On Sunday 12th December, at 7.30pm, the Strathendrick Singers will present a Carol Concert at St Mary’s Aberfoyle. It will include carols from home and abroad, as well as traditional works by Charpentier, Johnston, and Hearne. Add some candlelight, mulled wine and mince pies and it should be a super evening.
Tickets £10 (£7 for old folk like me) at the door.
Each year a number of us join with others of like mind and sing carols at Gartnavel and Beatson Hospitals in Glasgow. This year it will be held on Thursday 16th December. Yours truly will be on the keyboard, but if you can play any other instruments, youFurther details later, but get it in your diary now!!…..that’s an order!
I once tried to learn Danish, but found some of the sounds quite difficult….to say the least. I had no reason to learn Swedish, but imagined it to be very similar in looks and sound…..and no easier to learn!
On Saturday and Sunday, we had a visiting choir, the Gustavi Vocal Ensemble from Gothenburg Cathedral (picture above), joining us at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow. Only 12 in all, from the Swedish Cathedral Choir….but what a sound they made! Everything was sung a capella, with a simple chord from the piano, and they launched into a great variety of old and new pieces, ones familiar to our ears and some less so, from their native country.
Sometimes they formed-up in the conventional choral-part arrangement, and then for the next piece, would move about so that the parts seemed ‘mixed-up’. This meant that the sound seemed more ‘together’ and to come at us with a greater ‘gentleness’ for want of a better word. It is quite difficult to explain the sensation. We all know that some orchestral conductors have a particular way of arranging the various players to achieve the sound they want, but it was strange to see it applied in a choir during a performance.
Maybe it was the language, but even in the British pieces, there was a distinctive Nordic sound, and for me, it would take some time to assimilate into my psyche. It appeared much lighter in texture than what we hear in the cathedral, and this may have been partly due to the lack of accompaniment.
Having said that, it proved a marvellous experience of clear-crisp, disciplined, exposed singing and whilst a visit to their home town has never been in my top-ten wish list, I may well have to revise the list and have a long weekend to get the chance to hear the complete choir in action.
October 17th started out not looking a very auspicious day on which to visit a small rural church in Argyll, with cloud and drizzle accompanying us north. Had you been there, however, you would have seen a riot of colour at St Adamnan’s Episcopal Church, in Duror, in Appin country.
Local congregations were represented, as well as members of the Community Choir, as we joined in the Service of Choral Evensong. St Adamnan’s is one of a number of linked charges in this beautiful, historic part of the Highlands of Scotland between Ballachulish and Connell Bridge, and deserves our support.
It follows a wonderful event we had in March last year at the much larger St John’s, Ballachulish. St Adamnan’s is quite a different building, requiring quite a different tone and content.
On arrival at the Church, we were ushered further on to Cuil Bay, where we ate our lunch in the lovely setting of one of the families, before heading up again to the church.
The Chancel area was packed with seats as the composite choir started the afternoon practice. The Community Choir was obviously well-rehearsed, the two choirs merged well, and we could concentrate on the finer points.
The enigmatic organ is probably the oldest in regular use in Scotland, and so it was a privilege to be there when it was played so skilfully by Kerr Jamieson. The organ is placed at the rear of the church, with the organist’s back to the front of the building, so some technical help (in the form of a miniature camera and monitor) had to be used so that conducting and playing were in synchronisation…..and it worked perfectly! With the 200 year anniversary of SS Wesley this year, both voluntaries were by him.
The Service was scheduled for 3.30 in the afternoon (not at 3.30 am as the Notice Board announced!) and people started arriving at 2.30, when we were still practising!
None of the music selected was long or complex, but depended on a strong harmony and all choir members listening to each other in the confined space. The skies were still very grey just before the Service, but we determined to process from the small Vestry (how did we ever get so many people in there?), round the church to come in from the front door. The sun actually blinked out as we provided the wonderful splash of red and white and purple in an otherwise green backdrop.
The introductory voluntary was Wesley’s ‘Andante in E Minor’, and the Introit was Helen Kennedy’s ‘Spirit of God, come dwell within me’, to the highly-appropriate tune ‘Leaving of Lismore’ (which is a beautiful island just along the coast).
‘Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven’ got the congregation off to a rousing start, and the Versicles and Responses were the traditional setting, which everyone knew. Psalm 149, and the Mag and Nunc used well-tried chants which all went ‘cleanly’. ‘At even, ere the sun was set’, to the tune Angelus (what else?) allowed the organ to show its dynamic range, and after the Sermon, we sang one of Margaret Rizza’s pieces, ‘O Lord, my heart is not proud’. After the Intercessions, as we sang ‘ The day Thou gavest’, I saw the last rays of what had been a rather watery sun, disappear. Our Vesper was ‘Go now in Love, go now in Peace’, which is a lovely piece by P.M.Liebergen, and is the kind of tune you whistle all the way home!
‘Chorale Song’, again by SS Wesley, completed the musical day…..but all was not finished!
The whole congregation were invited to the home of another lovely couple, where tables groaned under the weight of much home baking, and we all had a great chance to blether and reminisce about the day’s events.
For me, it proved three things:- it was a wonderful culmination of the work which everyone around had undertaken, over the last lot of months; how well that voices can blend after two hours of practice; and the power of music to evoke strong emotions in the human spirit.
All of these are alive in kicking in Appin, and I hope it is not long before we return to this area….as it is not far from where christianity came to our shores.
If you would like more information about the Church, click the following link…. http://www.argyllandtheisles.org.uk/duror.html
Dunbar is one of the little bits of Lothian, probably not known too well by the West of Scotland folk, but it still has some charming and interesting shops. However we were there to join the congregation of St Anne’s Episcopal Church in the service of Sung Evensong. If you want to find out more about this lovely building you will find some info on the following link…..
http://www.stannesdunbar.org.uk/
The following was the music used:-
Introit:- ‘Calm Me Lord’ by Margaret Rizza
Versicles and Responses…J.H.M. First performance
Psalm 149
Magnificat:- Knyvett
Nunc Dimittis:- M Baker
Anthem:- ‘Day by Day’….Martin How
Benediction:- ‘Go now in Love and Peace’….Patrick M Liebergen
Hymns:- ‘Lord for the Years’
‘Father, Lord of all Creation’
‘The Day Thou gavest’
A special thanks to the Organist, Diana Buchan who handled some difficult music very well!
The Cathedral ‘Songs of Praise’ event has come and gone and one still marvels at the breath-taking beauty of the land in which we live and the Cathedral in which we worship. Angelus is now back into practising for our next two events, one in Dunbar (with a Willis organ) and one in Duror (with an organ which is probably the oldest one in regular use in Scotland). After that, there is to be an event in a City centre church in the new year. In many ways all quite different and yet linked together in our love of the words and music of Evensong…..but more of these in later posts!
Practices have started and as is usual, music which seems impossible becomes easier, and (hopefully) ultimately enjoyable as the notes, words and parts all come together. The great unknown is the folk who will join us from the area for the afternoon practice before each event, but I am still astonished how quickly it all comes together.
Some new pieces will be involved and it is lovely to hear music sung for the first time…even if I have to face the criticism of those who find it is not as easy as I first hoped!
Never mind, it’s great to get the tonsils moving again! ………and I mustn’t forget to oil the music stand!
Kedron and Angelus
We joined with the Kedron Singers on 6th June to remember the life of Tom McCulla, a faithful memberof both Choirs. It was held in St Matthew’s Church of the Nazarene, Gordon Street, Paisley, and took the form of a variation of Evensong.
We remembered especially his musical ability and so incorporated music which he had written, music he loved, and also some pieces which had been written by others in his memory.
I had dedicated the Nunc Dimittis from my setting for Evensong, to his memory, and the last piece he sang with us was at Ballachulish, where the first performance of ’I saw a new heaven and new earth’ was marred by a set of disdobedient organ stops!
We also used a piece he wrote, and of which he was quite proud, called ‘Gentle Rain of God’ , and a setting of the 23rd Psalm by Kedron Choir Member John Brisbane in broad Scots, with some wonderful melodies!
It was quite an emotionally-charged event!
I hope Tom appreciated it all…..his family certainly did!
St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Aberfoyle (where Angelus Singers have sung Evensong twice) are hosting two concerts in March….both seem well worth attending. Details below….
Wednesday 24th March @ 7.30….the Lyra Vocal Ensemble will sing Russian classical, sacred, and folk music
Saturday 27th March @ 7.30…the Telemann Ensemble will perform a series of pieces….not just by Telemann!
Tickets (£10 each concert, or £7.50 for over-65s) can be ordered from John Tilman on 01877 385791, or concerts0310@yahoo.co.uk
SEE YOU THERE!
First practice of the New Year will be on 21st January at the Lenzie venue at 7.15 for 7.30.(pm that is!).
For any enquiries, hit the Comment button.
See you there
Harry
SORRY, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THIS SERVICE WILL NOT GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
Go and look in your atlas, or investigate Google, or click the link at the bottom if you want to find out about this wonderful haven of tranquility in Argyll. It is close to Port Appin (10 minute foot-ferry), or by large car-ferry from Oban.
It is a small island but boasts its own Cathedral dedicated to St Moluag. It was at one time the Cathedral of the Isles but the main part was burned-down at the Reformation, and whilst the outline can still be seen, only the Choir area is now used as Lismore Parish Church of Scotland.
By the nature of its history, Lismore Parish Church is a perfect setting for an ecumenical Service. At various times Roman Catholic, then Anglican, and now Church of Scotland.
It is here that we hope to have as the venue for an ecumenical service on 13th June 2010……so even if you are not coming over to join us, it is a wonderful area!
