Another CE that I enjoyed - and certainly a creditable job by the choir.  The men were generally sound and had some very fine moments;  the trebles had an attractively fresh, bright, and honest tone, without being especially cultured and despite being a tad strident at the very top of their range.  I found the two 'spiritual' arrangements, at the start and end of this 'slavery' service, particularly affecting - very nicely sung with real intensity, sensibility and nuance (though I think the Chilcott "Were you there?" is slightly over-arranged, with canons of dubious merit).

I have a great respect for Rubbra's music, but it always seems to me that the organ accompaniment to the Mag was intended for a different piece - the choral and instrumental writing just don't seem happily married!  The remaining items all worked pretty well - the psalm was again taken at sedate pace, and achieved a suitable dignity.  The organ voluntary was welcome, being neither servile nor Lenten.  All in all, my thanks go to all concerned at Portsmouth cathedral for the hour well spent in their company.  Coming from an RN family, I find it somehow reassuring that the Navy's home base is still in touch with the Lord High Admiral.

The homily - I have no complaints, and it was brief and well delivered.  But this year we are supposed to be celebrating the end of the slave trade and the beginning of the end of legal slavery.  Both are in themselves 'Good Things'.  But there is a danger that the celebration is turning into national angst and woe, and there are some in the world who are seizing a 250-yr-old stick to beat us with.  There are enough negatives about 21st-Cent Britain without adding this historical one.  The shame of capitalism built on slavery will always be with us, but at least in 2007 we should be rejoicing that a few gallant Brits brought fresh light to the post-Enlightenment.

I thought the problems with this service stemmed from an entirely inappropriate choice of music: a) Steal away - poor arrangement compared with Tippett's (so why bother?), b) Awful hymn (Finlandia just doesn't work as a hymn tune IMO), c) turgid psalm singing d) Screechy Rubbra that showed no-one at their best d) As Draco said, the choir was tired out by the time we got to the Langlais, so that didn't really work, and e) that horrible arrangement of Were you there? which simply demonstrated that male altos and boys in canon doesn't work at all. Pity really, because I suspect that with some more mainstream repertoire to sing, this is probably a decent choir.

Like others I thought the best thing about the broadcast was the Eben which was played with panache and style.

BWS

Quiet suggestion, S-S:
your last posting on 'the other place' ref Porstmouth:
if you look carefully at OSIAGO's hymn of praise to Portsmouth, you may notice that his message is suspiciously diametrically opposed to absolutely every other judgement on the thread.

I suspect a deliberate wind-up. Read it again, and see what you think? Maybe it's just me!!

BTW, thanks for other place timely intervention.