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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An eye-opening performance,
The music on this CD is not what most people consider "Gregorian Chant". The music presented here is taken from the "Old Roman" chant repertory (ca. 7th-8th Centuries) which pre-dates what is most referred to as Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian Chant which most people are familiar with actually comes from the Carolingian Empire (ca. 850-1000), which came into existence later than the Old Roman period. Hence, the reportoire from the Old Roman period is unsingable if sung in the style suggested by Gregorian scholars for Carolingian chants.However, since the Roman church had been heavily influenced by the Byzantine Empire during this period, it was logical to turn to Byzantine chants for guidance and performance hints. Thus, there are similarities between the Old Roman chant and Byzantine chant such as modal, cadential, and ornamental formulas. Also used in the performance here is an "Ison", a note sustained in the bass to support the chant melody and to underscore modal transformations. With all these stylistic choices in mind, the result is eye-opening. The listener will be transported to a totally unfamiliar, but other-worldly realm. Many of these differences in the performance execution will seem foreign to many people who are familiar with "Gregorian Chant", but this CD is well worth your attention. You will not be disappointed.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rare insight into the music of the early Roman Church,
By Rita Bogna (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Chants de L'Eglise de Rome - Periode Byzantine (Chants of the Roman Church - Byzantine Period) (Audio CD)
Among the many priceless treasures of the Vatican Library are manuscripts of chants of the Roman Church of the 7th and 8th centuries. Rediscovered by Dom Raphael Andoyer, a monk of the Ligugé Benedictine Monastery in France, at the beginning of the 20th century, "Old Roman" chant is a form of plain chant that was in use by the Roman Church during the so-called 'Byzantine period'.The strong Oriental character of Old Roman chant is evident from the very first track of this recording, which was made in 1985 by French musicologist Marcel Pérès and the Ensemble Organum, an early music group founded by him to specialise in "pre-Gregorian and para-Gregorian" chant. The "Alleluia O Pimenon" was sung in Greek in the Vesper service on Easter Monday. When the melodies of the Old Roman chants were published in 1891, they were regarded by some merely as a "deteriorated and distorted Roman version" of the melodies of Gregorian chant, but Dom Andoyer challenged this view in 1912, writing that the Old Roman chants pre-dated Gregorian chants and were simply preserved in the Old Roman tradition. This recording is a revelation to those who might assume that Gregorian chants were in use at the time of Pope Saint Gregory I, after whom they are named and who held the See of Peter from 590 to 604. In fact, no manuscripts of Gregorian chants earlier than the 13th century are in existence, and it is now believed that this form of music resulted from a synthesis of the Old Roman and Galician chants (the latter being those of the church in France). The performance of Old Roman chants in this recording does not purport to reproduce a so-called "authentic" performance. Marcel Pérès has used a Greek precentor (cantor or first singer), for whom this repertory is "less absurd" than for a contemporary Western singer. In the booklet accompanying the CD, Pérès states that, "in our interpretation of the Old Roman Chant a large number of pre-conceived ideas have been turned upside down." The spiritual and cultural unity of the Eastern and Western branches of the Christian Church is, above all, what Pérès aims to demonstrate in this recording. The 7th and 8th centuries saw an enormous influx in Rome of monks and other religious from the Near and Middle East, fleeing the Persian invasions and persecutions by Iconoclasts and Monothelites. As Pérès says, "The fall of Constantinople in 1453 did not bring about a break, contrary to what certain Western musicologists have thought. Quite the opposite is true: it becomes increasingly apparent that Turkish and Arabic music inherited an enormous amount of the Byzantine aesthetic. The confrontation with Old Roman Chant is illuminating on this point. Certain pieces in this repertory which cannot be considered to have been subjected to any kind of Islamic influence, present constructions and formulas which are absolutely identical to pieces from the Byzantine repertory". This CD contains 8 tracks and has a total playing time of 56 minutes 19 seconds. The programme notes are written in French, English and German, and the liturgical texts are provided in full, in French, Latin/Greek, English and German. This recording provides a rare insight into the early music of the Roman Church. It is highly recommendable.
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