Letter: 'Seem to have hit a patch of turbulence'

We must be grateful to Paul Wing for rightly and bravely bringing it to public notice and to your newspaper for publishing his letter (Letters, Chronicle May 16). 

We do not have all the facts but, while not wishing to be too intrusive, the choir enjoys – or used to enjoy – world acclaim and its future concerns all who love the music of the cathedral for both its enhancement of worship and the pleasure it brings to those who love the responses of Ayleward and Moore, the settings of Gibbons, Tallis, and Byrd, the anthems of Stanford, Parry, Elgar, Howells, and Walton, and the thunderous concluding voluntaries of Johann Sebastian Bach. 

The cathedral is about to lose, in Andrew Lumsden, an outstanding musician who has more than maintained – in fact strengthened – the work of Martin Neary and David Hill (the other organists in my time in Winchester) and one who has brought to the choir the highest standards while, at the same time, always with a human touch. The announcement of his departure came within days of a truly electrifying recital (by Olivier Latry) to mark the restoration of the cathedral's organ which, itself, reflects the vision and expertise of Andrew Lumsden. It is hardly likely that he would be going so suddenly, as Paul Wing says, unless faced with impossible demands.  

One can only wonder why? Talk of fallings-out and tellings-off in public do not sit well with the people I know at the cathedral and they are, doubtless, exaggerations. Economies could be one reason. The choir has been down in numbers for some time and, although the pandemic was undoubtedly a factor and although long term problems, such as parental worries about boarding, will have played a part, it would seem that the cathedral prefers the route of austerity - cuts to salaries and personnel – rather another exacting campaign to raise the necessary funds. 

Issues of diversity and inclusion have also been mentioned. Every such move, for some, is bad but it has to be acknowledged that one excellent change in this direction has been the establishment of the girls’ choir which is, even now, celebrating its first 25 years. There is, then, a place for issues of this kind but they should not be allowed, in a rush for fashionability, to trample over a thousand years of history and destroy, at a stroke, an irreplaceable heritage of glorious achievements - wondrous evensongs among them - which give pleasure and have meaning even today. 

These explanations – costs and diversity – are only speculations, of course; but why is this so? It is because, so far at least, the cathedral officials have failed to offer any detail or to answer any questions. Such a proceeding must, inevitably, feed ‘social media’, nurture suspicions, and encourage speculation. Better, surely, to be open with all who love the cathedral and, best of all, to give iron-clad assurances to counter concerns about either economies or diversity. 

Dr Andrew Thomson, 
Stockbridge Road, 
Fulflood,
Winchester 

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