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Merry Christmas!

On this Christmas Day we particularly want to share A Christmas Carol, Op. 21 by Kenneth Leighton.

It's not the familiar setting of "What sweeter music" that you may have come to expect this time of year.

The unexpected glories of Robert Herrick's words are brought into vivid color by this rich, energetic setting.

And if that's not enough, it's from a CD called Carols for Christmas Morning. (album on Spotify)

Labels: Christmas, Leighton, New College (Oxford)

Evensong is on the rise in Britain, especially with young people.

College chaplains have seen a steady but noticeable increase in attendances at the early evening services which combine contemplative music with the 16th Century language of the Book of Common Prayer.

It's a good example of how not adopting the popular culture wholesale can set the church apart as a sacred space.

Chaplains say the mix of music, silence and centuries-old language appears to have taken on a new appeal for a generation more used to instant and constant communications, often conducted in 140 characters rather than the phrases of Cranmer.

“The era of jaded folk worship is coming to an end”

The conclusion reached by some (which has also been borne out by surveys in the U.S.) is that the younger generation is largely rejecting the "popular" or "folk" idioms that were propagated in many churches in the 1970s.

“The era of jaded folk worship is coming to an end,” [Neil McCleery] said.

“Indeed I think the people who want that sort of thing are the older generation now and the young are coming back to traditional worship and the choral tradition.”

Read the article: Bingham, John. "Looking for Britain’s future leaders? Try evensong". The Telegraph 1 March 2016

Labels: BCP, Evensong, New College (Oxford), silence, worship, young people

It's webcasting season. In case you didn't already know it, we at Sinden.org are huge fans of listening to liturgy, church music, and organ music online.

Trinity College, Cambridge has just released a new tool to search all of their archival webcasts. All of this is free.

St. John's, Cambridge, perhaps our favorite webcast destination, has just started their choral year, and new music is appearing there. Creating an account allows free access to their archival material (very worthwhile).

The BBC has a very long-running weekly Evensong broadcast which you can hear online. Each broadcast is up for about a week, so time is of the essence!

And a welcome newcomer to the webcasting game is King's College, Cambridge. These webcasts are gussied up with spoken introductions by choristers, the chaplian, or sometimes Stephen Cleobury himself. Organ recitals are also mixed in.

We also eagerly anticipate the return of webcast Evensongs by New College, Oxford.

And if these aren't enough for you or you're not feeling quite so liturgical at the moment, don't forget the pure church music webcast of the fine radio program With Heart and Voice and the wonderful radio program dedicated to the music of the organ, Pipedreams.

And last, but most assuredly not least, you can hear no fewer than five services webcast weekly (Tuesday Evensong, Wednesday Evensong, Thursday Evensong, Sunday Eucharist, Sunday Evensong) by St. Thomas, New York. A truly outstanding gift of prayer and praise available online.

Happy listening!

Labels: church music, King's College (Cambridge), liturgy, New College (Oxford), organ music, St John's (Cambridge), St Thomas (New York), Trinity College (Cambridge), web, webcasting

Labels: 12 Days of YouTube, Christmas, Leighton, New College (Oxford)

A special bulletin in this All-Saints-tide:

Don't miss the BBC webcast of New College singing Herbert Howells's New College service at Evensong.

It is often said that Howells was influenced by the architecture of the different spaces for which he wrote his numerous evensong services. New College is an interesting building, and one of the drier acoustics he composed for, so it is interesting to take note of this service sung in the room and by the choir for which it was composed.

Their organ is fascinating. (Glass swell shutters!)

Labels: Evensong, Howells, New College (Oxford), organs

Gramaphone highlights a new weekly webcast of Evensong from New College, Oxford.

This is great news for Evensong webcast fans. Thus far, I have listened fairly regularly to St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue; St. John's, Cambridge; and wherever the BBC records.

Logging on for E-vensong in Gramaphone by Andrew Mellor.

Labels: Evensong, New College (Oxford), St John's (Cambridge), St Thomas (New York), webcasting