the Hereford evensong broadcast from Hereford on the 17th. Has anyone grabbed a recording off iPlayer? Very grateful for any help!

 

Out of nostalgia for services I played at a long time ago I recorded the Ireland "Greater Love hath no man..." 61 Mbyte - I can send you it on CD if you would like it and can't get the whole service. Send me an e mail through the system. Unfortunatley I didn't have time to copy the Stanford.

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I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up the psalms from Christchurch! I had to pull over and stop the car! Quite extraordinary. I have a feeling there is an ancient psalter (perhaps the old cathedral psalter?) that was popular in the early 20th century and advocated this style of chanting; if I remember correctly in the preface, it suggested that if there was a long "gathering" on the penultimate syllable of each half verse, then the following verse would start together!!!

I dont remember Christchurch singing the psalms this way before - maybe they did it for a dare, but whatever the reason, to me, it made a nonsense of the meaning, let alone the musical flow!

 

Richard

 

Paul Hale at Southwell does something not dissimilar although does it far more subtly and without such an exaggerated stretch out! Whenever discussions about psalm singing come up we always say 'speech rhythm' is vital - this clearly goes against this rule. Done in the manner of this broadcast it does nothing for me - and surely when it is exaggerated like this it just focuses attention on the method of singing rather than on the words and the meaning behind them, which isn't a good thing in the context of Evensong which should (through the music) be channelling our thoughts to greater things.

 

As regards the Goodall, I'm not sure if they sit totally comfortably in a liturgical context - I wonder whether he intended them to be performed liturgically? I thought the Nunc to be the more successful of the two and I rather enjoyed it. His music is certainly popular and goes down well - beyond the ubiquitous Psalm 23 setting his version of 'Love divine' is super and after I found a YouTube of it we purchased it. The choir enjoyed learning it and the congregational reaction was extremely positive.

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Through a combination of flu and incompetence, I've missed the chance to listen again to the Hereford evensong broadcast from Hereford on the 17th. Has anyone grabbed a recording off iPlayer? Very grateful for any help!

You can get a copy from John Sebolt's website - click on 2010 etc and there it is.

 

I didn't really like it - Stanford so slow that it lost any sense of joy & wonder

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Can't help I'm afraid though it was good. Did anyone catch Christchurch Oxford? I felt that the Goodall Mag. & Nunc. was rather too much like background to a 'Dibley' episode and personally felt the way the psalms were done was just a touch odd - especially the ends of each chant 'section'. I liked the overall sound though and the organ sounds better over the air than it should. I'd better stop.....

 

A

 

As my son is a chorister in ChCh oxford. I did record the Choral E'song broadcast last Wednesday and it was extremely good, the high point being the Walton "Where does the uttered music go", and knowing and playing the organ regularly, it sounded really well over the air!

 

If you want a CD of the broadcast, do PM me!

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Guest Patrick Coleman

The Hereford evensong was lovely - very relaxed and peaceful as an evening service ought to be - and the prayerfulness came through because the quality singing was clearly more than just a performance.

 

As for the psalm from Christchurch (the beginning of Psalm 119 IIRC) I could not listen to such chanting on a regular basis as it seems so contrived. Speech rhythm allows the words to come through while being enhanced by the chant; altering the rhythm to suit the chant causes me massive distraction.

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I dont remember Christchurch singing the psalms this way before - maybe they did it for a dare, but whatever the reason, to me, it made a nonsense of the meaning, let alone the musical flow!

It's like that (but even slower and more pulled out) on their 2002 CD "An Oxford Evensong". I find it quite extraordinary.

 

Paul

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I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up the psalms from Christchurch! I had to pull over and stop the car! Quite extraordinary. I have a feeling there is an ancient psalter (perhaps the old cathedral psalter?) that was popular in the early 20th century and advocated this style of chanting; if I remember correctly in the preface, it suggested that if there was a long "gathering" on the penultimate syllable of each half verse, then the following verse would start together!!!

I dont remember Christchurch singing the psalms this way before - maybe they did it for a dare, but whatever the reason, to me, it made a nonsense of the meaning, let alone the musical flow!

 

Richard

That is how Christchurch always sing their psalms. They've done it like that each time I've visited.

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As for the psalm from Christchurch (the beginning of Psalm 119 IIRC) I could not listen to such chanting on a regular basis as it seems so contrived. Speech rhythm allows the words to come through while being enhanced by the chant; altering the rhythm to suit the chant causes me massive distraction.

 

 

It struck me, too, as very mannered and odd. The pause at the colon in each verse is properly observed when the psalms are said, but surely not when sung.

 

JS

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You can get a copy from John Sebolt's website - click on 2010 etc and there it is.

 

I didn't really like it - Stanford so slow that it lost any sense of joy & wonder

 

Thanks for the pointer towards the website, but the sound quality is pretty poor (48kbps only), and I'm insufferably fussy. I've been offered an mp3 recording by PM - many thanks to those who offered help.

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It struck me, too, as very mannered and odd. The pause at the colon in each verse is properly observed when the psalms are said, but surely not when sung.

 

JS

 

I also thought that the responses had a few odd moments. Not my preferred style of singing, to be honest.

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The Hereford evensong was lovely - very relaxed and peaceful as an evening service ought to be - and the prayerfulness came through because the quality singing was clearly more than just a performance.

 

 

I went to Evensong at Hereford, one Friday night, a number of years ago, when Roy was Master of the Choristers. The cathedral was dark, the nave empty and in the choir there were the choir and clergy and, perhaps, two or three others.

 

The music was all unaccompanied, beautifully sung and it remains one of the 'highspots' of any cathedral visit I have ever made. It entirely summed up, for me, "where two or three are gathered....................."

 

It must be ten years ago but I shall remember that night for the rest of my days.................... Wonderful!

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