BBC TV “Close Harmony” 4: King’s College Cambridge 1987 (Stephen Cleobury) 

As a choirboy, many years ago I remember, with pleasure, the joy of soaring effortlessly to those high notes. A world mistakenly one thinks will last forever.

I am soooo devastated to hear of the death of Stephen Cleobury. I have been an Anglophile for 25 years, ever since I heard Stephen's (and Sir David's) arrangements for the first time. I also wish I could have met both of them & played my favorite hymn (I Sing the Almighty Power of God, tune FOREST GREEN) on the organ for them. (I have been an organ geek since 1988). The reason I have never visited Cambridge is because I am afraid of flying (the few times I did fly, I suffered from severe barotrauma (ears popping from air pressure)). But for my barotrauma, I would have visited Cambridge a few times in the last 25 years. RIP Stephen, & I hope you & Sir David & RVW are singing *& playing on the organ) every hymn that fits with the tune FOREST GREEN. Thank you for all the beautiful Festivals of Lessons & Carols, Stephen!

Not only is this a wonderful documentary from King's decades ago and showing the ways in which the choir prepares, but it's also a show casing of the brilliant mind of Stephen Cleobury. After 37 years as Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge, Sir Stephen Cleobury retired on 30 Sep 2019 and sadly passed away on 22 Nov 2019. We owe him such much. RIP Sir Stephen

So good to see this historical recording and the relatively young Stephen Cleobury at the helm. This is his last year in his current position at King' s College and I wish him all the Best.

You can definitely hear the influence of Stephen's time as Master of the Music at Westminster Cathedral (RC).

So, so thankful that there continue to be people dedicated to keep these traditions alive in many aspects of civic life and culture. Some things you don't pass up in favour of undisciplined and unproven new fads. I hope we do more to connect with, understand, and relate to the past, to cherish its wisdom and accept what it has to say about the present. I'm hopeful - I sense a shift in public sentiment has begun.

Church music is a poorer place without Sir Stephen Cleobury. The discussion between Cleobury and Rose in this episode is fascinating.

Thanks for sharing! I'm in the middle of writing an essay on Miserere Mei, and being a singer (soprano) myself, and familiar with the Evensong repertoire, this is really inspiring. So, thank you again!

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Based on my sadness about COVID & all the violence that happened the last 2 years in the USA; with all the unsettling events in the world in this day & age, I have been thinking of asking a question that might seem silly. Does singing somber music make them sad? (And I don't just mean the boys, I mean the Choral Scholars as well.) When they're finished doing a service do they run to the loo or the dorm to have a good cry? When I sang in the church choir (just a small parish church, nothing elaborate) I couldn't even sing the hymns/anthems that made me sad. I just teared up & held the music in front of my face so the congregation wouldn't see me crying. No, I never aspired to be a professional singer. It's just for fun. I wanted to be a professional ORGANIST, though; if I were not so picky I would be one. But I can't handle modern music or somber music. Modern music (with only a few exceptions) annoys me & somber music turns me into a bawling mess. But back to my question: Do any of the Choir members feel very sad while singing a somber piece?

The kid sounds like he could produce a C7 with little difficulty!!!

Harking back to a time when we actually had something worth watching on TV, before the barrage of rubbish and songs of praise turned into an evangelical- gospel pile of dung .