Or more accurately, the Joke in Wales. The preaching in Llandaff last night was insipid at best and the music just poor with no Kyrie or Gloria. The Friends of Llandaff Cathedral should be asking for their £25,000 back never mind increasing it to £35,000 per annum. A dismally pale imitation of the 2012 Cathedral choir.
The singers were okay for a scratch choir but Llandaff's obviously economising on their Cathedral Choir. Maybe today's boys can't sing after 9pm in the evening? We did in my day! The Friends should ask questions.
As for choice of music, the punters who only come at Christmas want to hear more rousing fare than Wilby etc. Stephen Moore's organ CD "Deo Gracias" was reviewed by Oliver Condy on Radio 3's Record Review last week. Condy's verdict: he plays well enough but the programme "didn't necessarily set me alight". Sums Moore up!
It wasn't even the faux Cathedral choir in attendance but a motley hotch-potch drawn from whomsoever was available from the Parish choir, Consort, Choral society, Caritas, Cantemus and the faux "regulars". Pathetic. Humiliating.
No peace or goodwill to all men in Llandaff this year.
The gossip on the Green today concerns the antiques-dealing dud in the Llandaff Deanery and Mr Toad evicting a Circuit Judge his wife, adult children and their partners from the Nave prior to the start of the Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve.
Never mind the facts that the Furness family have been going to the Cathedral for a quarter of a century or that the three sons were all boy Choristers in the Cathedral Choir or that the daughter was a girl Chorister in the Cathedral School Consort throughout the 2000s. Past service and loyalty counts for nothing in Llandaff.
No doubt Mrs Furness can look forward to receiving one of the Capon's nasty poison pen letters and being labelled "subversive".
Throwing people out of divine service is completely unacceptable. Who does the Toad think he is? This pompous prat has been acting as though he owns Llandaff Cathedral for too long.
Sack him. And if the Dean whines about it, time to sack him too!
I am reliably informed that the slimy amphibian Toad resorted to threatening the Judge's family with calling the south Wales police if they refused to leave the Cathedral.
Will she who must not be named attempt to defend the indefensible yet again? Sounds like Mrs Morrell might find herself unexpectedly busy tomorrow.
So a Judge and his entire family turn up mid-afternoon for the Nine Lessons & Carols and are treated as though they were a crowd of drunks falling out of the Butcher's Arms at 11:30pm rolling boisterously into a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass?
Sounds as though the oily Mr Toad might have over-reached himself this time. He needs to be shown the door for gross discourtesy, gross misconduct and bringing the Cathedral into disrepute.
If memory serves, I believe the two older Furness boys also sang as adult deputies in the back row of the old Cathedral Choir. By now their names will have been added to the Capon's blacklist of former Lay Clerks and choral scholars too.
Not for the first time, Sam Furness sang earlier this month for a charity concert at Llandaff Cathedral as one of the 3 Tenors raising money for the British Heart Foundation. On previous form, the Llandaff Cathedral administrators will have charged the BHF full price for hiring the Cathedral as a venue for the concert. One suspects the BHF might well take their business elsewhere in future.
The fact of the matter is that for the past 10 years (at least), a small but powerful clique has controlled Llandaff. If you are part of this clique, you can do whatever you want with no comeback at all. If you are not, then you are liable to be shouted at, denigrated, sent nasty letters or barred from worshipping for the slightest infraction.
The arbiter of all this seems to be the whims of the Head Verger. This includes decisions about who gets to be baptised, married or buried in the Cathedral. On several occasions, longstanding members of the congregation have found themselves unable to go ahead with such rites due to the intransigence of one man. This needs to stop and the individual concerned mend his ways or lose his post.
Meanwhile the Chapter sit on their hands and do nothing to remedy the situation. Letters and action need to follow.
Also on Christmas Eve, S4C screened a special programme about the Llandaff cathedral organ with Huw Edwards. Stephen Moore played, then Huw Tregelles Williams gave an extensive explanation of the main stops and David Thomas demonstrated the various pipes. It's online here with optional English subtitles:
Pity S4C didn't have an investigative journalist worthy of the name. Perhaps then they might have asked how an instrument quoted at a price of just £980k ended up costing just under £1.6 million.
My poem/hymn/prayer for Christmas 2018 - Anna Akhmatova's 'Lamentations', which I find very joyful and true to the spirit of every Christmas, even though it was written in 1922 in St Petersburg - the last section is exquisite and touching the hem of that shawl a blessing!Lamentation - to V. A Shchegoleva You are worshipping the Lord In his holy courtyard. God’s fool sleeps on the church porch, And a star looks down on him. And touched by an angel’s wing, A bell begins to speak, Not with alarm, with a voice of terror, But saying farewell forever. And the saints and miracle workers, Leaving their ancient icon frames, Come out of the cloister Leaning on crutches. Seraphim – to the woods of Sarov, To shepherd the rural flocks, Anna – no longer a princess, To Kashim, to pull the prickly flax.
With them goes the Mother of God, Wrapping her son in a shawl Dropped by an old beggar woman On the front steps of the Lord.
PP, A Happy Christmas to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteThank you A/B. The same to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteCatnap
And from the Ordinariate in England to those still under the Yoke in Wales.
ReplyDeleteOr more accurately, the Joke in Wales.
DeleteThe preaching in Llandaff last night was insipid at best and the music just poor with no Kyrie or Gloria.
The Friends of Llandaff Cathedral should be asking for their £25,000 back never mind increasing it to £35,000 per annum.
A dismally pale imitation of the 2012 Cathedral choir.
The singers were okay for a scratch choir but Llandaff's obviously economising on their Cathedral Choir. Maybe today's boys can't sing after 9pm in the evening? We did in my day! The Friends should ask questions.
DeleteAs for choice of music, the punters who only come at Christmas want to hear more rousing fare than Wilby etc. Stephen Moore's organ CD "Deo Gracias" was reviewed by Oliver Condy on Radio 3's Record Review last week. Condy's verdict: he plays well enough but the programme "didn't necessarily set me alight". Sums Moore up!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001psj
It wasn't even the faux Cathedral choir in attendance but a motley hotch-potch drawn from whomsoever was available from the Parish choir, Consort, Choral society, Caritas, Cantemus and the faux "regulars".
DeletePathetic.
Humiliating.
No peace or goodwill to all men in Llandaff this year.
DeleteThe gossip on the Green today concerns the antiques-dealing dud in the Llandaff Deanery and Mr Toad evicting a Circuit Judge his wife, adult children and their partners from the Nave prior to the start of the Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve.
Never mind the facts that the Furness family have been going to the Cathedral for a quarter of a century or that the three sons were all boy Choristers in the Cathedral Choir or that the daughter was a girl Chorister in the Cathedral School Consort throughout the 2000s.
Past service and loyalty counts for nothing in Llandaff.
No doubt Mrs Furness can look forward to receiving one of the Capon's nasty poison pen letters and being labelled "subversive".
Throwing people out of divine service is completely unacceptable. Who does the Toad think he is? This pompous prat has been acting as though he owns Llandaff Cathedral for too long.
DeleteSack him. And if the Dean whines about it, time to sack him too!
One suspects Judge Furness may have already written his own letter to Caiaphas.
DeleteI am reliably informed that the slimy amphibian Toad resorted to threatening the Judge's family with calling the south Wales police if they refused to leave the Cathedral.
DeleteWill she who must not be named attempt to defend the indefensible yet again?
Sounds like Mrs Morrell might find herself unexpectedly busy tomorrow.
So a Judge and his entire family turn up mid-afternoon for the Nine Lessons & Carols and are treated as though they were a crowd of drunks falling out of the Butcher's Arms at 11:30pm rolling boisterously into a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass?
DeleteSounds as though the oily Mr Toad might have over-reached himself this time.
He needs to be shown the door for gross discourtesy, gross misconduct and bringing the Cathedral into disrepute.
If memory serves, I believe the two older Furness boys also sang as adult deputies in the back row of the old Cathedral Choir.
DeleteBy now their names will have been added to the Capon's blacklist of former Lay Clerks and choral scholars too.
Not for the first time, Sam Furness sang earlier this month for a charity concert at Llandaff Cathedral as one of the 3 Tenors raising money for the British Heart Foundation.
DeleteOn previous form, the Llandaff Cathedral administrators will have charged the BHF full price for hiring the Cathedral as a venue for the concert.
One suspects the BHF might well take their business elsewhere in future.
The fact of the matter is that for the past 10 years (at least), a small but powerful clique has controlled Llandaff. If you are part of this clique, you can do whatever you want with no comeback at all. If you are not, then you are liable to be shouted at, denigrated, sent nasty letters or barred from worshipping for the slightest infraction.
DeleteThe arbiter of all this seems to be the whims of the Head Verger. This includes decisions about who gets to be baptised, married or buried in the Cathedral. On several occasions, longstanding members of the congregation have found themselves unable to go ahead with such rites due to the intransigence of one man. This needs to stop and the individual concerned mend his ways or lose his post.
Meanwhile the Chapter sit on their hands and do nothing to remedy the situation. Letters and action need to follow.
Also on Christmas Eve, S4C screened a special programme about the Llandaff cathedral organ with Huw Edwards. Stephen Moore played, then Huw Tregelles Williams gave an extensive explanation of the main stops and David Thomas demonstrated the various pipes. It's online here with optional English subtitles:
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06v7l2f/y-dioddefaint-yn-ol-ioan-seiniau-organ-llandaf
At 1 min 15 secs, Huw Edwards states that the organ cost "more than £1.5 million". This might surprise those who raised questions about the figure...
Pity S4C didn't have an investigative journalist worthy of the name.
DeletePerhaps then they might have asked how an instrument quoted at a price of just £980k ended up costing just under £1.6 million.
My poem/hymn/prayer for Christmas 2018 - Anna Akhmatova's 'Lamentations', which I find very joyful and true to the spirit of every Christmas, even though it was written in 1922 in St Petersburg - the last section is exquisite and touching the hem of that shawl a blessing!Lamentation - to V. A Shchegoleva
ReplyDeleteYou are worshipping the Lord
In his holy courtyard.
God’s fool sleeps on the church porch,
And a star looks down on him.
And touched by an angel’s wing,
A bell begins to speak,
Not with alarm, with a voice of terror,
But saying farewell forever.
And the saints and miracle workers,
Leaving their ancient icon frames,
Come out of the cloister
Leaning on crutches.
Seraphim – to the woods of Sarov,
To shepherd the rural flocks,
Anna – no longer a princess,
To Kashim, to pull the prickly flax.
With them goes the Mother of God,
Wrapping her son in a shawl
Dropped by an old beggar woman
On the front steps of the Lord.
Anna Akhmatova 1922 Petersburg