Where I used to live

During Half Term I went to Peterborough to do a bit of shopping and had taken my camera to snap the two places where I used to live.

The first of these had changed little, externally, except that 25 years ago there was a fence rather than a wall.

The other house was one of four large semi-detached properties down a quiet cul-se-sac. These houses were sold a while back and have largely been knocked down. [The photo shows one which is largely intact though with a new roof]. However they appear to have retained parts of the buildings to which they have added new extensions. Whether these are to be flats I am not sure, but the whole area was almost unrecognisable. Ah, progress!

800

This rather blurred image is a screen capture I made of a moment [close to 6' 45''] from the Cambridge University 800th Anniversary Light Show. My daughter is the choir member on the left. The Light Show was projected onto the Senate House and lasted several minutes. It was accompanied by a bellringing sound track which, I assume, was of Cambridge Surprise Maximus rung at Great St. Mary's.

Sexagesima Evensong

'Sexagesima' is not a word you hear every day. I attended Evensong at Clare College Chapel Cambridge because I had seen they were to sing music I like. In fact, they changed the anthem at short notice to another I know well, actually the first anthem I ever conducted in a cathedral when I was Organ Scholar at Bristol and took the choir to Winchester. The Music list was:

INTROIT: Ich will hier bei dir stehen Bach
RESPONSES: Smith
PSALM: 65
CANTICLES: Murrill in E
ANTHEM: Give us the Wings of Faith - Bullock
VOLUNTARY Prelude in C - BWV 545 - Bach

I enjoyed singing all the hymns and, as they provided a harmony book, I sang the tenor line with some gusto.

The Responses were neatly done and it was clear, from the outset, that the Senior Organ Scholar had given the choir a good deal of confidence and enhanced their morale by virtue of his enthusiastic style and, I daresay, the shorter than usual rehearsal which preceded the service. There was the usual attention to detail but a more relaxed quality about the singing which is not usually evident.

The psalm had some nice touches. In verse 13 ("and the little hills shall rejoice on every side") there were antiphonal effects to paint the 'every side' reference. Verse 14 was made to run into the Gloria so that we heard, "...they shall laugh and sing. Glory be to the Father..." which I thought was a nice touch. There was an unaccompanied verse and elsewhere good word painting from the organ, an instrument which I am coming to appreciate more and more in the expert hands of Ashok Gupta (although his flute solo descant lines were bizarre, or at least full of delayed appoggiaturas in one of the early verses).

Murrill in E Mag and Nunc is a thrilling setting and although I felt it was sung on the fast side, I suppose I am used to hearing it in a large cathedral when it needs to go more slowly. I was asked, later, if I thought the music was under-rehearsed but it didn't sound as if it was. There was an excellent blend and balance in the "He remembering" section but I really missed the organ celestes [or Peterborough Cathedral's Unda Maris] at the top of page 7 of the score just before the Gloria. I also miss hearing Full Swell gradually shining through the Great diapasons as the box is opened on page 10 of the Nunc as it builds up to fff on page 11. Still, what we heard was the best the organ could give and was as effective in its way.

The anthem was very well sung and the concluding voluntary (not the one advertised on the website) was one my organ teacher used to trot out regularly, so I was filled with memories of him. It is a good piece and I found myself singing the pedal part to myself. I stopped as soon as I caught myself [although I doubt anyone heard] as nothing irritates me more than when a choir processes past the organ console and some of them are humming the voluntary; I thought I'd better be true to myself and not sing along.

Two bassoonists in one day

What's that about buses? You wait for ages then 3 come along at once.

Well this morning I heard a fantastic young bassoonist in a Music Festival in which I had a singing pupil in another class. This instrumentalist had swapped from clarinet to bassoon last September and played in such as way that it was impossible not to regard her as a complete natural on the bassoon. It sounded like a Grade 4 piece to me but I'd need to check. Fingering, intonation, breath control were all excellent and she actually performed, by which I mean she engaged the audience. She is a player to watch out for although I shall not put her name here.

The festival itself was organised dreadfully. In the Junior class we were subjected to young girls singing unaccompanied pop songs, far too low, and other songs with little or no preparation. What were their parents thinking? Why is music at such a low ebb in our Junior schools? One girl did have a nice voice; the adjudicator said so and I made a point of telling her and her parents [afterwards] that I thought so too and that she needed lessons. They seemed pleased. She had sung 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' but had told the joke at the end and got it wrong - cringe!

Later in the day I attended the pre-service recital at Clare College Chapel which was given by Nina Ashton (Bassoon). She is simply amazing! Her tone and interpretation were stunning. She sat opposite me during the Evensong which followed and I spoke to her at the end; she is very modest. With a CV as follows [from which I have selected bits] she can afford to be.

Nina is reading Music at Clare. She attended the Purcell School (where she was Head Girl) and studied with Sarah Burnett. She was principal bassoonist of the National Youth Orchestra in 2007 and was awarded the Bulgin Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. She has performed in the Wigmore Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Buckingham Palace and the Purcell Room, St John Smith Square and St Martin's-in-the-Fields.

If you get a chance to hear her then I thoroughly recommend it.

She played No. 2 of Trois Pieces by Koechlin which was beautiful and ended with the Allegro non troppo from Brahms' Sonata in E minor. Personally I was distracted and annoyed on her behalf that the chapel staff were so keen to start Evensong on the dot of 6pm that they started lighting candles before she had finished. Even at 5.50 the Dean (I think it was) asked the Organ Scholar how long the recital was going to last. Either Clare want these recitals or they do not. Still, she was the ultimate professional and the distractions around here did not disturb her at all.

Between the bassoon pieces we heard 'Out of Doors' by Bartok. Superbly played by Kausikan Rajeshkumar from memory but not my cup of tea in the context; also, the piano needed tuning! I've never been a Bartok fan so I guess that is why I didn't like the pieces. Three would have done rather than the five he played.

Anyway Evensong had some excellent music. I'll post about that later.