Parisian Plainchant - Mass For Christmas Day / Peres, Ensemble Organum

On this CD:

1. Messe du Jour de Noël
Composed by Anonymous
Performed by Organum Ensemble

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Quiz question: when was Gregorian chant composed? Most people figure it was some indeterminate point in the Middle Ages. In fact, new chants were being composed (by, among many others, Dufay and Palestrina) at least through the 18th century. For example, 17th-century France saw an effort to Gallicize plainchant: virtually the entire liturgical repertory was recomposed in French Baroque style--including trills and ornaments. (Think of monks singing Couperin.) This recording by Marcel Pérès, who has done fascinating work reviving chant from many different times and places, re-creates a 17th-century Parisian Mass for Christmas Day, using a contemporary missal compiled for Nôtre-Dame as well as chants by Campra and Delalande. The superb singing by Ensemble Organum and the boys of Les Pages de la Chapelle is more accessible than that on some of Pérès's other recordings. Best of all, following old French practice for festal Masses, verses of chant alternate with verses improvised on the organ: playing a fine 17th-century instrument, Pérès improvises the organ verses himself, exercising musical skills many of his fans didn't know he had. --Matthew Westphal

Tracks:

Introit: Parvulus natus est nobis
Kyrie Eleison
Gloria: In excelsis deo
Graduel: Recordatus Est Domine
Alleluia: Verbum Caro Factus Est
Prose: Votis Pater Annuit
Offertoire: Hostias Et Oblationes
Preface
Sanctus: Sanctus: Grand-Jeu/Sanctus/Sanctus: Plein-Jeu Du Positif/Hosanna/Bendictus: Recit...
Motet Au Saint-Sacrement/O Salutaris Hostia
Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei: Montre Du Grand-Orgue/Agnus Dei/Agnus Dei: Dialouge Cornet Du Grand-Orgue...
Communion: In Hoc Apparuit Caritas Dei
Ite Missa Est
Deo Gratias
Postludium

Amazon.com

Quiz question: when was Gregorian chant composed? Most people figure it was some indeterminate point in the Middle Ages. In fact, new chants were being composed (by, among many others, Dufay and Palestrina) at least through the 18th century. For example, 17th-century France saw an effort to Gallicize plainchant: virtually the entire liturgical repertory was recomposed in French Baroque style--including trills and ornaments. (Think of monks singing Couperin.) This recording by Marcel Pérès, who has done fascinating work reviving chant from many different times and places, re-creates a 17th-century Parisian Mass for Christmas Day, using a contemporary missal compiled for Nôtre-Dame as well as chants by Campra and Delalande. The superb singing by Ensemble Organum and the boys of Les Pages de la Chapelle is more accessible than that on some of Pérès's other recordings. Best of all, following old French practice for festal Masses, verses of chant alternate with verses improvised on the organ: playing a fine 17th-century instrument, Pérès improvises the organ verses himself, exercising musical skills many of his fans didn't know he had. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Another Hit for Peres in History of Chant Collection.......2000-09-28

For some years now, Marcel Peres and the Ensemble Organum have been making available to the public at large a taste of the history of religious chant. These recordings have always been historically interesting and often, quite beautiful. This recording wins in both categories. Beautifully recorded and rendered, the music presented here transported this listener to another time and place. The music is haunting and yet quite comforting, bringing a sometimes forgotten flavor to a holiday season (Christmas) often overrun with a wearying hectic-swallow-it-fast-for-the-next-bite sort of pace. The pieces by Andre Campra (as realized by Peres) and Michel-Richard Delalande find themselves set beautifully in the context of the plainchant. This recording has been a welcome expansion of the regular Christmas repetoire. Unlike what seems to be a norm in popular music, you get your money's worth in over seventy minutes of tonal splendor.

Music Review:

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