Customer Reviews

Alma Mater: Featuring The Voice of Pope Benedict XVI

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I bought this item from iTunes. What a great work of music. It is enriching to your soul and mind. I love the mixture of latin, western, celtic and african music... Great work. I love it. And the voice of Pope Benedict makes it all the more special. Great gift idea for anyone who is a true catholic in his/her mind and heart.

I bought this CD as a gift for Thanksgiving Holidays for my Mother's home and her guests in CA. She and her friends love it! They are in their 80's now and don't get over to their local catholic church much every morning like they did all their life; so this is a great way to start their day along with their devotional prayers over the newspaper while delightfully drinking their tea or coffee. I'd recommend it to any family, especially this holiday season. It will be a great addition to your usual festive tunes, perhaps early a.m. hours.

I bought this album this morning after much anticipation. The excerpts I had heard sold it to me, and it only gets better with the full thing!
The music engulfs you when you listen to it - I had it on in the car on my way home and it put me in such a happy mood.

I would definitely recommend this, especially if you enjoy classical or orchestral music. It would also make a great present for my grandmother too ...

If you are Catholic and have a love for the Virgin Mary, you will love this album. There is something very comforting listening to the voice of our current pope.

"Alma Mater: Music From The Vatican" is a great religious music release, especially for young people. It is an amazingly beautiful music project. Released in November 2009, it is already considered one of the greatest music recordings in the vocal/choral music category. "Alma Mater" is co-produced by the Pauline Fathers' media company, Multimedia San Paolo and Universal Music Group. The album consists of eight songs, with each song being divided into three parts. The Philharmonic Academy of Rome Choir, which is one of the choirs of Saint Peter's Basilica, sings Marian litanies with the London Royal Philharmonic playing a contemporary classical music piece, specially composed for "Alma Mater". Pope Benedict XVI will then speak about Mary, or pray and sing a Marian chant. The Philharmonic Academy of Rome Choir and the London Philharmonic Orchestra then come back into the song, and wrap it up. The music has been composed by Simon Boswell, Stefano Mainetti, and Nour Eddine Fatty. These are all young composers. The music is breathtakingly gorgeous, and easy to listen to. Quite simply "Alma Mater" is a music recording masterpiece. Throughout the album are threaded melodies and instruments of Eastern music. The album is a perfect blend of music from both the East and West. This makes "Alma Mater" as much a "World Music" CD, as it is a "Classical Music" CD. The songs include "Regina Coeli" (Queen of Heaven), which features an outstanding soprano solo by Yasemin Sannino, "Magistra Nostra" (Our Teacher), "Sancta Dei Genitrix" (Holy Mother of God), and "Mater Ecclesiae" (Mother of the Church). "Alma Mater" runs under 60 minutes, and is calm, peaceful, and soothing. When you listen to both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and The Philharmonic Academy of Rome Choir, you understand why one is considered the best orchestra in the world, and the other the best church choir in the world. Pope Benedict sounds wonderful. Hopefully he will make a few more of these music recordings in the future. "Alma Mater" is an "out of the box" major music release, in that it's pupose is to celebrate the respect and reverence shown to the Virgin Mary for two thousand years. It's an invitation to young people to challenge themselves, and go beyond their usual musical horizons of Pop Music and Pop Culture. Everyone who hears "Alma Mater" will enjoy it, be build up in their faith, and learn much from it.- (...)

I enjoyed this CD for the message and music which is for everyone to hear. Great for a quiet moment of reflection and meditation.

If you like both the classical and hymn choir music you will not be disappointed!
Pope Benedict 16 does not sing at all, but he reads a prayers and various blessings in Latin which just add to the over-all experience. I personally found listening to this CD at bedtime a really big help for this insomniac just to get to sleep

I will be ordering any future editions or other albums/MP3 of this music!

As an american immersed in "Catholic Pop," I find it interesting that Pope Benedict is promoting his own branch of "Catholic Pop Music, even as his administration appears to want to wipe out the american form.

I love Gregorian chant, and movie music is ok, too. The mix is ok if you like it--very um....mixed. Too sappy for my tastes. But, as they say, YMMV.

I can't help but notice that the choir chant is all sung with the "rhythm" of monopulse that was adopted by church singers at the turn of the last century. Sorry, Dom Pothier.

This rigidity of rhythm actually shows up more in these recordings, since the accompanying orchestral music flows so much.

Sorry, guys. The chant is meant to flow. It comes from a time before rhythmic vocal music was conceived. I'll refrain from the comparison between the rigidity of the Vatican singing and the Vatican philosophy.

I really enjoy the inspirational music on the CD and am glad that I made the purchase.

I like "church music" anyway, tho NOT the "ole time religious stuff" so I didn't know quite what to expect from Music From The Vatican. I was pleased beyond all expectation .. it's lovely, spiritually uplifting, tho not in the sense that Bach's great inventions are. The Pope doesn't sing but does speak a few lines of scripture in each section, mostly in Italian I think (I only speak English) His voice is soft, gentel, apealing. I play this CD often and enjoy it every time.