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Malvern Priory - June 1992
This was my first choir trip and it moved me considerably, as you may tell from my purple prose.
Another sunny day, another choir trip, more pastime with good company. Thanks again to Keith Charter who quietly arranged the transport, counted us out, and counted us back in again. Also to his colleague Mr Charter-Lunheon (sic) who arranged the excellent meal at the Abbey Hotel.
We arrived to find the Priory deserted; apart from the lady in the bookstall, an elderly sidesman, and a member of their choir who had kindly stayed behind to help. Basking in the sunshine in its park in the centre of Great Malvern, this large and splendid church, part-Norman and part-Perpendicular, waited for us to fill it with sound and worship.
The choir set to work to prepare for the task. Kendrick looked happy and relaxed in the haunts of his salad days, David Page sounded out the compass of the mellow four-manual organ, while the singers took the measure of the high vaulted roof and its delicate echo.
The St Paul's canticles by Howells, written for a building with even more echo, piled layer upon layer of sound as the harmonies (exotic but always English) slowly changed and built to a controlled climax of Anglican ecstasy. The Leighton responses, straining the melodic and rhythmic precision of the choir just beyond its limits, produced outbursts of exuberance and moments of quiet intensity with similar exotic English harmonies. While "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" seemed inspired by the shade of Elgar himself, filling the church.
Yet even all this was not enough by itself, and might have been no more than beautiful but sterile sounds. It was transformed into worship by the congregation, composed largely of our friends from St Peter's. So that we, after our joint effort of singing prayer and contemplation, could truly say "our souls have magnified the Lord".
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