ORLD LIBRARY Publications, the music and liturgy division of J. S. Paluch Company, Inc. has recently released my collection of Communion Antiphons for Advent. WLP will follow up shortly with my settings of communion propers for Lent.
The antiphons are set from the English translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, which during Advent are congruent with the Graduale Romanum. Likewise, the verses set are those prescribed by Graduale Romanum.
Scores are available in hard copies or digital format:
Order Octavo or PDF • View sample pages:
Octavo • “Communion Antiphons for Advent” (for SATB Choir; Cantor; Assembly)
• All are chant based.
• Can be sung with cantor or unison schola
• Ample opportunity for optional SATB
• Includes an additional setting for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
BE SURE TO LISTEN to the recordings here directed by Paul French, Director of the William Ferris Chorale and Music Director of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Chicago. French and his singers beautifully captured the joy, movement, and energy of these chant based works. Glorious Things Are Spoken for the Immaculate Conception was recorded at St. Cecilia Church in Boston with Jaime Korkos, mezzo-soprano and Marc DeMille, baritone.
NFUSE CHANT WITH PASSION! Most of these settings are marked con moto. Chant or chant-based works must not be lethargic, plodding and as a result boring. They can be tranquil at times, but yearn for movement.
Taken directly form the scriptures of Advent, we have been singing these texts together as a Church for about thirteen hundred years. This is an extraordinary sign of unity and communion with our ancestors!
And the tradition lives and breathes within us today. It informs us of who we are. It connects us to the very source of life in the Eucharist. Finally, our traditions propel us toward an intimate relationship with God.
In the end, I hope these are useful, prayerful, reverent, and with a bit of passion.
Soli Deo gloria
