“Choirs & Places Where they Sing” 4: Southwell Minster 1967 (Kenneth Beard)

BBC radio broadcast on 10 September 1967, featuring the choir of Southwell Minster, directed by Kenneth Beard. Introduced by Sir John Betjeman. This was the fourth edition of an 11-part weekly series intended as a follow-on to an earlier series called “Britain’s Cathedrals and their Music”, which had focused on cathedrals alone, whereas “Choirs and Places” featured mainly non-cathedral choirs. A planned 12th programme from the Temple Church in London was never completed.
1. O nata lux de lumine (Thomas Tallis)
2. Justorum animae (William Byrd)
3. Noël “Une Vierge Pucelle” (Nicholas Lebègue)*
4. Lord, let me know mine end (Maurice Greene)
5. Rhapsody on a Ground (Heathcote Statham)*
6. There is a stream (Robert Ashfield)
7. Magnificat in G major (Herbert Howells)
8. My beloved spake (Patrick Hadley)
* played by Kenneth Beard

[@simongleaden2864]

Thank you for putting this on RUclips - it's very interesting to listen to. I was a boy chorister in Southwell Minster Choir ten years after this recording and I recognise most of the pieces here - they were still in the repertoire in the mid-1970's.

[@turbine6202]

Hi Simon

[@turbine6202]

from Harry

[@simondobbs4480]

Dear Simon. I remember you. I was a pupil at Southwell Minster Grammar School. I feel privileged to have attended. Every day, I walked home at lunchtime to the sounds of the Southwell bells playing the tune 'Southwell". A s boys gad done so for a millennium. I wish that I could find a recording of that piece!

[@jonb6417]

Impeccable tone and togetherness from the choir. Excellent dynamics, and what a smashing treble line, especially evident in the Greene and the Howells. The recording isn't the greatest though - could it be engineered to take out some of the hiss and distortion?