Customer Reviews

Das Gänsebuch (The Geese Book): German Medieval Chant

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DAS GANSEBUCH has a clever image on the cover. A wolf, dressed as a cantor, is conducting a choir of geese while a fox is sneaking up to capture his evening meal. The image is from the cover of a collection of medieval church music that has come to be known as "The Goose Book" (Das Gansebuch in German). The music dates back to a church in Nuremberg just prior to the Reformation. Much of it is chant and while it is close to traditional Western (Gregorian) chant, it also sounds as if it is moving toward the hymn tradition that would develop in the near future. The collection also contains organ music, some of which is included on this disc.

With chant music being all the rage a few year ago, it is easy to say chant is chant and after listening to some of these recordings, it is difficult to tell some of them apart. However, the musical quality of this disc does distinguish this collection. The Scola Hungarica is composed of male vocalists who perform in a way that is fine musically and has a spiritual quality as well. Organ solos are dispersed throughout the collection, so one chant does not blend into the next. Since some of the pieces have never been recorded, it is likely that most of the music in this collection will not be familiar to most listeners, except perhaps to musicologists and those familiar with liturgical music, so for most of us, we are discovering something new. As I was listening to it, I couldn't help but think of Wagner's DIE MEISTERSINGER. The music is not Wagnerian by any stretch of the imagination, but it would have dated back to the days of Hans Sachs, the guilds, and the great musical tradition of that time in Nuremberg. Though the songs performed by the "mastersingers" were secular, the collection gives us a glimpse of the actual historic music that would have been a historic trait of the basis Wagner's opera.

This disc represents a small portion of the music in this collection, so lovers of chant and liturgical music have something to look forward to with future releases.

This recording of German medieval chant is a delight. The tracks are live sounding and the organ pieces interspersed add to the variety. The organ is the famous "Swallow's Nest" organ, so one gets to hear an historic organ along with the chants. This is early chant, and the performances have a spontaneous sound. Add to that the delightful illustration on the cover of the book from which the chants are taken and the story about that illustration, and one has a real treat!