Fourth Philharmonia Sessions: unaccompanied sacred choral works

Blog by Paula Downes

Posted: 17/01/2026

Fourth set of recording sessions: Friday 4th April, 2025: unaccompanied sacred choral works

We had now recorded enough music for two and a half CDs. David wanted to add some unaccompanied sacred choral works to A St Luke Passion to complete the first CD. He felt A St Luke Passion should be released first since it is the most immediately appealing, and he felt the unaccompanied choral works were a perfect addition.

We were able to book April 4th at St Augustine’s Kilburn for this recording, which coincided with a Senior School Chapel Choir trip to Spain for my older daughter Penny. This date worked perfectly for me, because it would mean I wouldn’t have time to miss Penny too much on that day and the days leading up to it, and I would only have one child to worry about during the recording. I imagined it would also be a fun trip to London for us during the Easter holidays. I worked out that if I didn’t sing in every item, then my Mum and I could take it in turns to look after Millie. I also thought it would be a great experience for Millie to witness some of the recording.

I booked an Airbnb a 20-minute walk from the church, so we could all easily get back and rest if necessary.

Millie and I took the train to London from Ely on Thursday April 3rd. David had gone separately, straight down to the Warehouse, with a big suitcase, half filled with vocal scores. For this recording I had had the vocal scores printed out at the Ely Print Centre, just down the road from where we lived. I had put each set of scores into a separate large jiffy bag so they would stay organised in the suitcase and it would then be easy to put the piles of music out on the table at the Warehouse for the singers to collect at the start of the rehearsal.

Millie and I arrived at Westbourne Park tube station, and I lugged our big heavy suitcase up the many steps. It was another hot day! We then walked in the direction of the Airbnb and met my Mum in a Costa on the way that we had found on Google Maps a few days before. We had a coffee and then went to the Union Tavern, which I had spotted on the way from the tube station. We found a perfect table overlooking the canal, where we whiled away the time before getting into the Airbnb, having lunch and playing hangman. We hadn’t wanted to catch later trains in case they had been delayed.

After having a hot chocolate in a café, and buying some provisions from a corner shop, we entered the apartment and worked out where everyone would sleep. It felt spacious, was quite quirky in design, with a lot of neutral grey, a new kitchen with a big table and chairs, and new bathroom. There was no living room area, just a bedroom with two twin beds, bunkbeds where you would expect the living room to be, and then a double mattress in an extremely low-ceilinged mezzanine-level bedroom. My Mum and Millie took the twin beds, since that seemed safest for them, and I decided that David and I would choose between the other options when we got back after the rehearsal.

After having changed into a suitable outfit for the rehearsal, and having packed my bag, I walked my Mum and Millie to Queen’s Park and pointed them in the direction of a café in the park, before getting on the tube down to the Warehouse. I arrived in good time and the singers gradually arrived. It was an amazing group, thanks to Aidan, and the music was breathed into life. David and Aidan again guided us through the works with expert precision.

David and I travelled up to the apartment by tube after the rehearsal and crept in while the others slept. We climbed up to the mezzanine bedroom and fell asleep.

The next morning, we had some time kill before the sessions, so we had breakfast and lunch in Costa and then shopped for sandwiches and drinks for between sessions, while David went ahead to the church.

When I arrived at the church with my Mum and Millie, we noticed that it was on a busy main road and there was a big building project going on in the apartment block next door! This was not good news for a recording session! We tried to get in the front door, but it was locked. Neither David nor Myles answered their phone. It was another sweaty, hot day. We walked one way around the church but couldn’t find an entrance. We walked the other way but couldn’t find an entrance. Time was marching on. The session was soon going to begin. We went back to the front entrance. Ben Parry had just arrived. I told him in a panic that we couldn’t get in. He phoned Myles and got an answer. We were supposed to go through the gate to the vicar’s house just to the left of the entrance and then the path led to a door on the side of the church. Phew! It was also nice and cool inside. Myles and his assistant were finishing setting up their microphones etc.

Photo by soprano, Danni O'Neill

Despite noise interruptions, which Myles assured us he could eradicate, the recording session went beautifully. It was a lot of music to get through for the choir. For the other sessions they would often have breaks in between choral passages when the orchestra was playing alone, but there were no such breaks in this session. The Te Deum was particularly taxing because it was one-to-a-part women’s voices. I was regularly going for top As and Bs. Luckily we did this piece first! Soon after we had done all of the women’s only works, we did In Peace, so I could get the solo done, and then take Millie for a walk and a rest in the apartment, while they did the lower voice pieces. Luckily both the church and the apartment were cool, because the walks in between were hot and sweaty.

At the end of the sessions, we collected up all of the music and had some nice chats with the singers, chorus master, the producer, and his assistant, and then tried to get something to eat. This proved impossible! In the end, Millie and my Mum (who had both had enough sandwiches), went to bed, and David and I went to the Union Tavern and had a beer. Sadly, we had just missed their food. Afterwards, we found a Lebanese place that served both chips for me and a meat dish for David, so we didn’t have to go to bed starving!

The next morning my Mum went back to the Midlands on the train, and we went back to Ely, very happy. All disks had been recorded!

I was so excited to get works like the Mass recorded – it is such a cool piece and has never been heard by most people. I kept thinking that so much of this music would never see the light of day unless we got these down. Even I had never even heard the Mass in its original form. The Te Deum had never even been performed: I had created a multitrack promotional recording of it, but due to Covid, I never managed to organise a performance with my group, the Cantabrigians, for whom it was written.

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Blog by Paula Downes