When I was an organ scholar, many years ago, the university choir would visit a cathedral for a week during the summer. The idea of choirs singing the services at a large church or cathedral has grown and is now extremely common. I am bombarded with posts on Facebook about Evensongs.
I used to sing with such a group but it struck me that I was trying to re-live my youth and also playing at 'dressing up'. These days I do not care about wearing my diploma hood and showing the world how clever I think I am.
Looking a the repertoire choices of these advertised evensongs one cannot help thinking that they are just an opportunity for the choir to wallow in the music they like. Nothing wrong with that but it does mean that certain music gets over-used.
Typically a service will have canticle by Wood, Howells, or Dyson, and an anthem such as "O Thou, the Central Orb" by Wood or "Evening Hymn" by Balfour Gardiner.
Just as Classic FM keeps playing the same few tracks, one does need variety now and again. Sadly - as I have blogged before - conductors can go to the other extreme of selecting music which is far too dissonant.
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