Herbert Howells: A Hymn for St Cecilia (Choir and Organ Tutorial)

St Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and what better way to celebrate it than with Herbert Howells’ beautiful anthem, “A Hymn for St Cecilia”? Cecilia’s traditional feast day is 22nd November.

We recorded this piece in the time we had remaining at the end of the session in January, during which we had already recorded all the tutorials for this year’s series, so everyone was rather tired. Unlike the rest of the series, therefore, this is simply a performance with no preceding rehearsal, but it’s so wonderful that we’d like to share it.

The musicians of the Old Royal Naval College, led by Ralph Allwood, really pulled out the stops to deliver a final splendid rendition.

Find out more about this tutorial here:
https://viscountorgans.net/herbert-howells-hymn-for-st-cecilia/

About the Choir & Organ tutorial series:

This choir and organ tutorial series emphasises the partnership between director and organist, showing how the roles complement each other when creating excellent church music. The organist for this series is Jonathan Eyre, and the series is illustrated with a number of classic examples from the repertoire.

The works include the mass movements, Gloria and Sanctus, classic anthems such as Elgar’s monumental “Give unto the Lord”, and a section from Fauré’s Requiem. Each episode brings out a different aspect of choral performance and organ accompaniment, in most cases including a detailed rehearsal during which Ralph Allwood leads the choir through to a full rendition.

There is a well-established production team for these tutorial sessions, and it was a pleasure once again to bring it together for a recording session at the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich on a bright day in January. James Atkinson, with his assistant Andy Heathcote, was responsible for the excellent camera work, this time employing a full six cameras to capture every detail of the action from a variety of angles. Adrian Lucas masterminded the sound recording, while Francis Rumsey acted as session director.

The organ used during these recordings is a Viscount Regent 356, a physical modelling digital instrument, which was installed in the chapel a few years ago to stand in for its ailing but historically significant pipe organ. The location of the console near to the choir at the front of the chapel makes for relatively easy interaction between conductor and organist.

Find out more about the choir and organ tutorial series here: https://viscountorgans.net/choir-and-organ-tutorials/

Тэги:

#Church_Organs #Digital_Organs #Organ_Music #Electronic_organs #Church_music #Pipe_organs #Home_practice_organ #hymn_for_st_cecilia_howells #herbert_howells_organ #herbert_howells_requiem

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