-
Moseley Chimes
October 2008
With its historic ships, seaside location, fun fairs, attractions and the new development of Gunwharf Quays (including the 400 feet tall Spinnaker tower) Portsmouth is a wonderfully exciting place to visit for all ages. It was in this spirit of enthusiasm and anticipation that the Robed choir embarked on this year’s Residential Visit to the Cathedral in this maritime city.
We were not to be disappointed. The Cathedral itself is a unique, creative space, half being the ancient parish church elevated to Cathedral status in 1927, half being the newly constructed open area free to be used for large gatherings, major services, exhibitions and concerts. The two halves are separated by the tower arch in which sits the magnificent new organ, completed in the 1990’s. The acoustics were to die for and the choir’s offerings of Introits (sung in the new space) and Evensongs (sung in the old) exploited the potential of both halves equally. The sound of the unaccompanied Introits wafting ethereally from the new into the old created a wonderful feeling of anticipation for the healthy congregations who were present at each service. Rachmaninov’s “Ave Maria” and Bruckner’s “Locus Iste” proved particularly effective in this context.
The Cathedral authorities made us all feel most welcome and the experience of processing in robes from the Choir Vestry in buildings across the street from the Cathedral was memorable in itself.
On the Saturday evening, the Cathedral had sent mixed messages regarding the time of the service and, as the Choir robed for 4:30pm practice for a supposed Evensong at 6:00pm, the Verger apologetically announced that the service was actually at 5:00pm, allowing no time to rehearse with the organ in the building. Unperturbed, the professional attitude of all choristers — and, as one has come to expect from him, of Ian Biggs at the organ — came to the fore and, after a brief warm up round the vestry piano, the service proceeded without a hitch, unrehearsed. Needless to say many brownie points were earned from the Dean and Cathedral staff. The remainder of the services were sung with equal professionalism which made me personally very proud of the whole team.
But there was not just the music — there was a day out in Chichester, guided in part by Fr Jeremy, for whose presence we were very grateful; some made a foray onto the Isle of Wight, others took advantage of the swimming facilities, the shopping in the magnificent arena of Gunwharf Quays; there were the historic ships to tour round, bowling to enjoy, the cinema, the fun fairs AND a magnificent display of aerobatic kite flying by international teams on the common just outside our superb accommodation in Rees Hall of Portsmouth University. All this, together with the wonderful weather which accompanied us for the most part, made this an excellent Residential Visit and one which the Choir and their families will long remember.
Many thanks are due to all singers for their dedicated participation, to Ian Biggs for his mastery at the organ, Mark Simons for his librarian skills and to Rob Brown for dealing with all the financial and accommodation issues. A real team effort!