medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:10:39 -0000, John Briggs wrote:
>The Solesmes style is generally considered somewhat inauthentic - it is a
>19th-century idea of what medieval chant sounded like.
>For a different approach try Marcel Pérès and his group Ensemble Organum.
>[It has to be said that his sound is not "mainstream". For example, he has
>used Corsican folk singers.]
>John Briggs
At the risk of veering from the subject, I tend to agree with the accessment of the Solesmes style, born as it was from the Romantic revivalism of the period
and the limits of scholarship at the time. Much like the iconography of Kontaglou, however, it seems to have come to dominate the perception of chant,
particularly since the Solesmes revival seems to have inspired almost every pope since Leo XIII. . . but I digress.
I do have some Ensemble Organum recordings and it does have a different flavor for sure, one that a person can imagine is more authentic, or at least
sounds a bit more . . . robust? I can't find my CD right now, but didn't they do the recording of Old Roman chant a few years back? Love that recording on
so many levels. I use it when discussing period liturgical music and a lot of groups are surprised how much parts of it sound like Islamic and/or Byzantine
chant.
One of my Benedictine aunts was trained in the Solesmes Method back in the early 1950's when she was choirmistress for her community. I inherited all her
books and its quite a fascinating study.
George the Less
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