CD: Learning About Gregorian Chant 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.

This CD offers an overview of the history and elements of Gregorian Chant with musical samples and spoken descriptions!

 Known throughout the world as the leading masters of Gregorian chant, the monks of Solesmes have released Learning about Gregorian Chant.This recording simplifies and clarifies the world of chant for those to whom Gregorian chant is a mystery. The combination of a clearly understood text (read by Sarah Moule) with the fluidly sung examples (sung by the Benedictine monks of Solesmes), convinces the listener that Gregorian chant is open to everyone for enjoyment and prayer.

 The clear and concise presentation on this recording will make it a valuable resource for educators, musicologists, students of music and those who wish for a basic understanding of chant.

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

1. Ambrosian Gloria
2. Antiphon
3. Psalm 100
4. Psalm 111
5. Introit
6. Gradual
7. Alleluia
8. Offertory
9. Communion
10. Kyrie III
11. Gloria IX
12. Sanctus XVIII
13. Agnus Dei XVIII
14. Antiphon
15. Antiphon
16. Response
17. Hymn
18. Hymn

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.