A series that's dearly beloved

The programme comes live every Wednesday at 4 p.m., from cathedrals, abbeys and college chapels throughout the UK, and it attracts a dedicated following. Radio 3's relatively small audience makes statistics meaningless, says the series producer, James Whitbourn; but a wide range of people love the programme, not least those who have been choristers themselves at some time. The famous who have sung in Choral Evensong as boy choristers, include Dr David Hope, Oz Clarke, Jon Snow, John Pardoe MP, Paul Jones of Manfred Mann, and the late Freddie Mercury.

Getting it together: the team, in
the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford,
runs through the service just before
going on air

Live broadcasting gives the programme its edge, and because the audience is so attentive, organists describe it far more nerve-racking than the televised Songs of Praise or Morning Service. "Radio is a very intimate medium. There are people who listen very critically on very good stereo systems," said a former organist at Portsmouth Cathedral, David Thorne, who has taken part in 20 broadcasts. "You are well aware that you can't treat it as an ordinary service because it is a radio programme, but I hope it comes across as relatively spiritual."

Cathedrals are invited to take part, and suggest a place in the proposed schedule that will suit them best. "With cathedral choirs, you're constantly dealing with an animal that is broken and rebuilt, as boys' voices break and others come through," says Mr Whitbourn. "It's a matter of trying to predict when the good times will be for people." He keeps "a light touch" on vetting liturgy, avoiding clashes and trying to accord as far as possible with what the cathedrals themselves would like to do, but also incorporating ideas from Radio 3 colleagues.

The day of the broadcast has a set pattern, and there is never a complete run-through of the service before it goes live. Readers rehearse at 1.30; the organist arrives at 1.45 to play through the voluntary, and the choir starts rehearsing at 2. At 3.30, there's "a quick panic while we discover it's all too long or too short, make some adjustments in as collegial way as we can, and go on air at 4" says Mr Whitbourn.

He is an organist and a former choral scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford, and also produces Carols From King's. He has been the series producer for 11 years, succeeding Barry Rose, who did the job for 20 years. Live broadcasting means that he is able to sustain the freshness and excitement he feels for each weekly programme: pre-recording would mean "standing around for a couple of hours afterwards, re-recording what went wrong, patching things in and then cutting it down to time".

Radio is the perfect medium for Choral Evensong, he says, and the programme's very ordinariness is its strength.

"The whole point about it is that it's the daily office; that it goes out every day, but you're tapping into something that is also different every time. What you want to hear is its part in the office day, and the way it changes with the seasons and the church calendar, and the way the prayers change with what is in people's minds."

Sometimes, he reflects, it can all sound "terribly perfect" until the prayers are reached, and something is mentioned that is derived, perhaps, from the news or from a local situation. "That really brings it home to you that it belongs just to that moment, and the musical performance also belongs just to that moment."

Consequently, there is no BBC archive for Choral Evensong, though cathedrals sometimes make their own CD recordings as a souvenir. David Thorne has become the programme's unofficial archivist, having started at the age of 14 and recorded almost every programme over the past 30 years. He uses it both as a learning exercise to increase his knowledge of the repertoire, and, like the Daily Service, as a meditation in its own right. He commends the BBC as a public broadcaster for making the space.

THE SERIES has moved networks throughout its 73 years. It started on the National Programme, transferring to the Home Service in the early 1960s, and moved from Radio 4 to Radio 3 in 1981. Only once has the BBC attempted to limit it or to take it off: a brief experiment in 1970 when it was reduced to once a month on Radio 3. This brought storms of protest, including a strong letter to The Times from Marghanita Laski, criticising the BBC for taking off a programme that had such a cultural heritage. David Thorne thinks that when Radio 3 took it back it became much more of a music programme. "Standards improved no end," he says.

Things do go wrong. In the old days, a pulled plug could cause havoc; in modern times, technical problems can come from the idiosyncrasies of satellite lines or ISDN links. Mr Thorne recalls an occasion at Norwich Cathedral in 1974 when the red light signalling "On Air" failed to appear and the organist simply kept on playing. "You could hear creeping feet, then the conductor saying 'Is it on?' and then the whole choir standing," he remembers. "The creeping feet were from Barrie Rose, who had run all the way up the aisle in his socks."

On another occasion, at New College, Oxford, the organist finished on a clean chord for the Responses, but the Precentor took the wrong note. "Half the choir, with perfect pitch, went with the organ; the others, who were just listening to the Precentor, started in a different key," said Mr Thorne. "They kept going in two keys until it conked out, then the organist gave a new note and the whole thing started again with the opening responses. That's really unheard of on Choral Evensong."

Some services, James Whitbourn says, are quite outstanding musically, sending the audience away completely uplifted. Landmark services include one from St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, where a black choir sang for the first time with a white choir; and another from Washington National Cathedral which featured a huge brass ensemble. But a quiet Lenten service can be just as moving and as special as any great extravaganza, as listeners tell them over and over again.

Listeners sometimes take extreme positions - "We don't like any music after 1700" - but Mr Whitbourn tries not to set too much store by individual reactions, preferring to build up a picture over a period of time. People listen in homes and workplaces and in their cars, and some make a hobby of attending as many services as they can, often travelling a long way to do so.

Simon and Jenny Freakes from Eastbourne met and married as a result of Choral Evensong. In 1992, Simon invited Jenny (who had listened to the programme as a child in the 40s) to a live broadcast for their first date, since which time they have travelled by train to Choral Evensong venues as often as they can, using the staff concessions that Simon is entitled to as an employee of British Rail. They have visited most English cathedrals and some in Wales, and hope also to go to Scotland and Ireland.

"We find it very exhilarating in a way: the excitement of getting to the place, finding somewhere to have lunch, and listening to part of the rehearsal. Then just to hear the lovely voices is calming," Jenny says. "You forget everything else while you're there. Simon likes the music more than the prayer side; I go for the prayer side more than the music."

Listeners are sometimes invited to write in with their suggestions; and the last service of the 20th century included an organ voluntary from Christmas-tide in 1997, which was improvised by Martin Baker at Westminster Abbey. Subjects that had been suggested for a fantasia were "While Shepherds Watched"; "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"; the Westminster Chimes, and a toccata in the French style, Mr Whitbourn said.

He combined them all, and gave the brief to Martin Baker just before the programme went on air. The improvised result was "a remarkable piece" which has gone down in the programme's history. For live broadcasting, read flying by the seat of your pants.