Gregorian Chant Rediscovered

Gregorian Chant

$18.99
  • ISBN: 9781557251367
  • Trim size: 0 x 0 inches
  • Weight: 3 ounces.
  • Publication Date: 01 Apr 1995
  • Product ID: S835
  • Format: CD-Audio
Chant highlights of the Gregorian church year

This recording reflects the unmatched authenticity which characterizes the exquisitely gracious and moving performances of Gregorian chant by the Monks of Solesmes. In the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII charged the Abbey of Solesmes with the restoration and preservation of Gregorian Chant according to the original 10th-11th century manuscripts. The care and zeal with which the monks undertook this mission quickly extended the Abbeys influence beyond Europe. Their goal: that Gregorian Chant be available to all people so they may pray with the help of beauty (Pop St. Pius X).

Today, the Abbey continues to be a vibrant source of research and liturgical prayer with their library of over 200,000 volumes, and a musical palaeography workshop second only to the Vatican. But above all, Solesmes is a living community of Benedictine monks searching for God and sharing their spirituality, community life, and heritage.

This recording includes musical highlights of the Gregorian church year sung in 1930 under the direction of Solesmes choir director Dom Gajard and they have been digitally remastered.

     Track 1-Offertory     Ad te Domine
     Track 2-Gradual     Qui sedes
     Track 3-Responsory     Descendit
     Track 4-Hymn     Virgo Dei Genitrix
     Track 5-Responsory     Media vita
     Track 6-Gradual     Dirigatur
     Track 7-Offertory     Meditabor
     Track 8-Gradual     Christus
     Track 9-Communion     Hoc corpus
     Track 10-Offertory     Custodi me
     Track 11-Responsory     Tenebrae
     Track 12-Kyrie I
     Track 13-Gloria I
     Track 14-Offertory     Jubilate
     Track 15-Responsory     Christus resurgens
     Track 16-Introit     Spiritus Domini
     Track 17-Communions     Spiritus Sanctus and Spiritus qui a Patre
     Track 18-Introit     Da pacem
     Track 19-Kyrie X
     Track 20-Offertory     Precatus est
     Track 21-Communion     Memento
     Track 22-Alleluia     Assumpta est
     Track 23-Antiphon     Salve Regina
     Track 24-Alleluia     Justus germinabit
     Track 25-Communion     Quinque prudentes
     Track 26-Introit     Requiem
     Track 27-Hymn     Urbs Jerusalem

Media

Reviews

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

“The music is utterly magnificent and the singing of this great choir is thrilling beyond words…it’s better to starve to this music than to live without it.”  —Classic CD

“Supremely ethereal.” —USA Today

“Solesmes sets the standard for Gregorian chant performance.”  —American Record Guide

"The success of Gregorian chant in the past century, and the centered richness of prayer it brings to all of us, is almost singularly due to the herculean efforts of the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, France.

Communicates a mood of mystery, timelessness, peace, beauty, and contemplation.

The Monks of Solesmes ... use the most authentic manuscripts and ancient documents to recover the original melodies.

The monks' chanting is living, strong, unvarnished. The chant is organic and text-based ... the singing is full and well-supported.

There's something incredible fresh and new ... which is well worth your attention." —New Liturgical Movement 

" Beauty and immense spiritual power when sung by the Monastic Choir of St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes, France.

The music is exceptionally inviting, engaging listeners' ears with beauty and elevating their thoughts no matter what their spiritual or religious beliefs and doctrines may be.

The beauties of Gregorian chant...encourage inward looking, contemplation, thoughtfulness, a kind of separation from mundane affairs ... Gregorian chant resonates.

The sensitive, careful, beautifully measured performances here can be used as an entry point to an earlier time." —TransCentury Communications 

Author Bio
The Recorded Legacy of Solesmes
Since the refounding 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 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.

Paraclete Press is proud to be the North American distributor of the recordings of the Monks of Solesmes. These recordings have won numerous prestigious international awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque, Deutsche Schallplatten Prize, Diapason d’Or, and the Edison Prize.

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