Recordings of chant
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Looking to familiarize myself with what seems an inaccessible forbidding world. Can anyone recommend some chant based CD music that is accessible? When I work to learn an organ piece based on a hymn tune I'm familiar with it goes much quicker, I feel it in my blood so to speak. Not having familiarity with chant, I just pass by a lot of organ music based on it.
    Thanked by 1Simon
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,703
    Will youtube do, the youtube like button gives access to the recordings
    http://www.gregorianbooks.com/propers.html
    Thanked by 3a_f_hawkins Matilda Simon
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    Matilda - As it's not easy to spot the top bar where you switch between different genres of music, I have given the direct link to the hymn page, the propers are a bit daunting for a novice:
    http://www.gregorianbooks.com/hymns.html
    The next step is probably the Kyriale. It is very helpful that you can see how complex each piece is.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw Matilda
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Thank you thank you this are good places to start!
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    These
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Wow there is a GREAT DEAL to learn , isn't there? Thank you again. I believe this will take some focus! I really had no idea.
    Thanked by 1Simon
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Matilda,

    Define, please, "accessible"?
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Hmm, good question- I was looking for something that I and others in my church might run into again and recognize, not a song hardly ever heard. Not sloppy sentimentality - some of the music that I like immediately I soon grow tired of. Rather something beautiful that I could listen to at leisure and allow to grow on me, not like mildew but in a good way. Thanks for asking.fyi I’ve been a catholic Organist for 25 years and most of the chant stuff I hear mentioned on this website I’ve never ever heard.
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    I became Catholic in the 1980s and grew up before that with familiarity with German hymn tunes, so I can connect with much Lutheran music- I love Bach- but chant leaves me lost. Perhaps I’m seeking a recording of chants that would have been familiar to everyday Catholics in the 50s.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    If you google 'chart hits gregorian chant' you will get several stories of monks getting substantial sales of CDs over the years. For example the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuze had success about 10 years ago on the UCJ label (Universal Music Classics and Jazz)(!), some of which would have been familiar to me 60 years ago just from attending church and school. That one is just called 'Chant'. In the mid 90s in Europe a chart success was"The Best of Gregorian Chant" by the Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey. More recently there was this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KuOUO4Isos interview with the choirmaster at Norcia about their success.
    Others here will have more ability to evaluate their quality than I have. The Heiligenkreuze recording is the only one I have to hand, it covers a wide range of different genres, hymns, antiphons, psalms all of which differ in style because they differ in purpose. Hymns - to be sung by a congregation, Psalms - to be chanted by monks who have to chant them whether they have musical voices or not, Propers - for trained cantors, the Ordinary chants of the Mass reasonably accessible for congregations, at least in origin.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Matilda
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    The Tradition of Gregorian Chant / Die Tradition des gregorianischen Chorals is an excellent box set recorded at several important European monasteries and cathedrals. Gregorian Chant from the Abbey of Clervaux is a nice collection of more popular chants with organ accompaniment, perhaps more along the lines of what you're looking for. The recordings of Solesmes under Dom Gajard are probably the gold standard as far as what was generally upheld as the ideal sound in the 50s. For recordings that incorporate more up-to-date scholarship in the interpretation, check out the Schola Nova Gregoriana and Gloria Dei Cantores (especially their more recent recordings). You can find all of the above on YouTube or Spotify.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Matilda
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Thanks very much for these helpful suggestions. I know it's a subject I will eventually have to deal with so I will try out all of the suggestions.
  • toddevoss
    Posts: 162
    Type in "Gregorian Chants" in YouTube for a quick scrolling through of a lot of choices. Even kids can do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqY4SrAAdzU
    Thanked by 1Matilda
  • Matilda
    Posts: 76
    Thank you toddevoss! I loved watching that.
  • JesJes
    Posts: 574
    If you’re looking for a resource which can help you to follow chant by ear and are not offended by midi sounds then download the square notes application. You can speed it up and slow it down and click from any point within the chant and there are links to singing videos too.

    Also check out the tutorials one of the forum dudes posted a couple of years back on how to accompany chant. It's super easy to follow.
    Thanked by 1Matilda
  • JesJes
    Posts: 574
    If you’re looking for the "best hits of chant" standards then you want to look at chants that are done in Eucharistic adoration and benediction and Marian chant hymns as well as sequences according to the time of year.

    From there you might have a look at psalm tones used for the divine office and check out hymns that keep popping up out of the antiphonale.

    I know when I teach chant, the first set of propers I like to teach are from the Salve Sancta Parens mass and this is because SO many Saturdays could use these propers.

    Private message me if you want help to find this stuff.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Matilda
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