Between The Ears, BBC Radio 3

Occasional Offices is a celebration of Thomas Cranmer’s words for the Occasional Offices in the 1662 Book Of Common Prayer. These works, some of the most beautiful passages of 17th-century English, are explored by Roger James Elsgood, in a collaboration with audio artist Scanner. The programme features a succession of passages from the Occasional Offices: the Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth, the Solemnisation of Matrimony, the Visitation of the Sick, the Burial of The Dead and the Baptism of Infants. These texts are delivered by the Reverend Dr. Peter Mullen in services and celebrations in the Church of St Michael’s Cornhill, a bastion of the King James Bible and the 1662 Book Of Common Prayer in the City of London. The soundscape is significantly made from Scanner’s oratorio ‘Track And Trace’.

Location recording and post-production by Giovanni Sipiano.

Written, produced and directed by Roger James Elsgood

‘An extraordinary listen’. BBC Radio 4 Pick Of The Week