Video of Solemn Mass in Japan (Ordinary Form)
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    Came across this on YouTube. This appears to be recent Mass at the Cathedral in Tokyo. The audio quality seems to me not to flatter the chant, unfortunately...but this is still pretty remarkable:

    Alleluia

    Gloria VIII
  • Mr. Z
    Posts: 159
    Perhaps this is harder with a large group, but the overlay of tonality via the organ accompaniment chords just kills the ephemeral quality of chant and the aesthetics are obliterated. In this case, might as well not do it, at least this is how it strikes me.
  • Ken of Sarum
    Posts: 406
    Wonderful! Encouraging! YES - remarkable too!
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    thanks for sharing this!
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Mr. Z.

    Yes. Let's ban chant if it cannot be sung and played perfectly and play guitars instead.

    G C G G D G G D C G

    and on holidays

    G C am D G C am D G

    Recordings NEVER truly reflect how things sounded in a room.
  • vincentuher
    Posts: 134
    On several levels it strikes me as miraculous. God bless all of them and all who seek to praise God through chant.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    I forwarded this to our choir (who just sang this Gloria at Mass for the first time last week) and remarked that chant of any kind was probably not sung in Tokyo even just 40 years ago and that this is evidence of what can be built in a single generation. Can anyone corroborate this claim?
  • Mr. Z
    Posts: 159
    Forgive me if my statement came across as rash, or harsh - and of course, I have heard much, much worse things in church - but -

    Just as polyphony is POLYPHONIC, chant is MONOPHONIC, and why mess either of these forms up with a HOMOPHONIC base. and this comment is meant for those who would know, (and certainly you would) and I really DON"T know if it is better to have chant with major triads than no chant at all (though I respect the disagreement here) - sounds as bad as jazz with no sevenths and just major triad accompaniment, out of sync, out of whack, a poor mix. If chant is to be revered and enshrined as the sin qua non of sacred music for the liturgy, let it not be 'watered' down, as it is a purist pursuit (it seems to me) from the word go. You don't see anyone trying to set the Rachmoninoff Vespers to accompaniment, it cuts against the grain, is anti- the style, so why chant for goodness sake ? -- they had enough singers it seems to pull it off without organ music "upholding" it, "undergirding" it. And the Japanese, of all people - who are the most connoisseur or connoisseurs on the planet - they normally don't go for the "watered down," the "second rate." It just strikes me as a "what's wrong with this picture" moment. The essence of chant, its power, its sway, is exactly its ephemeral quality, and that is completely squashed with all but perhaps the most deft accompaniment, and that so rare as to not even go there.

    The best recording and accoustics would not made one wit of difference regarding my take. This is not a critique on the performance, not at all.


    My 2c.
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