tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post346455041005473557..comments2024-03-25T15:10:13.792+00:00Comments on English Buildings: Gloucester CathedralPhilip Wilkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-52647550931364772942015-10-06T16:59:19.674+01:002015-10-06T16:59:19.674+01:00Thank you, Joe. It's a great image, isn't ...Thank you, Joe. It's a great image, isn't it, these two young men, just starting out themselves as composers, sharing this extraordinary experience. Gurney, I think, could have been a great composer, had he not been plagued with the illness that incapacitated him at a time when such mental afflictions were so imperfectly treated. One of his teachers at the Royal College (Stanford I think), who taught some big musical beasts, said that Gurney was potentially the greatest of the lot. Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-42166875467424891102015-10-06T15:38:37.888+01:002015-10-06T15:38:37.888+01:00I love the thought of Howells and Gurney together ...I love the thought of Howells and Gurney together and encountering that piece for the first time. It's been too many years since I've seen Gloucester Cathedral, which was the site of some powerful musical experiences in my teenage years. Thanks for bringing it so vividly to mind. Joe Treasurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452665782271458318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-71002900006890246912015-09-26T21:09:06.734+01:002015-09-26T21:09:06.734+01:00Indeed. Gloucester is unique and amazing. I go bac...Indeed. Gloucester is unique and amazing. I go back often (it's my nearest cathedral) and the effect does not fade. I'm not necessarily against cathedrals raising money by hiring spaces for, say, recording or film location shooting, but this does need to be balanced against the requirements of those who want to visit (or indeed pray). It's interesting about the acoustics: they clearly were the result of trial and error. People would soon have got the hang of what generally to expect from a large, stone-vaulted building of Romanesque or Gothic proportions, but those things cover a multitude of sins, of course, and the actual sound would be a matter of chance. And in any case, it depends on all sorts of incidentals, such as where you (and the musicians) are in the building, how many other people are in there, and so on and on. Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-49107731461615419252015-09-26T11:09:24.511+01:002015-09-26T11:09:24.511+01:00A much worthier use of cathedral space than, e.g. ...A much worthier use of cathedral space than, e.g. filming Harry Potter in Gloucester cloisters, using Worcester cloisters as yet another sales space at the Victorian Fayre, or converting Norwich Cathedral into a film set for some Arthurian hall, and kicking me out on my one and only chance to visit on that trip! The mystery of the acoustics can't be explained simply in terms of Romanesque columns or Gothic vault: I imagine the builders built as they built, with features almost unique to Gloucester, and the science of producing a good sound was a matter of trial and error. The pierced parapets of Gloucester define the building & the city, but when I was having my lunch on a bench next to the cathedral, I still couldn't fully believe in the reality of what I saw. Now, that is what I call "building"!! . Joseph Biddulph (Publisher)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08655472675410890012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-48692540949859322522015-09-26T10:33:50.715+01:002015-09-26T10:33:50.715+01:00Well, a lot of great English composers did come fr...Well, a lot of great English composers did come from this part of the country (Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst, for a start), but the festival predates them. It was largely chance - the fact that the three cathedrals are quite close geographically and the musicians who worked in them tended to know one another and sometimes to work together. One of the founders of the festival in the 18th century said it was 'a fortuitous and friendly proposal, between a few lovers of harmony and brethren of the correspondent choirs'. Festivals since 1729: not bad going, as we laconic Brits would say.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-75137023876170665192015-09-25T18:20:59.629+01:002015-09-25T18:20:59.629+01:00What is the thing that links three cathedrals of W...What is the thing that links three cathedrals of Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester? Did the composers live locally or have a connection with those particular cathedrals?Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com