Antiphon
In Paradisum et Psalmus
121 (122) [4:25]
Responsorium
Subvenite [2:26]
Responsorium
Libera Me [4:26]
Stift Heiligenkreuz Bells [1:36]
Missa pro defunctis:
Introitus
Requiem aeternam [2:00]
Kyrie eleison [1:38]
Graduale
Requiem aeternam [2:40]
Tractus
Absolve Domine [2:10]
Offertorium
Domine Iesu Christe
[3:40]
Sanctus [0:46]
Post Elevationem:
Pie Iesu Domine
[0:50]
Agnus Dei [0:44]
Communio
Lux aeterna [1:01]
Ad Completorium:
Deus in adiutorium [0:49]
Hymnus
Te lucis ante terminum
[1:24]
Psalmus 4 [2:33]
Psalmus 90 (91) [3:46]
Psalmus 133 [1:12]
Lectio brevis [0:27]
Responsorium breve [0:40]
Canticum Simeonis
Nunc dimittis
[2:17]
Kyrie [0:12]
Oratio conclusiva [0:47]
Antiphona ad Beatam Mariam Virginem
Salve Regina [2:47]
Benedictio [0:19]
Stift Heiligenkreuz Bells [0:50]
Hymnus
Veni Creator Spiritus
[2:30]
Introitus Dominica Pentecostes
Spiritus
Domini [2:35]
Communio Dominica Pentecostes
Factus
est repente [1:12]
This new recording
has a website all of its own, www.chantmusicforparadise.com,
where you can hear some of the music
and learn that the CD has achieved
a place in the top ten in the UK pop
charts as well as first place in the
classical chart. If you don’t want
the whole programme, Veni Creator
is also available as a single. So
it needs no recommendation from me,
nor do I need to quote from the booklet,
since all the information is available
from this website (including one typo,
Oratio conclusive instead of
conclusiva).
In fact, I can but
concur with the market in this case.
From time to time I urge you to forget
all the ‘relaxation’ CDs on the market
and unwind with a particular recording.
I can think of no better vehicle for
this than the present recording. There
must be no less appropriate name than
the surname of the abbot of Stift
Heiligenkreuz, Donnersmarck – there
is nothing the least thunderous about
this recording.
Chant is suddenly
‘in’ again, with EMI releasing (re-releasing?)
more of the Monks of Silos who achieved
such success a few years ago with
Canto Gregoriano, and Sony
BMG signing up three priests (imaginatively
named The Priests) to record spiritual
music. In view of the publicity which
this album has received, I was surprised
to discover that the booklet and insert
are free from hype.
The disc itself is
something of a wolf in sheep’s clothing,
since it is housed in an SACD round-shouldered
case (which, incidentally, was slightly
damaged in transit, despite the greater
robustness of these cases.) The label
side of the CD itself contains no
information, merely a depiction of
a flower motif.
The recording falls
into four sections: excerpts from
the Office of the Dead, the Requiem
Mass, Compline and music for Pentecost
(Whit Sunday). This arrangement provides
for the linking of several pieces
with a common origin while at the
same time offering variety. The funereal
music on tracks 1-13 is in no way
morbid, especially as only Pie
Jesu from Dies iræ
is included, as per Fauré’s
well-known and beautiful setting;
rather, its timeless qualities are
very soothing. Play tracks 14 to 25
as late-night listening and you will
have heard the whole office of Compline.
I recently reviewed
Naxos’s 3-CD set Time of the
Templars, the second CD of which
offers a selection of chant performed
by Nova Schola Gregoriano under Alberto
Turco (Naxos 8.503192). This recording
also remains available separately
on Naxos 8.550771 under the title
Adorate Dominum. As a single
CD, that Naxos recording costs less
than half the price of the new UCJ
and the three-CD set little more than
the price of the one new CD. The Naxos
performances are good but the programme
on offer is very diverse – no two
items from the same Sunday or festival
– and, while it would be unfair to
compare it to a set of bleeding chunks,
the new recording is much more unified
– well worth the price differential.
The Monks of Stift
Heiligenkreuz chant the offices and
Mass every day. The abbot has made
a special point of insisting that
their performances are given with
no other purpose than to the glory
of God. They thus have a daily familiarity
with this music which makes their
singing authoritative and gives them
an edge over a group of professional
singers. Much the same is true, for
example, of Nimbus’s series of recordings
of English church music with Christ
Church Cathedral Choir: though they
sometimes yield technically to a group
such as The Sixteen, their regular
singing in the cathedral adds something
special to their performance.
In fact, I didn’t
notice any technical imperfections
in the singing of the Heiligenkreuz
monks, though they presumably sang
each group of chants without a break
and without retakes. Their singing
has justly received the imprimatur
of Pope Benedict XVI himself. If you
have any doubts at all, listen to
their singing of the opening In
Paradisum and part of Veni
Creator Spiritus on the website.
The latter breaks off suddenly in
mid flow, but I guarantee that it
will make you want to buy the CD or,
if you can’t wait, download it from
the classicsandjazz website,
where it’s available for £7.90.
The recording captures
the ambiance of the building – a large
builing, as depicted in the booklet
– extremely well without being too
reverberant. The absence of ambiance
in the silences between tracks is
rather disconcerting.
The booklet is one
of those annoying efforts where light-coloured
small print is superimposed on a dark
background, but it does include all
the texts and translations, which
the Naxos reissue does not. The notes,
written for the general reader, are
a little sparse; you’ll find more
information on the website. The specialist
listener might have preferred more
scholarly information; presumably
the monks feel discussions of edition
and performing style irrelevant to
the prime purpose of their worship.
That devotion and scholarship can
be combined is demonstrated by the
recordings of (sadly, the late) Mary
Berry.
Otherwise I am sure
that this CD will sell like the proverbial
hot cakes and will deserve to do so.
In making it Recording of the Month,
I am willingly going with the swim.
Brian Wilson
The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz
