Categories: uncategorized
Date: 20 November 2006 12:19:10
The organ decided to go on strike this weekend and we are awaiting new parts. Consequently, all the musical parts of the service had to be accompanied on the piano. It made a pleasant change (for one week only) but I hope the organ builders manage to sort out the damage by next week. It was an excuse for the noisy organist to become the twiddly organist, adding embellishments all over the place. He couldn't do much to doctor the morning anthem, however, as it was sung a capella: one of my favourites, 'Ave Verum' by Pearsall. We sang it smoothly, with much expression and a light touch, as instructed. It was almost as beautiful as the long silence afterwards, as we processed slowly up the aisle back to our seats, blocking the way for the organist to reach his beloved piano for some more twiddles. There were 28 in the choir for the morning, leading to a crush at the altar rail, but the booming voices of so many basses helped to make up for the lack of thundery notes on the organ.
A quieter, more reflective evensong, again accompanied on the piano, but this time with fewer choristers. There were just enough in each part to sing a well-balanced 'How beautiful upon the mountains' by Stainer. That is, when the reader remembered to announce that we were singing it!