CD: Gregorian Chant Rediscovered by the Monastic Choir of St Peter’s Abbey, Solesmes, France

Description

CD

Over 60 Minutes

 These recordings are not available digitally or on streaming services.

 The musical highlights of the Gregorian church year sung under the direction of Solesmes choir director Dom Gajard have been digitally remastered. This recording reflects the unmatched authenticity of Gregorian chant by the Monks of Solesmes.

 Perfect for learning chant with the Liber Usualis!

 “The most famous and ‘authentic’ recordings of Gregorian chant for generations have been those made by the Solesmes monks.”

 —The Boston Globe

 Ad te Domine, offertory in mode 2 (Liber Usualis No 321)

1. Qui sedes, Domine, gradual in mode 7 (Liber Usualis No. 335)
2. Descendit de caelis, responsory in Mode 1
3. Virgo Dei genitrix, Hymn (Mode 2) (Liber Usualis, No 1865)
4. Media vita in morte sumus, responsory in mode 4
5. Dirigatur, gradual in mode 7 (Liber Usualis, No 1060a)
6. Meditabor, offertory in mode 2, (Liber Usualis 548)
7. Christus factus est, gradual in mode 5 (Liber Usualis, No 655)
8. Hoc corpus, communion in mode 8 (Liber Usualis, No 573b)
9. Custodi me, offertory in mode 1, (Liber Usualis No 611a)
10. Tenebrae, responsory in mode 7 (Liber Usualis, No. 680)
11. Kyrie I, in mode 8 for the ordinary (Liber Usualis, No 16b)
12. Gloria I, in mode 4 for the ordinary (Liber Usualis, No 16c)
13. Jubilate Deo universa, offertory in mode 1, (Liber Usualis, 486b)

15. Christus resurgens (response), Mode 2, PM. 66
16. Spiritus Domini, introit in mode 8 (Liber Usualis, No 878b)
17. Work(s): Spiritus Sanctus & Spiritus qui a Patre, Communions (8th mode)

18. Da pacem, introit in mode 1 (Liber Usualis No 1056a)
19. Kyrie ad lib X, from the ordinary in mode 1(Liber Usualis, No 80b)

20. Precatus est, offertory in mode 8
21. Memento verbi, communion in mode 4, (Liber Usualis, 1065b)

22. Assumpta est, alleluia in mode 5 (Liber Usualis, No 1603)
23. Salve Regina (Antiphon) (simple tone) (Liber Cantualis, 94)
24. Justus germinabit, alleluia in mode 1, (Liber Usualis, 1192)
25. Quinque prudentes, communion in mode 5 (Liber Usualis 1228b)

26. Requiem aeternam, introit in mode 6 (Liber Usualis 1807a)
27. Urbs Jerusalem, hymn in mode 4 (Liber Usualis, No. 1865)

 Since the re-founding of the monastery of St. Peter of Solesmes in 1833 under Dom Prosper Gueranger, this Benedictine monastery on the River Sarthe in western France has set the world standard both for the performance of Gregorian chant and the authenticity of the music itself.

Commissioned by Pope Pius X to research the role of chant in liturgy and to edit books on chant that reflect this research, Solesmes enjoys an enviable reputation. Its work in liturgical reform and in the current revival of Gregorian chant has been likened to that of the great abbey of Cluny in the Middle Ages.

These recordings incorporate new understandings of ancient manuscripts and represent a distillation of nearly 200 years of scholarship in the chant: musical paleography, semiology, and modality. The groundbreaking work by the monks of Solesmes has contributed to today’s resurgence of interest in Gregorian chant as the foundation of Western music.