www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Good recordings of chants?

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I'd like to obtain some good musical recordings of Eastern chants. Other than St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church's parish CD, I have the Liturgy of the Novospassky Monastery Choir.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Those that are in English would be most appreciated. I couldn't find Fr. Apostolos Hill's music on iTunes but may have to get it, as his youtube files are my favorite Eastern chants, second only to Kabarnos Nikodimos.
Both of these singers tend to emphasize the Greek style but I like multiple styles, esp. Rusyn as my parish is Byzantine Catholic.
Any input is appreciated.

Blessings,
Jonathan

Hey J.A you are more than welcome to borrow some of the CD's I have and put them on your Itunes.

I have the CD Festal and Selected Hymns by the Choir of St. Elizabeth which is an Old Calendar Greek Convent. Very beautiful and has hymns in Greek, English as well as various slavic languages.

Also, I can bring the CD Northern Athos which is the Choir of New Valamm ( I may have misspelled that) and Agni Parthene- the Monks of Simopertra Are Chanting. I also have a CD in Greek of a Healing Service to Saint Justina and St Cyprian from the Old Calendar Monastery in Fili which is very beautiful. Let me know and I will bring them to Church.

For Fr. Hill http://www.saintromanosrecords.com/product_info.php?products_id=114

Give Byzantine Church Supplies a try - http://www.ukrcathedral.com/byzsup/

Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary may have some of the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter recordings which are Carpatho-Rusyn plainchant. They are good.

Debatable. Schola Cantorum may be technically excellent, but they lack feeling, are emotionally distant from the music, and have a lamentable tendency to sing everything in one unvarying tempo. Their singing is, overall, much too "pretty"--precious, even (I call them "The Ruthenian Madrigal Society")--and lacks the power of Prostopinje sung by a good congregation.

For an example, compare their recording of Paschal Matins to a live recording of a real congregation.

St. Vladimir's Seminary has two different CDs of Russian chant in English. The Boston Byzantine Choir has several CDs of Byzantine chant in English, the best of which is First Fruits.

The psaltique recordings of the Vatopaidi Monastery on Mt. Athos are considered the gold standard in Greek liturgical music. I have Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Sublime!

For Russian liturgical music in Slavonic, try the Moscow Patriarchate Choir under Anatoly Grindenko. They have close to a dozen CDs on the Opus 111 label, covering everything from the 15th to the 20th centuries.

The monks of Chevetogne have some excellent recordings in Slavonic. The Dumka choir (the one from Kyiv) has some very good recordings of Bortnyansky, Dyletsky, Leontovich and other choral music. The choirs of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha in Chicago have made some nice recordings in liturgical Ukrainian.

Ot'ets Nastoiatel's recommendations are excellent and I'd use the same language to describe them. However, they represent about 12 hours worth of Greek music, and it's a bit intimidating for a beginner.

A more managable sampling of Byzantine Chant, just as good, and half in English, is "He Cometh at Midnight" by the Romeiko Ensemble. I recommend ordering from www.liturgica.com. [liturgica.com.]

Markos
----------------------------------------------
"Union with God, not through words and theories, but through experience and illumination, is the goal of our sojourn on earth..."

Fr. Maximos of the Monastety of Simonopetra

Oh course Stuart--but they're a choir and not supposed to be "live." At least they're on pitch. And it is Carpatho-Rusyn plainchant and not "composed" pieces they're singing, harmonized for a choir.

Well, I've had the privilege of hearing them sing liturgically, and frankly, it was underwhelming. Apparently J-Mike never explained to them that you take the pitch of the celebrant and run with it. The five second pause in the litanies as they braced themselves to sing "Lord have mercy" in SATB harmony got to be more than a little more annoying over time, especially as I have actually heard congregations--not parish choirs, but your ordinary pew-dusters--sing in harmony just as well, and with more timely responses. Their emotional detachment from the Liturgy was also apparent. Less pretty, more commitment, was what they needed.

Try the Theodore Romzha Seminary Choir--they do Prostopinje up right, and they know how to sing in a Liturgy, not just in a concert hall.

I heartily agree with Markos' endorsement of the Romeiko Ensembles' recordings.

One of my most cherished recordings is the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom sung in znamenny by Anatoly Grindenko's ensemble.

That was one of the first Grindenko recordings I acquired. I then when out and purchased all his CDs on the Opus 111 label.