Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 April 2010 14:32:51
Took a trip to Old Sarum, then Salisbury Cathedral for the weekend, joining a choir which sings when the cathedral choir have their post-Easter break. Had fun learning lots of new music (some I liked and some I didn't so much). It certainly concentrates the mind having to sing in such a special cathedral. Highlights were Byrd's 'Ave Verum', Brahms' 'How lovely are thy dwellings fair', parts of the Mozart Missa Brevis in F, the Psalms, the Smart canticles, and the Rose responses. Not so good parts were the Howells canticles and the fiendishly long and repetitive unaccompanied 'Exsultate Deo' (Wesley). We also had to sing 'This joyful Eastertide' at all three services - it was sounding more bored than joyful by the end. A wonderful learning experience and good to have a change from our normal choral venue. Salisbury is a lovely city - especially in delightful spring weather - but it was a pity we had so little time to explore much more than Sarum College, the choir stalls and the vestry.