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Chants of the Roman Church-Byzantine Period

Artist: Peres, Ensemble Organum
Item number: AC001
Category: Old Roman
Language: Latin
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Period: Early Christian
Length: 55'52
Release date: 1986-08-31
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Price: $7.98 USD
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You may need RealPlayer or Windows Media Player to listen to the music samples below.

01. Alleluia: O Pimenon ton Israel

02. Introit: Resurrexi

03. Gradual: Hed dies

04. Alleluia: Pascha nostrum

05. Offertory; Terra tremuit

06. Alleluia: Epi si Kyrie

07. Communion: Pascha nostrum

08. Alleluia


This recording was the first attempt by Ensemble Organum (or any other, for that matter) to re-create Old Roman Chant from ancient manuscripts in the Vatican Library--for which they received either eternal admiration or condemnation! The problem is simple: since there are no extant manuscripts prior to the 13th century, any performing group has to make certain assumptions. Using the oldest manuscripts they have available, and informed by a variety of "extra-musical" datum, Peres and his ensemble set out to try and recreate Old Roman chant. After almost two years of being unavailable, this CD has been re-released by Harmonia Mundi on its budget label, and so a whole new experience of Old Roman Chant is available again. The CD includes good liner notes with commentary and hymn text in French, Latin and English.

By: Benjamin Williams

Most listeners who are interested in liturgical chant, and especially "old" chant forms, don't realize that there is a divide to be dealt with when it comes to Old Roman Chant. Since there are no manuscripts from before the 13th century that accurately and indisputeably represent the period, and thus the chant form would be a function of "oral tradition", it can be seen two ways. The first, represented by this recording, is in the camp that the early church exemplified a high degree of homogeneity, and therefore since early Christian music forms were based on older Greek music forms, it is no surprise that Old Roman Chant sounds very similar to Byzantine chant--and that later Gregorian chant mainly exhibits "european" influences such as harmony, etc. The second camp is totally committed to the uniqueness of Old Roman Chant as a "simplified" version of Gregorian chant as it later came to be codified in the times of Pepin and Charlamagne. This reviewer subscribes to the former view, and finds this recording not only daring for its time, but totally credible. Striving to be true to the ancient music form of the 7th and 8th Century, including the involvement of Lycorgos Angelopolous, a world reknown Greek chanter who assisted with manuscript interpretation, this recording makes a strong impression about the uniformity of Early Christian chant forms prior to the ascendance of Gregorian chant in the west. At this new price point, it is a "must" for anyone who is at all interested in early liturgical chant forms.