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Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Another Round of Chant Mania

The news that Decca has signed a recording deal with the cloistered nuns of Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l’Annonciation in France has gone viral (the current phrase meaning spreading wildly through every communication medium). 

The album will consist of 100% Gregorian chant, and I look forward to knowing the selections. Whether chant hymns, ordinary chants, or propers, it is sure to be beautiful. The company in question has backed the biggest recording stars of our times. The last recording of Austrian monks became a top seller all over the world.

Google (as of this writing) reports more than 600 news items about the recording deal. More than 600 blogs have mentioned it or commented on the news. It is not possible to buy this sort of publicity. If anything can be known for sure in this world, this is one of them: this CD will be be huge and important for this current generation of music listeners.

Striking, isn’t it? Here we have music that is organic to the Roman Rite liturgy that was assembled and codified over the first millennium of Christianity, and yet it still retains the ability to be news, to create globally popular collections of music that people listen to in their cars, their homes, on the iPhones and MP3 players – everywhere of course but in the typical Catholic parish. 

The irony is intense. Throughout the Catholic world, the debate is ongoing, every day, on blogs, forums, emails, journals, and everywhere else. The core of the debate is all about whether this music really meets the spiritual needs of the people. Doesn’t unison music from a different millennium and in a dead language alienate people from their faith, and so should not music at Mass be tuneful and rhythmic and provide a link to popular culture? 


More sophisticated advocates of pop music add an additional claim that the new ritual of 1969/70 makes special demands on Catholic musicians that were not present in the preconciliar ritual. The structure of the new Mass asks the people to be deeply involved in the ritual at every point, and the choirs function thus becomes serving as a kind of proxy for the people. For this reason, the music must always be inclusive, accessible, and in the vernacular that people can understand.

The other side says that chant is not a matter of popularity; it is a matter of rubrics, legislation, and the integrity of the ritual: there must be a textual and stylistic tie through the tradition and  between the loft and the sanctuary. That means singing the music of the Church and propers of the ritual, giving primacy to Gregorian chant. There is no musical rupture between the old form and the new, or, should not be in any case. The normative music book of the Roman Rite, applicable to both forms, is the Graduale Romanum. The schola must be there to serve as a proxy for the choirs of angels in the re-creation of the drama of salvation. 

Now, obviously I think that the pro-chant side has the better argument here. Sometimes I wonder if the proponents of pop music in parish life are willing to take an honest look at the catastrophic failure of their plans in mainstream parishes. I’ve seen it so many times that I can predict it with near-perfect accuracy. The people for whom this music is composed and drummed up are enervated and exhausted by it. They do not sing along. The endure it, grumble when asked about it, but are too tired of the great music battles to stand up and demand something else. 

What the people sense is that pop music of all sorts, and for all decades in which these tricks have been tried, does not belong in an environment and ritual that is striving to touch eternity through prayer and ritual. Music with a beat and a pop approach is an interruption in this ritual, an annoyance that is struggling against the raison d’etre of the liturgy. Silence would be better. In fact, silence is beautiful; music must be extremely beautiful and perfectly fitting in order to improve upon silence. The music that qualifies in this sense is precisely the music the Church has recommended since the earliest age.

But I do wonder if the ongoing debate about music at Mass has overlooked an incredibly obvious point that is highlighted by the explosive level of interest in this recording project of these French nuns. The obvious point is that chant is enormously popular! Can we not see this? Why not? If the millions and millions of people who buy these CDs and download these albums really felt “alienated” by the style and language, why would they continue to support what is in fact a massive industry?

And consider this. Most popular music is supported by the karaoke effect. People like to sing along with Lady Gaga and Elton John as they listen to this music. They pretend to be pop stars themselves and affect their musical mannerisms and adopt their wacky pronunciations and strange inflections. It’s all great fun. But does anyone believe that the people who buy these chant CDs are doing so in order to play karaoke? Not a chance. People are not singing along with these recordings. They are listening to them. 

Now there’s a new idea! Listening! This is the crux of the matter that is always hiding in the background in the Catholic music debate. The advocates of pop music have some paranoid view that if the schola alone sings a part of the Mass that pertains to the schola alone (such as the Introit or Gradual), the people will sit and seethe with a feeling that they are being excluded and forced to listen to a performance. This fear stems from a profound misunderstanding of the postconcilar ritual, the belief that the old form was overthrown by some sort of revolutionary uprising by the workers and peasants in the pews against the elites in the sanctuary and loft. 

The view that there has been some sort of profound rupture actually has very little evidence to support it. Pope Paul VI himself attempted desperate measures to restore chant to its primary place in his 1974 collection called Jubilate Deo. He said “those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse Gregorian chant the place which is due to it.” It was not his fault that his order was completely ignored. As for the fear that the people of God are insisting on unrelenting opportunities to sing, these fears are wholly unwarranted. As the popular of chant recordings illustrate, there is a huge demand for sitting in quiet reflection and listening. This is a form of participation that people have shown a willingness to pay for! 

Now, one might say: oh I’m sure that people in my parish would listen with delight if we could get these sisters or these monks into my parish, but our own singers are not this good! Well, if this is so, we have changed the terms of the debate, haven’t we? It is no longer about what kind of music is appropriate for Mass; it is about the quality of singing. 

If that is true, there are answers. Psalm tone chants in English are a huge improvement over the piles of pop hymns that stuff the missalletes. And these tones can be sung by anyone with virtually no rehearsal. The single biggest improvement that could come to most any parish is to shovel the whole of the existing repertoire out the door and replace it with Psalm tones performed without accompaniment. For that matter, these can be led by a single cantor. As for the ordinary chants of the Mass, the English settings in the Missal are not brilliant but they are so much better than most anything used in the regular parish environment. 

Too often this debate over music in the Catholic Church overlooks all these more-than obvious points I’ve made above. Chant is popular. People like listening to it. It is music of the Roman Rite. It is timeless and renewed in its freshness every time it is sung, in all times and all places. It is the true popular music of Catholicism. 

One final objection to the points I made above is that people are buying chant because it serves as “mood music” and nothing more. Its popularity therefore means nothing. 

I don’t believe this actually. Chant does indeed impart a “mood” and there is nothing wrong with wanting this since the core of that mood is prayer. The world is frighteningly lacking in spaces and places in which people can find this “mood” so it makes sense that people seek it out in recordings.

The popularity of these recordings might in fact be related to its absence in our parishes. It would be a delight if in the future the recordings of these chants would fall in commercial popularity because people have a sense that they can hear the live version every time they walk into their local parishes. 
That day is coming.

Posted on by Mr. C

Choosing Bricks, Part the Last

In the Breaking Bread hymnal section denoted “Gathering” there are many songs whose musical and lyrical content has and will continue to be debate fodder from the “aptus” qualification. Of the more recent additions in this decade, again I defer to Janet Sullivan-Whitaker’s “HERE AT THIS TABLE,” the title of which might cause apoplexy to not a few folk. But given the preponderance of triple metered, sing-song offerings most typified or vilified by Haugen’s “Gather Us In,” I feel a true gravitas in her original text (aided by her son.) And that is solidly set to a compelling melodic and harmonic architecture that happens to also suit a congregation’s alto/baritone singing range.

She also deftly uses two distinctly different motifs for certain verses, both of which have cadences with great inertia back to the refrain, particularly in vss. 3/5 that uses a hemiola as they are intended: for propulsion. I don’t relegate the text to the Entrance procession exclusively. I’ve employed it at the other two on occasion. In the same section, Michael Joncas’ “WE GATHER HERE TO WORSHIP” (with Vicki Klima) seems to mitigate the contention that “gather songs” are inherently insufficient in expressing worship towards God by clearly defining the purpose in the first verse’s opening phrase, “We gather here to worship You, O God.” T

his is also an original text that, if nothing else, outlines the structure of the liturgies within Mass. The melody does not evoke the common notion of Joncas cum Sondheim, but falls into the recent trend of many composers to stay formulaic, strophic and often pentatonic.

In the next section, “Communion,” I would give brief mention of Fr. John Schiavone’s “AMEN: EL CUERPO DE CRISTO” as its text and melody present an authentic and orthodox “feel” to a bilingual song. And, as many have found out over the last decade and a half, Hurd’s UBI CARITAS has a stand alone integrity as well as it provides the opportunity for young people and adults to “step up” to the plainsong version in the hymnal.

In perusing this year’s issue, I was greatly perplexed by the inclusion of Steve Angrisano’s paraphrase of Ps.34, “Taste and see.” I know that it presents a clear nod to the LifeTeen demographic, but the syncopation off the page is pure helter skelter, it yanks the singer off the beat so unremittingly!

How many modern settings of this psalm can one publisher afford to include out of respect for the composer’s Q rating, yet not give space to chants published in another organ, “Laus et Tibi?”

On the other hand, a tonic of relief is the inclusion of the great “I RECEIVED THE LIVING GOD.” It is purely pentatonic with one quarter note exception, and has the Southern Harmony credence “feel.”

I have just mentioned that for every new work implanted into BB and other subscription hymnals, it is likely that other things, worthier pieces are retired or never considered such as “Ave verum corpus.” But I would also mention that seminal works by early pioneers such as Lucien Deiss have fallen by the wayside, save for “All the Earth” or “Keep in Mind.” Of course, copyright issues likely are part of those omissions. But I would easily endorse losing “How great thou art” or “Companions on the Journey….” if some of Deiss’s early gems were given a resurrection in the 21st century.

I have avoided addressing the issue of employing true secular folk songs such as “O waly waly” or “Kelvingrove” as pleasant dwellings for new texts. But short of “Londonderrierre” (sorry, couldn’t resist) I think that folks ought to reconsider using every melody found in Stanford’s compendium of Britannic folk songs to couch “new” texts; Chris Walker’s appropriation of “Skye boat song” for a fairly benign Pentecost lyric seems particularly irritating to my tolerance levels. Sullivan-Whitaker’s “CHRIST BEFORE US” to “Suo gan,” is a much more substantial text.

In terms of original voices, I’ve already overstated my appreciation for Sullivan-Whitaker tunes. Her paraphrase of Ps.90, “IN EVERY AGE” I believe to be truly poignant. But just for balance, I don’t have the confidence in her original song “THIS IS OUR CRY” despite its very direct and didactic text and melody. Speaking of didactic, does including Carey Landrey’s “WOMEN OF THE CHURCH” mitigate something very un-PC by balancing “Faith of our Fathers?”

Benedictine hymnist Harry Hagan’s “THOSE CALLED BY CHRIST” set to “Detroit” is another worthy new text set to a melody Americana. In the chant emulation mode, OCP editor Barbara Bridge’s “WE WALK BY FAITH/IN TIMES OF TROUBLE uses “Jesu dulcis memoria” for the antiphon, and then a newer, more complex chant for the verses whose accompaniment is harmonically solid and unique.

With the brouhaha regarding some of the programming of former “St. Thomas More” composers for the upcoming papal visit to the UK, I would like to commend one hymn by Chris Walker for consideration: “LAUDATE, LAUDATE DOMINUM” has proven to this author a worthy successor to the Vaughn-Williams/Holst tradition of Anglican High Church hymns. His use of not so subtle modal shifts melodically propels the hymn forward. And Walker’s paraphrase of Ps.27, “THE LORD IS MY LIGHT” has much more heather and peat in its melody that anywhere to be found in his Celtic Mass.

In another part of the world, some folks have pondered the direction of Filipino contemporary liturgical song as having given way to saccharine tendencies rather glaringly. Of the contributions of Fr. Ricky Manalo, one I would like to mention that incorporates an Asian flavor in both text and melody is his “MANY AND GREAT,” an original song. And I, for one, regret the loss of his Maundy Thursday Introit “We shall glory in the cross” versus the version by Schutte.

Well, I’m not sure if I have adequately portrayed any specific methodology in these posts that clearly make the case that those pieces I have positively mentioned really constitute the sort of masonry envisioned by those who subscribe to the “brick by brick” reformation of our repertoires.

But what has been very obvious to me from conversations at colloquia and elsewhere is that CMAA members more likely than not still must deal with divergent interests and the ever-present dilemma of “personal taste” on a weekly and seasonal basis in parishes that have multiple Masses and a wide spectrum of musical resources, personnel and repertoire-wise. The one criteria that I, without fail, fall back upon is that a worthy hymn or song will demonstrate that immediately off the page by virtue of a worthy text and a melody whose integrity is obvious without harmonic adornment.

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

And the Winners are…

The Foundation for Sacred Arts is premiering the works of the winners of its composer competition on August 14, 2010. This is certainly something to attend! It’s a great thing to see the rise of a new generation of serious Catholic composers, most of whom have come out of the ranks of the Church Music Association of America.

The winners this year are

Category I: Non-liturgical Sacred Choral Works
1st: Amen, Alleluia (Revelations 19:4-9), Daniel Knaggs
2nd: Credo, Frank La Rocca
3rd: He Who Eats This Bread (John 6:54-55, 58), Daniel Knaggs

Category II: New English Mass Settings
1st: Mass in Honor of St. Maximillian Kolbe, Jeffrey Quick
2nd: Mass of St. Theresa of Avila, Daniel Knaggs
3rd: Missa Sancti Johannes Apostoli, Daniel Knaggs

Honorable Mention: Mass, Paul Ayres
Honorable Mention: Mass of the Resurrection, Audrey Faith Seah
Honorable Mention: Mass of the Blessed Virgin, Mary John Henderson
Honorable Mention: Mass, Amanda Jacobs

The website of the Foundation is really growing and so are the activities of the Foundation. This is precisely the sort of support that Catholic musicians need to make a difference.

Posted on by Mr. C

Choosing Bricks, Part the Second

A current thread topic at the MS Forum asks “What contemporary hymns do you like?” And, per usual, the responses meander through the semantics of “what is contemporary?” to “define the word ‘like’.” Everybody from Messiaen to Bob Hurd and in between, presumably answers both those queries. But earlier in the year I posted a column, “How I go about choosing bricks.” The content of the first part was mostly a ideological rant. And before I could compose a practical compliment, I stupidly dislocated my shoulder twice in nine days. I’m still in the sling until mid August, but I thought I could tackle completing the article that illustrates my strategies (I’m not sure they could be called principles) regarding what musics of recent vintages are solid enough to be considered bricks whilst we rebuild the foundation that will establish chant as having principal place at the top of our structure. Or at least make it darn sure chant is not the “stone which the builders rejected.”

I will use OCP’s BREAKING BREAD 2010 repertoire as the sourcebook for specific examples. I will concentrate on the vast majority of titles in that which would be used as the fourth option, the “another suitable song/hymn,” hierarchy for the processionals and other liturgical moments. I will be mindful of the threefold criteria of the late MCW (liturgical, pastoral, musical) as well as the threefold credo of “sacred, beautiful and universal” espoused by Dr. Mahrt and the CMAA. But I won’t necessarily be very clinical in ascribing such superlatives to specific works most of the time. I’m going to try to speak with plain, common sense. That poses a great burden upon me, and therefore you as well as we proceed. I won’t be dealing with the Respond and Acclaim responses or the Psalter section of the hymnal, nor with the default ordinary, Chris Walker’s CELTIC MASS, which I personally cannot find but shreds of anything authentically Celtic of nature contained therein, nor any other ordinary settings. And lastly, I won’t, with a few exceptions deal with strophic hymnody borrowed from our own or other denominational traditions, unless there is a “contemporary” angle up for discussion.

As a great shining symbol I marvel at how the actual hymnal portion of BB starts with “O COME, O COME EMMANUEL,” using the Neale “Victorian” translation. Surely that’s an ideal brick and cornerstone. Before moving on I wonder, though, why it (and “Creator of the stars of night) doesn’t receive the courtesy extended to the few are far between other “chants” in the book, such as UBI CARITAS, VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS and ADORO TE, which all have the Latin text as primary and the poetic English as secondary in disposition? In the continuing repertoire of Advent, there are two back to back “MARANATHA” songs, both which employ cross related major/minor thirds as a sort of “oriental” melodic device. Though the more long-lived version by Schoenbachler might appear to be more useful because of its scale-wise motion, the other version by Sullivan-Whitaker (which unfortunately only prints the refrain for the congregation) seems to emulate chant by virtue of not using the “minuet” emphasis in ¾ of the former. The opening cry, “Maranatha” (Cm) Bb-C-G-Ab-G-F-Enat!-F-G might be just as creative and clever tone painting as Jeff Tucker alludes to in certain propers now and then. The balance of the Advent section seems to call for distinctions of taste. If you like “old Joncas or old, rehashed Schutte,” it’s there. If you like French carols, you’re in luck. If you like shape-note, American gothic, it’s there. Bach Chorale? OK, then. Then you run into the device of veritable chant emulation: “CHRIST, CIRCLE ‘ROUND US” by Schutte, whose melody is metrically appropriated from the popular version of SALVE REGINA and which paraphrases the “O” antiphons of late Advent usage. That has a certain cognitive dissonance to me, but it can serve to buttress the chant by a programming juxtaposition on the fourth Sunday, if desired. A brief mention that a song and wordsmith whose works have long attracted my attention, M.D. Ridge, made a critical error in allowing her hymntext “Come, Lord Jesus” to be included with a very uncomplimentary, truly juvenile melody. Other than that one example, I find most of her works worthy of use.

Skipping the musical seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, a hymntext by Benedictine Sister Genevieve Glen, BEHOLD, BEFORE OUR WONDERING EYES, utilizes a fairly pedestrian dorian chant tune by Barney Walker and Gael Berberick. However, it serves the adoration of the Holy Cross and the crucified Lord well and its stemless notation argues for its use in parishes whose aversion to Latin texts and chant needs remedying. “Attende Domine” only suffers from the lack of Latin verses. A new Lenten text by Bob Hurd, LED BY THE SPIRIT, set to “Kingsfold” I’ve found to be quite compelling, and who would argue with the stolid stature of “Kingsfold?” Speaking of Dr. Hurd, another Lenten work of his, OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS, ought to be considered for its trait of emulating primarily stepwise melodic motion found in one syllable-one neume chants. As in the Sullivan piece for Advent mentioned above, there is nothing rhythmically such as overly held note values, tessitura or syncopations that would put off a congregations’ interest. Even though I do not discount another of Hurd’s Lenten/Holy Week works, “O Sacred Head,” its melodic nature is suited more for the choir or soloist by contrast. An example by composer Rick Modlin represents the antithesis of using bricks versus plastic in his “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY CRY,” which represents the whole demographic shift of the Big Three publishers towards the Contemporary Catholic Music traits of heavily syncopated, stadium anthemic praise chorus songs that, I believe, were unveiled in full force back in Pittsburgh at the 1999 NPM Convention Expos. That benchmark gave space to the works of powerhouse inspirational song stylists such as Tom Booth, Matt Maher, Jaime Cortez and Sarah Hart who brought the real pop ethos into the over and misused term “SacroPop” into liturgy. A few pages later I can prove unflinchingly that it is much easier to teach “Regina Caeli” to 2nd graders than pieces such as “Your Grace is Enough.” Continuing into Eastertide, it still is a mystery to me why contemporary ensembles and musicians seem to have little interest in promoting direct chant/polyphony-inspired works such as “Ye sons and daughters” or “The strife is o’er” using their rhythm section based instrumental genre for accompaniment. This may seem anathema to many, but they translate easily to metered, strong beat interpretation, and thus point the way towards a congregation later acquiring the “real McCoy” into its stable repertoire. As I lamented M.D. Ridge’s decent Advent text being set to a puerile melody, she more than makes up for that with her wonderful “first person” resurrection text, THREE DAYS, set to the monumental “Thaxted.”

On another blog this week, I saw another “top ten hymns of all time” list, this one from a Protestant source. One of the picks was “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing.” However the author of the list didn’t specify the hymntune. Since we’ve broached the subject of Southern Harmony/shape note standards finding their way into the post conciliar hymnals, “Nettleton” is a particular favorite of mine along with “Detroit.” Christopher Idles’ 1982 text, GOD, WE PRAISE YOU, is a joy to sing with that tune.

At this point I’ve reached the end of the general and seasonal section of the hymnal. In part three, I’ll examine the larger body of musical adobe and abodes that are assigned according to liturgical actions and so-called themes such as “Comfort…..Social Justice……Praise….etc.

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

The Chants of Holy Week

Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter is a fantastic time for the most extended use of Gregorian chant in Catholic liturgy. Whole books or shelves of books could be written about the chants that pertain to these days, for they are among the most emotionally varied and stylistically impressive melodies ever written. They range of vibrant hymns for the people, to epic narratives, to soaring melodies on single syllables that suggest prayerful improvisations inspired by unforeseen awe and wonder.

Sadly for musicians, these are among the busiest days of the year, and probably the worst time to attempt something new. As choirs and directors approach Holy Week, the musicians dig through their hard drives and their stacks of binders in the choir room and pull out the agenda from last year, which so happens to be the same as the year before and the year before that, going back twenty and thirty years. It’s not great, and they know it, but it gets the job done. They are pleased enough with themselves just for getting through it all. It truly is an overwhelming experience. This is why you will find Catholic musicians all over the world in a full meltdown on the Monday after Easter Sunday, decompressing and sleeping in and otherwise doing as little as possible as a means of much-deserved rest.

The tragedy is that it is almost always the case that the season’s most impressive music is not sung or even attempted. In fact, it is not even known today. This music comes from the Gregorian chant books. We are supposed to give chant first place at Mass every week, but one might say that this principle is all the more important to apply during Holy Week.

Alas, this has not been the case. And yet another factor is part of the calculation here. This is a week that draws people to the parish as never before, with visiting families and a heightened consciousness of the need to draw more closely to the faith. The pews are packed. Musicians might feel an intensified pressure to use music that pleases people (“meets people where they are”) rather than letting the music of the ritual speak for itself and thereby inspire a conversion of heart and an embrace of a new way of thinking, praying, and living.

We should be singing a new song and yet we do not.

It remains true that even for those musicians (and pastors) who feel the need to upgrade their Holy Week music, and see the need to give chant first place in these times above all else, they might not even know where to begin. The Gregorian books provide far more music than appears in the missalletes (which can be oddly sparse, leaving out whole sections of music with text that appears in the Roman Missal, as if they should just be skipped).

What to do? How is one to begin? To answer these questions, we have ever reason to celebrate the appearance of the CD Cantemus Domino, and its masterful production and presentation by the Oregon Catholic Press. The OCP has brought its legendary capacity for teaching and marketing to the cause of Gregorian chant for Holy Week, using the greatest choir that one can imagine for such work: Dean Applegate’s Cantores in Ecclesia of Portland, Oregon.

This CD provides a large sampling of chant for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil — fully 25 tracks of music, and every one of them expertly sung with just the right combination of voices.

I really can’t imagine a better CD to introduce this great music. It is an excellent tutorial on its own, providing ideas for performance in addition to showing directors and singers how to approach the music. It also makes for great listening, even if you are not in a position to work up this music in your parish just yet. In fact, if you are in a parish without chant, listening to this CD during Holy Week will provide you at least the sound of the faith during these wonderful days.

As just one example of how this CD provides an excellent model for performance, consider the Improperia chant for Good Friday, which is (sadly) hardly ever sung in any parish using the ordinary form of the Roman Rite. The choir chooses to use a single male voice to introduce the chant, singing in the voice of Christ: Popule meus, quid fecit tibi? The single voice turns to an entire group of men for Hagios O Theos. This is answered by an entire group of women singers: Sanctus Deus.

This drama of switching ranges and movement between a single voice and a group of voices makes this wonderful piece of music come alive with high drama. A piece like this underscores the reality that Catholic music is its own unique art form, and capable of transporting our minds and hearts into a realm of spirituality we might not otherwise visit.

We should be grateful even for the presentation of the Litany of Saints for the Easter Vigil, for it demonstrates the inherent dignity of the traditional litany tones. They can be sung by the schola together with the congregation (which is always represented on this CD by the mixture of high and low voices). And hearing them here will show choirs that tradition really does hold up in a way that is far better than any modern alternative I’ve heard.

There are also chants for all the people here, such as the hymn Gloria Laus et honor, for Palm Sunday. This is something that everyone can and should sing, and the presentation here shows how it can be done. Another example of such a hymn is Crux fidelis for Good Friday. Again, the antiphon is sung on this CD with a mixture of high and low voices to represent the people.

The level of sophistication of the choices of settings, where there are choices to be made, is extremely high. For example, the Gloria setting for the Easter Vigil Mass is Gloria I in Mode IV, from the ordinary chants called Lux et origo. It is so beautiful and yet so rarely heard. For a parish that has never used a Latin Gloria, its introduction provides an opportunity to move beyond the ubiquitous (in preconciliar modern times) Gloria VIII. Gloria I here is a delightfully refreshing alternative.

In addition to the sophistication of the choices, and the creativity of the performance models employed, a word should be said about the quality of the singing itself. It is nothing short of perfect to my ear. Applegate’s choir here has a long history of singing this music over generations – something rare in the postconciliar period. The singers have a great confidence about the words, music, and phrasing. The sound is just right for listening by parish choirs seeking a model for their own singing.

As you listen to this CD, consider the pastoral implications from the point of view of the visitors and parishioners generally. I don’t think anyone could hear this and think: “oh, this music is alienating and forbidding and won’t strike the right mood we are trying to achieve for Holy Week.” I can’t imagine that anyone could think such a thing. Attending the services presented here would be an unforgettable and life-changing experience, one that causes us to leave the mundane world of secular time to enter into a heavily timelessness. This music is beautiful, holy, universal. This OCP production shows this in so many ways.

Finally, let me add that this product is not just an accidental effort by a company that otherwise has neglected this genre of music. This is in fact the third CD that OCP has recorded of Cantores Ecclesia. Just as wonderful are the two previous volumes. All three make a perfect set. It is a fact that bears thinking about: if we learn again to listen and sing like Catholics again, granting Gregorian chant the first place that the Vatican Council said it should have, the OCP will share in a large part of the credit for making this a reality.

I see every reason to support this project, knowing that every time you spend a dime, you are making a kind of vote and advancing values you believe in.