gdp's Comments

http://chantcafe.com/ : Liturgical Music in the Context of Liturgy

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:46:52 +0000

This has been a big fad in early music recordings for a decade or so now; just last night I was listening to such a recording of a Mass by Arnold de Lantins. It can be kind of cool to listen to reconstructed versions of chant (even boring slow chant). But you know, I don't buy CDs for the Sursum Corda, but for the polyphony. Reconstructed Masses are kind of silly, because there's no there there, there's everything about the Mass except the actual unbloody Sacrifice. If we can't have a Mass without real music, which should we have a MAss without real Jesus?

http://chantcafe.com/ : Who you callin\' \"Bi-polar?\"

Wed, 3 Jun 2015 10:53:00 +0000

For musicians, liturgy is the hammer that makes every problem in the Church look like a nail. I didn't see the original post or YT, so can't really comment. But I'm always amused by my pagan friends referring to the "rigid hierarchical authoritarian" RC Church, since it seems to be an anarchy in practice. Dioceses don't keep adequate tabs on their priests. The only solution I can think of is for the laity to drop a dime to the Bishop (preferably with audio/video), but I could also see problems with that. In some parishes, the dimes would be falling like snowflakes in Hell.

http://chantcafe.com/ : The History of Solfege: Ut Re Me!

Sat, 7 Feb 2015 15:53:44 +0000

Remember: See BS. Church: "You want this sight-singing system we developed? We're not using it for anything."

http://chantcafe.com/ : Tastes Like Mozart, Sounds Like Chicken: The Peril of Easy Comparisons

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:31:45 +0000

OK... tell us more about this recording...lest we have to listen to Mozart again.

http://chantcafe.com/ : Ubi Caritas - Stephens

Mon, 11 Aug 2014 01:28:21 +0000

It's the ranges and divisi that are the problem, more than the notes. We did it the year after the Stephens, and did a certain amount of creative editing to make it work for us.

http://chantcafe.com/ : Ubi Caritas - Stephens

Sat, 9 Aug 2014 11:52:26 +0000

We did this at Mary Queen of Peace, Cleveland. Stephens is an undeniably talented guy, but I often find his work underpolished. But this is lot easier than the Durufle, and probably more effective from non-professional choirs.

http://chantcafe.com/ : Date and Location Announced for the 2015 Colloquium

Mon, 7 Jul 2014 18:38:54 +0000

I believe you're missing a word before "University".

Chant Cafe : Improved site design?

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:24:26 +0000

It ain't broke; why fix it?

Chant Cafe : There Is a Way Out

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:03:35 +0000

"In order to have proper worship, why should it be forever necessary to freeze time in the 16th century and forever force that music down the throats of the current generation?" FIFY. Of course, I LOVE Renaissance polyphony. But the notion that emerged in the 19th century that the only proper polyphonic repertoire for the Mass is High Renaissance imitative polyphony or modern imitations is still very much with us. It's damaging to the cause of Catholic church music because it ignores what came before and after, and by so doing implies that it was less than optimal. If that was the ideal, than the church has nearly always violated the ideal. Now, chant IS integral to the Mass (your real point here), and the more I sing it, the more convinced I am of this. But if chant is the pasta and polyphony the sauce, we have lots of options for what to make the sauce from.

Chant Cafe : History, In Reverse

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:06:32 +0000

I was around there last year -- not for the March, because "abortion isn't really my issue", but for the CUA New Voices festival. And seeing that many cranked young people did something to me...I guess it is my issue now.

Chant Cafe : Bring back the serpent?

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:50:19 +0000

Great pics, even if most of them aren't of the serpent! I wasn't there, but I heard that once Craig Kridel played serpent with the Immaculate Conception Schola (Cleveland OH)

Chant Cafe : Help Save Sibelius!

Tue, 7 Aug 2012 20:24:51 +0000

Adam, Norman "The sky is falling" Lebrecht seems to have started this hysteria. This is from another list I'm on: "Sibelius remains a product that is very much alive, and Avid (the corporate owners of Sibelius) have publicly stated their commitment to keep the product alive and growing. What has many people upset is that they closed their London office, where the development of Sibelius had taken place and people are supposing that they have laid off the development team. I know that Daniel Spreadbury, the senior product specialist for Sibelius (in other words, the brains behind its recent developments for the past few upgrades) remains active on the official Sibelius forum and is using his Avid e-mail address for the replies. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that all the Sibelius developers are still employed by Avid but are telecommuting from home (less expensive for Avid) rather than working from a single costly London area office. But nobody has spoken publicly about whether that's a valid guess or not."

Chant Cafe : Is the Liturgy a Stage?

Fri, 3 Aug 2012 19:55:26 +0000

You WILL report on how it went, yes?

Chant Cafe : Are You Singing the Creed?

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:07:27 +0000

Not singing Creed. Did (in English) when I was with the Anglican Catholics, but not in my RC parish.

Chant Cafe : Is the job market improving for serious Catholic musicians?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:07:52 +0000

I just finished reading it. The depressive aspects are somewhat blunted by the Baroque writing style. It's not really a history, though there's history in it; it comes off as the mutterings of a broken old man...and who can blame him? What we need, soon, is something like the Ken Canada book, told from the other side. The most humorous bit is when Schmitt talks about how useless CMAA was...if he had lived to see this day!

Chant Cafe : SOPA and Sacred Music

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:54:54 +0000

And in related news, Golan v. Holder was decided...zombie copyrights live! http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-545...

Chant Cafe : The Liturgy Sings Itself

Mon, 5 Dec 2011 18:30:23 +0000

What's a composer to do? Write for a once and future Church, hoping for an occasional secular concert performance? Or write for a service structured to be deliberately anti-art? The Propers are in practice a rumor more than a reality. The sing-along Ordinary militates agains expression. The minor mode effectively left with the Kyrie and the old-translation Confiteor, and lives a shadowy existence in hearty Dorian-mode English folk style hymns; after all, we don't want people to feel bad about themselves. The only part of the OF mass where there's potential for growth is in the Psalm, which, even crippled as it is by those short ritornelli, could be much more expressive and interesting than it generally is. Bless people like Rice, Ford, Ostrowski, Bartlett and the rest, because it's really hard to motivate myself to do that.

HillBuzz.org : Does your state have "Let Them Rest in Peace" laws to protect veterans' funerals?

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:58:54 +0000

Taken by the same photographer Newsweek used for Michelle Bachman.

Big Government : Déjà Vu: Another Congressman Bares Naked Torso (and More) for Online Pal<

Mon, 6 Jun 2011 17:51:10 +0000

She's a Muslim. This is America, where the sexes are equal. If the man were Muslim, and his wife were doing this, what do you think would happen? Should Huma do the same thing?

Big Government : UAW Lawyer Reveals Radical Union Strategy: Argue Constitution Grants Public Sector Collective Bargai

Mon, 2 May 2011 13:46:49 +0000

'sOK. We'll just repeal the Wagner Act and a few others, then nobody will have the legal privilege (not right) to collectively bargain.