It’s thrilling to read this erudite review of Christopher Page’s Christian West and Its Singers, by Dom Alban Nunn of Ealing Abbey in London. The review helps alleviate my own worries that this book would not get the attention it deserves.
Page dares to go where few have trod before. Certainly there is some cross over with James McKinnon’s final offering The Advent Project. That earlier work, a decade ago, cast considerable light over the darkness of the late 7th century in musical terms. Page goes much further creating a coherent history across the first millennium. I say creating because the size and breadth of this work means that many of his conclusions will be the basis on which future work will be done.