Luogo e data di registrazione		Basslika St. Michael, Altenstadt (Germany) - 21/22 October 1995
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Executive Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Producer / Mastering / Tape Editor		Stephan Schellmann
	Engineer / Tape Editor		Gabriele Starke
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - S2K 62 805 - (1 CD) - durata 57' 11" & 57' 19" - (p) 1996 - DDD
	Cover Art		"Il miracolo dell'ostia profanata" (1465/69) by Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) - Urbino, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche; Courtesy: Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
	Note		-

History reveals that, just at the point when certain practices and oral traditions seem about to disappear, when common customs are on the brink of irretrievable loss, a concern for their preservation arises. The sometimes passionate struggle to hold on to a vanishing tradition often has marvelous results. Consider, for example, how some of the earliest polyphonic music, the Ars Antiqua of the Notre Dame period in Paris (c. 1200) has been preserved. In all probability, the entire contents of the four great Notre Dame manuscripts (Wolfenbüttel 1 and 2, Florence 29/I and Madrid) are nothing other than an attempt to put contemporary performance practice into fixed form - a grand codification for all time of how things once were. A similar impulse can be seen at work today in the area of Gregorian chant, at least as regards sound recordings. Gregorian chant, or liturgical monody, has lost its original place and function in the performance of the Catholic liturgy as a result of the Vatican II Council. Today Gregorian chant is mostly sung and produced by secular ensembles and choirs whose chief concerns are essentially musical and scholarly. Thus, Gregorian chant blossoms outside its intended religious context. This may well lead to a less than happy end. But it is indisputable that the embarrassment of riches of Gregorian chant now available on the market is giving many listeners a first entrée into this music, listeners who otherwise would be unlikely to find their way to this austere, unaccompanied, monodic music of the Latin Catholic Mass. It is impossible to truly capture liturgy on a CD; and any recording of Gregorian chant can only hope to remain a collection of sounds, a choice harvest of the most beautiful melodies (from which we may even gain some new insights). And how astonishing it is to find such a wealth of medieval poetry before us in the form of hymns, tropes, and sequences, in psalmody and in long melismatic chants. Never before have there been so many ensembles dedicated to the cultivation and performance of Gregorian chant, ensembles of vastly differing provenance, qualifications and approaches. For the most part, they exist for the sake of producing CDs, and not necessarily because of any broader interest in liturgical matters or divine service. While one listener may find the wide variety of performance styles unfaithful to the music, another may feel that a single performance practice dogma is too restrictive. The vast repertoire on the CD market could not possibly satisify them both completely. But was it any different in the Middle Ages, to which all of these differing parties appeal for authority? What dynamic lies within the development of Gregorian chant? Was it ever a closed system? Was there ever such a sense of centrality as is required today? Or rather, did a pluralism of traditions arise, resulting in vast differences in performance - just like those of today, reflected in the CDs produced around the world? It would be hard to imagine anything more extreme than the stark differences which now exist in approaches to Gregorian repertoire. Yet we should rejoice over this patchwork of conceptions and styles. As everyone prays after his own fashion, so let everyone sing differently! All that matters is that we are aware, or become aware, of the issues involved in performance practice. Since Glanz der Gregorianik (The Quintessence of Chant) originated as a television series, it made sense for the music to depict the four major church feasts: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Assumption. The selection of nine chants for each feast is, of course, subjective. What mattered to us was to present significant and seldom-heard chants and to draw meaningful connections both between and among them. We felt impelled to include polyphonic psalmody for like, and for mixed, voices as well as the lyric forms of hymn and sequence. We deliberately concluded the sequence for each feast Celebration with a polyphonic work or cantio. From the standpoint of musical developments, the medieval cantio (the Latin song) was the most important form to come out of Gregorian chant and point into the future; and its great relevance to music history can be appreciated in its continual presence as a leitmotif in music through many centuries. It finds its way, for example, into the “cantional” style, the hymns, the cantata and finally the Geistliches Konzert (sacred concerto). Only the Assumption segment on this recording is concluded with a large-scale “Lauretian litany,” which is included here in order to present another significant form of private worship almost forgotten today. CHRISTMAS Our program goes from the significant Advent introit “Rorate caeli desuper” (written in the 1st mode), with its expressions of longing for the Redeemer, to the cantio “Veni, o sapientia,” a strophic song that contains the seven O-antiphons, and to the French sequence “Nato canunt omnia.” The individual verses here exhibit a strong a-assonance (each verse ends with the vowel “a”), which not only is reminiscent of the jubilus of the Gregorian Allelu-ia, with its long, jubilant melisma on the final “a” but which also indicates its origin. Under this extended melisma, new text is sung in a syllabic melody (i. e., each syllable corresponds to only one note). The Conductus “Gaudens in Domino,” an exceptional chant, includes the polyphonic first reading, the Lectio “Primo tempore” from the Christmas matins. The well-known introit of the third Christmas mass, “Puer natus est nobis,” is performed here with the non-liturgical trope (i. e., insertion) “Natus est Altissimi hodie filius” - a typical example of the trope method of the high Middle Ages. EASTER Easter is inconceivable without the Passion and Holy Week. The well-known hymn “Gloria, laus et honor” by Theodolphus of Orleans brings us into Holy Week. The theological significance of this whole week is suinmarized in the introit “Nos autem gloriari oportet” from Maundy Thursday. The caritas song “Ubi caritas est vera” marks another important moment, accompanying the washing of the feet. Easter itself is introduced by the introit “Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum” (IVth mode) in restrained joy. It is followed by the powerful Kyrie with the trope “Lux et origo” and the immortal Easter sequence “Victimae paschali laudes” of Wipo of Burgundy. The 50-fold Alleluia with Psalm 116 concludes the Easter celebration cycle; it harks back to the 50 days of rejoicing before Pentecost. PENTECOST The spirit of the Lord, which fills the universe, is praised in many of the Pentecost chants. The same thoughts recur in these works: from the Invitatorium (invitational song) of the Pentecostal matins, to the glorious Pentecost sequence “Veni sancte Spiritus,” to the feast introit “Spiritius Domini,” and to the wellknown hymn “Veni creator Spiritus.” With few exceptions, these chants are written in the glorious notes of the VIIth and VIIIth modes. A rare exception is the superb Magnificat antiphon “Hodie completi sunt,” which is sung in the Ist mode of Vespers. Only then can the 50 days of rejoicing of which the Holy Augustine speaks be truly fulfilled. ASSUMPTION The various feasts celebrating the Mother of God are referred to in many chants throughout the liturgical calendar. Thus, not every chant here is deterinined by the Assumption; rather, the selection is intended to be in accordance with the Marian spirit. Our selections span from what is probably the oldest Marian prayer, “Sub tuum praesidium,” to the late medieval litanies. An exemplary French sequence,“Mittit ad virginem”, attributed to Pierre Abélard, is as fitting for the Annunciation as for the Christmas feast nine months later. A number of works simply could not be left out. Among them are the lyric pieces “Concordi laetitia” and “Maria mater gratiae”; the great troped introit “Gaudeamus omnes in Domino” from the Proper of the old, pre-consulate Assumption; and the absolutely timeless hymn “Ave maris stella” of the Lombardian Paul Diakonus. The hymn is heard here in its earliest polyphonic version, from the 13th -century Abbey Lire, Normandy, in standard Alternatim (alternating) practice. Through the growing interest in Gregorian chant outside of the church we hope for a reassessment within it of the value of this highest form of church music. Ultimately, the Gregorian repertoire attains its deepest meaning within its original place and function in the liturgy. Konrad Ruhland (Translation: Annelies McVoy & David Feurzeig)