Categories: uncategorized
Date: 02 February 2009 13:23:45
It seemed very appropriate to have a baptism today as, when the baby and his family were presented with the baptismal candle, we all lit ours as well. It looked very pretty as we processed through the church singing 'Faithful Vigil Ended', although the wind whistling through the porch soon extinguished the choir candles as we passed through. Being a feast day, we chose a celebratory anthem, 'O thou the central Orb' (Wood) which was enjoyed by several members of the congregation used to us singing something more reflective at the Eucharist. We told them they'd have to come to Evensong to hear more of the same. One of the Readers enjoyed joining in singing Bass, as he is sometimes too busy leading the service to participate in much of the singing. We exited the church to the triumphal organ sounds of Final (Symphonie I) by Vierne.
Festival Evensong had us singing the Smith responses and Ireland in F (Nunc Dimittis), plus 'Lift up your Heads' (Mathias). Mathias is quite tricky to sing without a conductor, as there are some unusual rhythms, especially for a traditional church choir to get their heads around. We sounded rather ragged at rehearsal but, as - fortunately so often happens - a few nerves and the resulting heightened concentration ensured it was alright on the night.