Categories: uncategorized
Date: 30 July 2007 09:46:25
As usual, the The Exon Singers Festival was a feast of glorious choral and organ music. Highlights included Compline by candlelight at 9pm, The 'Splendour of the Baroque' concert on Wednesday (music of Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Buxtehude) and the 'I was Glad' concert on Saturday (music of Parry, Britten, Wesley, Elgar and Skempton). Skempton's music was surprisingly melodious for a contemporary composer; the music for accordion, piano and organ comprised simple and short themes (where were the variations?) and haunting choral items. They all seemed to end up in the air, leaving the listener expecting more.
Sunday evening saw us in a muddy field (although rather less muddy than the proposed drive-in would have made it) for the Deanery Songs of Praise and Barbecue. Each church chose a hymn, saying why they chose it, and we sang with great gusto, accompanied by the Stannary Brass Band and watched by several curious cows. They soon scarpered when they realised that beef was on the menu. The sun came out for the most cloudless, if not the warmest, evening of the month so far. It was a toss-up whether to head for the beer tent or the hot coffee queue - I couldn't decide so ended up doing both.