Fr. Pierre Paul, the force behind the new musical renaissance at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, has opened up a website completely dedicated to the musical life of the Vatican’s Basilica, with a focus on Gregorian chant and polyphony. Here we have a very beautiful thing: the Vatican setting a liturgical model for the Catholic Church around the world.
The site is Cappellagiulia.org.
It will post the liturgical schedule and a list of music sung (already you can see the chants from the Graduale here), and also here some great recordings, among which already:
Alma Redemptoris Mater Palestrina
Is it just me, or do they sound better than the Sistine Chapel choir?
I just listened to the Lassus Kyrie.
I hear beautiful phrases, absolutely gorgeous voices, wonderful blending, and a hundred other fantastic things.
This is so incredibly encouraging on so many levels.
I was not expecting singing of this quality. This is extraordinary.