A Weekend at York Minster

St John's was quiet on Sunday 28th October without the choir present. The choir was instead singing at York Minster, filling in for the Minster choir during their half-term break. Under the expert management of Eleanor Harris, the St John's choir, with a few groupies, spent the weekend enjoying the York Railway Museum, seeing the sights, and occasionally fitting in the odd spot of music.

The Choir of St John's in York Minster

Singing in the Minster is very different from singing at St John's. The aisle is much wider. The organ seems a long way away. You can only hear your neighbour and it is difficult to get a sense of the overall sound. There is a disconcerting five second gap between our stopping singing and the echo returning. The architecture is also very distracting.

First we had to rehearse our services in the Minster and then we had to practise processing. Being such a vast place, we almost had to skip down the aisle. I found going through the screen arch into the choir very inspiring and humbling. I was conscious of generations of monks and quiristers leading the worship in that ancient, hallowed building. It was a privilege for us to be allowed to sing there.

Going through the screen arch into the choir

Come our first Evensong, we were astonished how many people, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, came in to listen to us. More alarming was the fact that the congregation was all around us, rather like sensurround sound, requiring our truth in the inward parts. But it was as nothing compared to Eucharist on Sunday morning, when we confidently sang the Rheinberger mass under the crossing to what seemed to us, used to St John's, a huge congregation. Stephen Doughty’s brisk playing of the hymns - something that may, just occasionally, have been noted at St John's - was later commented on favourably by the congregation, as was our singing. Endearingly, some members of the Sidney Smith Association, who had attended St John's a few weeks ago, specially made a point of coming to hear the choir again in York.

Stephen Doughty conducting in the nave

After Eucharist, we sang Mattins, this time to a more select audience. After Mattins, the church’s architect very kindly showed us round the current renovations to the stained glass windows and round the masonry yards- well worth seeing. Our final service was Sunday Evensong, when, in front of hordes of attenders, we sang the challenging Leighton canticles and Stephen Doughty's new work, I saw - and Lo, a Whirlwind. This anthem, a product of lonely evenings for Stephen when he was working in Malaysia earlier this year, was especially composed for our choir, setting words from the first chapter of Ezekiel, paraphrased by the future Lady Northampton (a worshipper at the Charlotte Chapel). After a melodramatic introduction, it leads into an ingenious and redoubtable double fugue - and, so we were told by the assistant organist of the Minster, very impressive it sounded too.

It was an exhausting and intense weekend, but our music-making was ably directed by Stephen and strongly supported by our excellent organists, Peter Horsfall and Caroline Cradock. It is not every church choir that can support three fine organists, and the weekend would not have been the success it was without their contribution.

Enjoying the odd occasion for refreshment

And, yes, thank you for asking, we did have the odd occasion for refreshment. We made merry, as only St John's choir knows how. Over the years we've had a little bit of practice at that too.

Nicholas Grier

Festival Worship - a Feast of Choral Music from Past to Present!

A most musical, rousing and yet spiritual start to Sunday… St John’s Festival Worship in the heart of the city.
EdinburghGuide.com

I write having just this moment finished choosing the music for this year’s ‘Festival Worship’, the feast of sacred music which will enhance the services in August, and am so excited I would like to share it with you!

As you know, St John’s maintains the three principal choral services of the Scottish Episcopal tradition every week, Matins, Eucharist and Evensong and this August the music across these services covers some 400 years and includes among its treats a first performance and a whole day devoted to the music of Giovanni Gabrieli, the maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s, Venice who died 400 years ago this year and who raised the art of cori spezzati - literally ‘spaced choirs- to its zenith.

St. John’s has one of Edinburgh's leading church choirs and attending Choral Matins here is a treat
(The Independent)

Matins (9.30am), the morning ‘call to prayer’ features no less than three anniversaries including that of John Ireland, who died 50 years ago and whose canticles and most famous anthem, Greater Love opens our Festival Worship, and the organ music of Leon Boëllmann, whose anniversary has inspired the programming Jean Huré's subtle Te Deum and Fauré's ever-popular Cantique de Jean Racine. The motoric rhythms and pungent harmonies of Hutchings' St. John's, Edinburgh Service, specially dedicated to the Choir of St. John’s and Dove's show-stopper Seek him that maketh the seven stars enliven the final Matins of the Festival.

If you come to Eucharist (10.30am), these days the main service of the day, you will hear Rheinberger's gloriously romantic Mass for double choir, Cantus Missae, written in defiance of the restrictive ideals of the Caecilian movement, Bob Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass with its toe-tapping rhythm, drums and bass and a world premiere in John Hoyle's Missa Brevis. Over the last few years the Choir of St. John's has built a good relationship with this composer, which has been recognised in this lyrical, vibrant mass and his kind dedication to me.

While the first Sunday of August is devoted to the Launch of the Festival of Spirituality & Peace, later in the month you can Evensong (6.00pm), which has a distinctive spiritual quality all of its own. While much of the music we will perform during August originates from around the world, for Evensong on 19th August it's all firmly in-house. There's music by three members of the Choir including world premieres of Peter Silver's Responses and my own festival anthem, I saw, and Lo, a Whirlwind, coupled with canticles by a former Professor at Edinburgh University. Three major English composers - Finzi, Holst and Tippett - all combine in our final Evensong of the Festival.

I finish with news of our 'festival-within-a-festival' and our celebration of the music of the Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli. As I mentioned earlier he was maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s, Venice. An architectural feature of St. Mark’s is the choir lofts high on either side of the altar which led to a musical style known as cori spezzati. The sound from these choirs would project back and forth across the building, coming together at moments of greatest impact. Music for 4, 8 and 12 part forces is the order of the day here and the fame of this
spectacular music spread across Europe, with numerous musicians coming to Venice to hear it, absorb it and take it back to their countries.

Sunday 12th August 2012 is the 400th anniversary to the day of the death of Gabrieli. I am delighted we will be joined by the early instruments of the Scottish Gabrieli Consort during the morning services- a collection of cornets, sackbuts, early violins, curtails and more! Come to St. John's and hear what all the fuss was about!

Stephen Doughty
Director of Music, St. John's

It’s that time again…!

Director of the Choir of St John's Stephen Doughty writes about the forthcoming Annual Concert:

Katy Boyle, in an online discussion uttered possibly one of the world’s great truisms: “99 percent of the people you ask about it will profess to hate it, but they all love it really.” What is she talking about? The Eurovision Song Contest of course!

Yes, in just a few weeks’ time people the world over will be shouting and screaming at the TV, adhering closely to Terry Wogan’s observation that “there’s not enough silliness in the world. Eurovision keeps you balanced.” Here in the UK the popular media is hopping with the news that Engelbert Humperdinck with be representing the United Kingdom. However it is not this event that I refer to in my title, but a much more important one: The Annual Concert of the Choir of St John’s.

What’s the connection, you may ask? I bet you can sing the theme tune to the Eurovision contest, but do you know what it is? Since Eurovision’s beginnings the Prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum has heralded in this great event and if you come to St John’s on Saturday 19 May at 7.30pm you can hear the piece in its original setting and in its entirety.

The words of the 4th century Te Deum are divided into multiple sections with some bright and cheery, dance-like full choruses, separated by a whole plethora of solos, duets and trios all of which are taken by different members of St John’s Choir and which together shows off the choir to great aplomb.

In the second half of the concert the choir will perform one of J.S. Bach’s most popular and enjoyable works, his Magnificat in D. Composed by Bach in his first year as Cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, the various verses of the Magnificat, (like the Te Deum above ) recalling the visitation of the angel Gabriel to Mary, are divided into 12 movements, contrasting solos with choruses. The choruses in particular are worthy of note. All in 5 parts they are full of drama and excitement and, if you’ll excuse me a momentary indulgence, suit the Choir of St John’s down to the ground.

The Choir will be joined by a suitably festive orchestra, full of flutes, oboes, trumpets and drums.  For those of you who have wanted to hear the choir in concert during the Edinburgh Festival but have been defeated by the sheer number of events that are on at the same time, here is the perfect opportunity. Tickets are available at the door but why not beat the rush and grab one in advance (0131 229 7565)? I’m sure you’ll be awarding DOUZE POINTS!!

Stephen Doughty