CDs en Opnamen

Geluidsfragmenten

Met de onderstaande MP3-geluidsfragmenten krijgt u een indruk van het gregoriaans van de Schola Cantorum Amsterdam.

Fragment 1: Kyrie, Pater noster & Oratio. Opname van 11 april 2004.

Fragment 2: Deus, in adiutorium. Opname van 7 november 2004.

Fragment 3: Psalm 110 – Confitebor tibi Domine. Opname van 7 november 2004.

Fragment 4: Responsorium Initium sapientiae (H399). Opname van 7 november 2004.

CD van SCA – de Metten van Pasen!

De jubileum-CD van SCA! Een volledige dienst op CD: de Metten van het Hoogfeest van Pasen! Een schitterende uitgave van SCA. Te bestellen door overmaken van EUR 12,50 (dat is incl. verzendkosten) op RABOBANK – rekeningnummer: NL57 RABO 0362 1315 54 t.n.v. Schola Cantorum Amsterdam, o.v.v. “CD” en uw naam en adres. Stuur svp ook een e-mail naar de webmaster met uw naam en adres. De CD is beschikbaar in de Nicolaaskerk voor EUR 7,50 na de vespers van SCA mannen.

A Unique Recording: Paschal Matins – the Matins of Easter

The SCA is proud to announce the release of a unique recording – the complete Matins for Easter sung by the SCA, a world premiere recording of the night office for the Christian Church’s most important feast day. For information on the CD and how you can order this recording outside the Netherlands please send an email to: the webmaster. For orders within the Netherlands transfer EUR 12,50 (this includes delivery costs) to NL57 RABO 0362 1315 54 in the name of Schola Cantorum Amsterdam and include your name and delivery address in the transfer information. Also, please email your name and delivery address info to: the webmaster.

Fanfare (one of the largest, oldest and most respected classical music magazines) reviewed this CD in August 2010. Here is the review by Fr. Jerome F. Weber, who compiled the famed Chant discography :

Wim van Gerven (1929-2008) was the co-founder and conductor of the student choir at the University of Amsterdam from 1959 to 1993. The choir’s role began when the promotion of Gregorian chant in the Latin Mass was normative, but within just a few years the vernacular replaced it almost entirely. His choir continued to sing Latin masses for some years, but found a new role in singing the Office, especially Vespers but occasionally Compline and Matins. Van Gerven is widely known for three LPs that he recorded for the Dutch label Artone; when that label was acquired by CBS, the discs were issued in this country (USA) as a boxed set at a very attractive price, and later were reformatted as two single CDs on Sony.

This disc, made at his last recording session in 1992, has been issued now to mark the 50th anniversary of the schola. This Office harkens back to before the origin of the schola, for Matins at Easter had already vanished in 1956 when the Easter vigil, celebrated at midnight, left no time for it. Celebrating this Office in 1992 served those who want to perpetuate the traditional rite, but since it has never been recorded before, this disc is really a valuable addition to the chant discography. The chants will be found in copies of the Liber Usualis from 1934 to 1952; copies from 1956 to 1962 are more commonly available, but they omit this Office entirely.

The Matins is complete on one disc because it was the shortest feast day Office of the year, one nocturn (three psalms, three readings); Pentecost also had one nocturn, but it had much longer psalms. So we hear the three psalms complete, the three readings with their responsories complete, followed by the usual Te Deum. There are some extras too. In the Liber Usualis, the third lesson has no responsory but is followed directly by the Te Deum (as usual in the secular Office). Here the extra responsory is Angelus Domini locutus, found in the following Sunday’s Office (the chant has now been edited in the recently published Nocturnale Romanum). We also hear the complete Sunday gospel, the doxology Te decet laus, and a seldom-recorded antiphon for Offices of the Blessed Virgin, Regina caeli (the two familiar chants for the end of Compline are different). Finally, the gradual for Easter week, Haec dies, is sung with verses for Sunday and Thursday. So the extras make this an even more interesting release.

The excellent singing makes it a strong recommendation. Never recorded before, it is unlikely to be recorded again. Grab it while you can!
(Fr. Jerome F. Weber)