Amongst the myriad of materials on YouTube can be found most of a long-playing record from 1967 titled Evensong For All Saints’ Day, likely the first commercial recording produced by the Cathedral. This is its story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nL5wCdtmAI
Children and specifically boys have been part of choirs at Christ Church since the very beginning: in 1909 we are told the choir consisted of 140 members, including 38 girls and 32 boys. Less clear is the role of these junior members – whether they sang as separate ensembles or were heard in conjunction with the adult choristers. Moving forward to the 1960s, in September 1962 the Organist-Choirmaster Rev. Grahame Baker (he also acted as an associate priest at Christ Church since 1958) formed a Choir of Gentlemen and Boys which led the worship at the 9:30am Family Service, while the regular choir sang at the 11am Morning Prayer. Three years later Beal Thomas took over as Organist and Director of Music and continued to build and nurture what was already a fine choral ensemble.
The quality of the Choir of Gentlemen and Boys began to recognized outside of Vancouver. In June 1966 Dr. Gerald Knight, Director of the Royal School of Church Music in Croydon, visited CCC and was very impressed with the high standard he found, a result of which was an invitation to tour English cathedrals under the auspices of the RSCM. Permission was granted for such a tour by the Cathedral clergy and lay leaders, with the proviso that the choir generate revenue to cover a portion of the costs involved. Special evensongs and concerts were given over the next 18 months; recordings of some of these were combined to produce an LP, sold via the cathedral office for $4. At the time the choir consisted of 40 boys and 18 men.
Side 1, the “Evensong for the Feast of All Saints,” includes most of the major musical items for that service along with ferial versicles and responses, collects, a spoken creed and two lessons, the latter read by Dean Northcote Burke. The Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) are the settings by Stanford in B-flat and were recorded in February 1966 when the choir was augmented with men and boys from St. Mark’s Kitsilano, St. Alban’s Richmond, and St. John’s Shaughnessy. Psalm 67 by Bairstow and Parry’s “I Was Glad” were recorded at the wedding of Margaret Wilson and Glenn Walker in April of 1967. Two items from Side 2 are also included on the YouTube upload, the Hymn “Jerusalem the Golden” (part of our All Saints’ service this coming November 1) and for a Postlude the “Trumpet Voluntary” by Jeremiah Clarke.
The rest of the LP, not on YouTube, consisted of seasonal works including the Bach anthem “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” (with James Mitchell, oboe), the Dutch Carol “This Joyful Eastertide,” the Polish Carol “We Greet You, Jesus” (with treble soloist Marek Norman, who within a decade would write the rock mass “Marantha”), and the Hymn “Sweet Feast of Love Divine” featuring bass Alex Murray, father of former Diocesan Communications Officer Randy Murray who was also a treble in the choir at the time. And yes, the Choir of Gentlemen and Boys did reach their fundraising goals and toured England in August 1968, singing services at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick, the Cathedral at St. Asaph in North Wales, and daily for a week each at Chester, Norwich, and Lincoln Cathedrals. The Choir subsequently reunited in 2008 for an Evensong at Christ Church, marking the fortieth anniversary of the original tour.