Gregorian Marianism at St. Mildred's

Saturday 26th October 2019
St. Mildred's Church, Canterbury

I managed to get in despite this one selling out. Afternoon sunshine streaming in through the windows, a really beautiful occasion. I hadn't been in St. Mildred's for years (if ever?)...the oldest church inside the city walls. It turns out that the Canterbury Gregorian Society are a sort of community choir, welcoming new members (no audition, no need to read music)...I've got a bit of a psychological block about singing, but I think I could get into this.

The music pieces were interspersed by readings (both in the original Middle English and modern translation) from the 14th century poem Pearl (anonymous, but bound in the same volume as the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, so believed to be by the same author). Fascinating.

I'd been up late the night before in an elevated state of consciousness listening to John Eliot Gardiner's version of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers (recorded in Venice):

That was truly extraordinary. I felt like I experienced pinnacles of musical beauty I'd never before experienced. Obviously the recital in St. Mildred's (amateur, in the best possible sense — these people love what they're doing) couldn't quite compete with that, but I was still transported and extremely grateful to have been there. And I managed to bootleg it (what have I come to?!), so you can expect more Marianism in a future episode of Canterbury Sans Frontières.