Category: Jeffrey Tucker

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

The Cultural Retreat of Catholics

Robert Fay observes:

The obvious reason for this literary vacuum is that the Christian faith, and the Catholic Church in particular, have been in full-cultural retreat since the 1960s…. Yet there was another revolution in the 1960s — an internal Catholic one — that was in many ways as profound as the one taking place in the streets of Paris, New York, and London. It was a liturgical revolution, and it impacted each and every Catholic at that most fundamental unit of faith — Sunday morning Mass.

h/t Andrew Sullivan

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Piano and Chant

You might have noted that the new CD from Stift Heiligenkreuz, a promotional of which I posted a few days ago, includes a piano accompaniment to Te Deum. Shocking? If you listen, I think you will agree that it is very compelling actually.

Here is a more detailed explanation from the composer David Ianni:

About a month ago the album “Chant – Amor et Passio” by the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz was released. It’s the long awaited successor to “Chant – Music for Paradise” (“Music for the Soul” in the US) which sold over 1.1 million copies worldwide since its release in 2008.

I’ve known the monks since 2005 and have had the great grace to make several lasting friendships at the beautiful monastery in the Vienna Woods. Their liturgy and their singing of Gregorian Chant make me feel at home. In 2006 I played my first piano recital at the Stift. Fr. Simeon Wester, the Music Director for the Abbey (and now also the Prior of Stift Heiligenkreuz), asked me if I would like the schola to join me for one piece, and accompany the Litany of Loreto on the piano. The idea was appealing. I had never heard of this unusual combination, but I was willing to try. We had one rehearsal. The concert went well and the audience was very touched by our musical experiment. The idea of chant and piano was born (you can listen to this improvised performance here).

A couple of years later the monks and their sublime singing were discovered by Universal Music. Their album “Chant – Music for Paradise” became a huge, unexpected success. This was a great opportunity to share the gospel and the treasure of Gregorian Chant with thousands, even millions of people. On the other hand such success meant invasions of journalists and visitors to the monastery to an extent that would become quite distressing for the monks at times.

They waited over 3 years to go back into the studio, this time recording for their own record company in order to be more independent. You can imagine how humbled and honored I felt when Fr. Karl Wallner asked me in September if I’d like to record a couple of “bonus tracks” with the monks. Fr. Simeon gave me four chants for which I should provide a piano accompaniment.

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Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Looking for a great Christmas CD?

This one from St. Vicent Camerata Scholars looks amazing.

The Saint Vincent Camerata Scholars have produced a CD of sacred choral music from the Renaissance that will be distributed internationally by Jade Music, a division of Milan Entertainment of Paris/Los Angeles that specializes in the production and distribution of sacred music. It is entitled, A Blessed Day Has Dawned, Sacred Choral Music: Palestrina, Laude, Gregorian Chant.

Fr. Stephen Concordia, O.S.B., the director of the Scholars, said that the Christmas-themed CD revolves around a Motet and Mass composed by famed Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). “In Palestrina’s very first published collection there appears the motet “Dies Sanctificatus” composed for Christmas Day. In his last published collection there is an entire Mass based on this motet. It’s likely that Palestrina was capitalizing on the popularity of his Motet”, Fr. Stephen explained. “This Mass is an example of a very common, and very popular form at that time, the “imitation Mass”, which uses melodies from a pre-existing composition as the basis of every movement. In Palestrina’s time composers were very careful that their music be perceived as subservient, and since this technique creates a kind of unity through the successive moments of the ritual, it achieves that,” Fr. Stephen continued.

The Palestrina Mass is at the center of the CD, but other styles are also present. “We wanted to fill in the other Mass parts in Gregorian chant: the Introit (entrance), the Alleluia, the Gospel of the day, and the Communion antiphon. This evokes what a Renaissance Mass might have sounded like, with some parts sung in polyphony, and others chanted.” Fr. Stephen said. Three “laude sprituali” from the Oratory of San Filippo Neri open the CD. “These are compositions by contemporaries and associates of Palestrina” Fr. Stephen explained. “These were written in a popular style for the informal gatherings of the Oratory, but they, like the Gregorian chant, harmonize well with Palestrina’s composition,” Fr. Stephen said.

The Camerata Scholars have performed the works on the CD previously at both the Saint Vincent Basilica and at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh. Two Saint Vincent College students, Brian T. Myers, a senior music major from Saint Mary’s (Elk County) and Julie M. Pomerleau, a senior psychology major from Jeannette – are members of the group. The music was recorded in the Saint Vincent Basilica in August by Joshua Guenther, a baritone singer in the group who also works as a sound engineer for WAOB Radio in Latrobe.