The combination of Polyphony and Temple Church was irresistible to me. I'm hugely into history, and love Polyphony's work - and I'd never been to Temple Church. Seeing that the cheap seats were going fast, I booked.
I had great fun today trying to figure out exactly how to get there, though. Tube to Temple Station - well, that was pretty obvious. But while I've been around the area before, the inner workings of Temple were a complete mystery to me. Taking its name from the Knights Templar, to whom the land was given, it later became a centre for legal business, and today houses barristers' chambers, solicitors' offices, and some legal institutions. And it's hidden away in inner courtyards and streets, just off the main thoroughfares.
Temple Church has a handy map on its website. With our printer broken, however, I was reduced to a scribbled version on a piece of paper! Although it wasn't a bad representation, I was happy to scrap it when the printer came back to life. I got some idea of the area from that, and Google Maps Streetview said to continue along the Strand and onto Fleet Street, past the Royal Courts of Justice and the Temple Bar marker that denotes the boundary of the City, until I came to a Tudor-type building on my right with a large, old-fashioned door. My way in was through there. Mind you, I was sceptical - it looked like just the kind of door that would be closed by evening. Still, I had the map if my way were barred.
I exited Temple Station, intending to head straight up to the Strand, but was confronted by signs telling me that the footpath was closed. I'd forgotten that - it's been like that for ages! Well, there was another sign directing pedestrians to the right for Fleet Street - so off I went. Into an area that didn't look very much like a public right of way! But lo, it was, and this was the first of the evening's excursions into the inner sanctum of Temple. Winding passageways between Georgian buildings finally led me to a flight of steps that climbed onto the Strand.
When I came to the large, old-style door, of course it was closed. But a passageway to the left was open, and I followed someone through, and onto a cobbled laneway. I was early enough that I wasn't in too much of a hurry - which was just as well, because I was utterly lost. Shortly though, a sign pointed left through an archway, to Temple Church, and I passed through to a courtyard, and what was obviously the church. I followed the crowd and collected my ticket; each prebooked ticket was enclosed in an envelope with the buyer's name, and once I ripped it open and extracted the ticket, I could see it was green. Which was significant, as the seating was colour-coded - just sit in an area corresponding to your colour. So I did. I must say, Protestant churches have more comfortable pews - these even had armrests, dividing them into individual seats! each with its own cushion. Not to mention the shelving - and coathooks!
I'd checked, earlier in the day, and noted that all the cheap seats were now gone. This made the empty seats in those pews all the more curious. But anyhow. A pillar rather obscured my view of the choir, but I was here to listen to them anyway. I did have a good view of the organ. But what interested me was the church itself - it's a 12th Century Templar church, and I was gagging to get a look at it. That had to wait for the interval, mind, when I perused the programme that I'd wisely bought, and on foot of what it said, raced up to the "round" to snap some photos.
The evening was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and we were told in advance that each half would be treated as a single performance for that reason, and we weren't to clap until the end. As for the concert, I could take or leave most of the material itself. It did sound lovely in this setting though, (although I didn't much care for the organ solos) and I found the second half, with more recent pieces, more to my liking - in particular, the pieces by Kenneth Leighton. In the whole evening's programme, there was only one piece I knew from before - Lully Lulla, arrangement by Leighton. Mind you, I knew it from the Mediaeval Baebes, and I preferred their version..
Anyhow, it was a lovely evening. Coming out, I remembered the church website saying that, after 8.30PM, pedestrian access was on the other side, so I went that way, peeking into several office windows as I passed. They don't really seem to be into curtains or blinds here.. It was noticeably colder again, and when I got home it had started to rain quite heavily. It still is, several hours later.
That doesn't augur well for tomorrow's Christmas lights walk. Well, it says it goes ahead in all weathers, so I'll just have to wrap up well. Oh, and I must charge my camera, which is having a very busy week! It'll be in operation again on Thursday, when we have our company Christmas party, in the Conservatory in Painshill. Friday is back to Ireland for Christmas, with Christmas dinner booked for the Oakwood Arms..
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