A Life On-Line

Away for the weekend, we managed to catch Evensong in St. Edmundsbury Cathedral on Saturday. It must be confessed that our reasons for visiting were mainly architectural as the cathedral have recently finished their architectural improvements following on from the creation of the new tower. The service sung by the Prebendal Singers who gave us Philip Moore's Responses and his Second Service along with an anthem by Paul Trepte. It was my first acquaintance with Moore's useful, practical but imaginative settings. The choir had a rather distinctive line-up with counter-tenors apparently outnumbering women and featuring on both the soprano and alto lines. The result was attractive and distinctive but not necessarily what the composer had in mind. The resulting performances were convincing but the ensemble seemed not quite to have taken all of the quirks of Moore's writing on board.