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20:15 An angry reader informs me that the hastily written paragraph from 18:18 is in need of editing. Editing is accomplished.

18:18 A lovely Evensong overall and only about 45 minutes in length from the choir's perspective. The boys sounded excellent. It was the singing of the men, especially their verse sections in the Purcell, that I wanted to hear a bit more preparation. It sounded as though the men singing the verses all managed their parts well but were unaware of what the other parts were doing (i.e., in the manner of true lay clerks). Maybe with an additional fifteen minutes in the schedule there would have been an opportunity to tune a few of those surprisingly hairy Purcell chords a bit more. But then again, with more time, perfection always seems that much closer. The Psalm was a highlight for me. I will be listening to that again soon.

18:17 A fuller registration.

18:14 verse 3, after which Organ Postlude begins. Also on the 8' principal, I believe. These must be Italian pieces. This seems to have a few durezze moments.

18:13 verse 2

18:12 verse 1

18:11 The Grace. The Hymn is surely No. 444. "Blessed be the God of Israel" sung to THORNBURY

18:09 The familiar tune WESTMINSTER ABBEY is "hallelujaed" to end the work.

18:08 Listening to "O God, thou art my God". I love this anthem. Exciting accelerando into "as long as I live".

18:03 Greetings from the rector and a brief homily, I suspect? Was that an errant organ note?

18:00 It's 6:00. The bells finish tolling the hour during the first collect.

17:54 Um, somehow I suspect they are not reading from this public domain edition.

17:53 John is beheaded and the Nunc begins.

17:52 Oops. The Purcell score is also available. I guess I should have checked this before the webcast began.

17:48 A considerable amount of intricate verse work for the men. You can hear that 4' principal come on for the Gloria. Not exactly "as it was in the beginning", if you get my drift.

17:46 Lovely ascending can & dec treble parts there.

17:45 Ishmael is born in the first lesson. The Purcell begins. The organ held that first chord, rather than pitch the choir, I think.

17:43 I checked on this page. The Coverdale version of Psalm 136 does have 27 verses.

17:41 There was an apocryphal verse 27 in the psalm to make the triple chant turn out right. I'm almost okay with that. The altered chant in the Gloria was pretty suave. Who wrote this one?

17:39 I'm totally diggin this chant. What was that pronunciation of "Bashan"? Bay-san?

17:37 The organ could be even bigger for the division of the Red Sea, yes?

17:35 That's not how I thought the chant would end. Ah! A triple chant!!! How exciting!

17:33 A lovely little piece of 20 bars. The Smith responses begin.

17:32 Improv ends in E minor. Batten starts right away. Score

17:30 Improvisation begins on the chancel organ.

17:29 Prelude ends.

17:27 The Organ Prelude begins on the Taylor and Boody. Something nice with a few lombard rhythms on the 8' Principal. Could be French?

17:23 Choir has left. New York traffic noise. How exciting!

17:22 One of the boys can be heard practicing his "Prrrrraise" from the Introit as he wanders out of the church. Excellent

17:21 "A bit of the introit as well". Not happy with the first note of the Batten, Scott asks for just the senior boys to sing it.

17:19 The stream is live. I can hear a bit of the rehearsal. The Purcell Nunc. At the Gloria John Scott says "The four-foot prinicpal as well".

There's 12.5 inches of snow here in the Midwest, which means I'm at home, which means I'll be live blogging the webcast of Evensong from St. Thomas, New York at 5:30 p.m. EST today.

Here's the music list:

5:30 Choral Evensong
  Introit: O praise the Lord - Batten
  Responses: Smith
  Psalm: 136
  Service: Purcell in B flat
  Anthem: O God, thou art my God - Purcell

Labels: Evensong, St Thomas (New York)