Christmas from King's 2015

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maartendas
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Christmas from King's 2015

Post by maartendas »

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yesterday I listened to the Festival of Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge via BBC Radio 4. I was stunned by the carol which was commissioned for this year, 'The Flight' by Richard Causton. A piece which tells of the harsh reality of the refugees. Musically this is portrayed by some intense parts where the voices clash and at one point the trebles actually sound like wailing, crying children. Really heartbreaking. This is contrasted by a recurring theme in the carol which is very calm, like the stable of the nativity. It felt like the outside world bursting into the candlelit chapel and then a prayer for peace and calm, in response to that.
Other very moving carols were Dormi Jesu, Shepherd's carol, The angel Gabriel and Nova nova.

I just posted this today to be in time to wish everyone happy Christmas but I hope I or anybody else will be able to upload some of the material of the service later on.
It will be on TV today at 2pm British time, if I recall correctly.
Last edited by maartendas on Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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alcesalcesobservator
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by alcesalcesobservator »

I hope someone uploads it to youtube or somewhere.
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maartendas
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by maartendas »

Full service, audio only - 'The Flight' can be heard from 1:06:30 on.



I forgot to mention the soloist for Once in Royal David's City who has a lovely round, warm sounding voice.

I still look forward to a video version as well :)
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Yorkie
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by Yorkie »

maartendas wrote:Full service, audio only - 'The Flight' can be heard from 1:06:30 on.

I still look forward to a video version as well :)
You won't get a video version of 9 Lessons as that is a live radio broadcast only. There is a different tv version, filmed a few weeks before Christmas, with different songs and readings called 'Carols from King's' which is broadcast on BBC2. Somebody has uploaded the Carols (cutting out the prayers and readings) which can be found here:



If you follow the link and watch on YouTube you can play all the videos from the service as a link.

I'll have to take the opposite side on 'The Flight' - I found it completely dreadful.
Last edited by Yorkie on Sat Dec 26, 2015 7:31 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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alcesalcesobservator
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by alcesalcesobservator »

I liked "The Flight". It's not easy listening music, but sometimes I want something that expresses pain.
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Yorkie
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

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Well it certainly caused me pain listening to that tripe - I found it wholly inappropriate for that setting and context. Unfortunately, King's is too frequently found peddling 'avant-garde' pap these days for my liking. But each to their own :D

I particularly disliked the heavy handed dissonance which sounded (rather unpleasantly) like cats mating.
Last edited by Yorkie on Sat Dec 26, 2015 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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alcesalcesobservator
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by alcesalcesobservator »

Yorkie wrote:Well it certainly caused me pain listening to that tripe - I found it wholly inappropriate for that setting and context. Unfortunately, King's is too frequently found peddling 'avant-garde' pap these for my liking. But each to their own :D

I particularly disliked the heavy handed dissonance which sounded (rather unpleasantly) like cats mating.
I couldn't understand the lyrics, but isn't the song referring to the flight to Egypt, which was brought about by Herod's order to kill all male children three and under? Wouldn't dissonant wailing be appropriate under those circumstances?
If you hate this, don't ever listen to Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima"! :lol:
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maartendas
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by maartendas »

Thanks for clarifying that, Yorkie. I used to get the two services mixed up. And thanks also for the video, I will definitely find some time to watch it later.

On 'The Flight' - it is bound to divide those who listen to it. Some background information might help (from the BBC Radio 4 website:

Notes on the commissioned carol - Richard Causton writes:
Earlier this year I spent a great deal of time in libraries looking for a suitable text for my new carol and although I unearthed many old and very beautiful poems about the Nativity, I struggled to find one that I really wanted to set to music. I had a growing sense that at this precise moment it is perverse to be writing a piece about a child born in poverty, away from home and forced to flee with his parents, without in any way paying reference to the appalling refugee crisis that is currently unfolding.

I phoned my friend, the poet George Szirtes to ask if he might be prepared to write me a poem which could encompass some of these ideas. By complete coincidence, the very day I phoned he was in Hungary, at Budapest railway station talking to the refugees who were stuck there while trying to leave the country. Within days, George sent me a poem that is at once beautiful, eloquent and hard-hitting.


The lyrics to 'The Flight' can be found on page 37 of the service's booklet, which can be downloaded directly from the King's website: http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/events/chape ... ssons.html

In the service, it follows after the passage about the three wise men being warned by an angel not to return to Herod - which, one could say, already hints at Herod's murderous plans.
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Yorkie
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by Yorkie »

Oh, I get the message I just found the music and direction not to my liking and out of place in this traditional service. Perhaps I'm just too old fashioned but having once sat through a King's Evensong listening to a new commission with lyrics about a cockatiel's comb...well I would have killed myself there and then had I had the means.
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Re: Christmas from King's 2015

Post by TullyBascombe »

I have to agree with Yorkie, something that dissonant isn't really music, it's a type of performance art. I'm not disagreeing with the message or belittling the choir but I think the music could have been better scored to portray the pain and anguish of today's refugees. I'd rather hear "Lamentations", "Do not sand by my grave and weep" or the score to Schindler's list, and if I put more effort into it I could probably list a dozen more musical treatments of anguish and sorrow that I'd rather listen to, that better convey the desired feeling.
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