Views from the Choir Loft

Sistine Chapel Choir has made Great Improvement

Andrew Leung · November 12, 2015

FEW WEEKS AGO, Veronica shared on her post about the new CD that the Sistine Chapel Choir is releasing. The CD, Cantate Domino is now available on Deutsche Grammophon and I have just received my CD. I have listened to it more than three times now and I am just amazed by the improvement they have made! You can hear the differences if you compare these two recordings below.

(1) Palestrina’s Reges Tharis et insulae from 2011:

(2) Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus from the 2015 CD:

HE SISTINE CHAPEL CHOIR sounds like a British boys’ choir! The recordings in this CD are definitely the best ones I have ever heard from the Italian choir. The balance, blending and tuning is perfect! This is the first time that the Sistine Chapel has been used for a commercial recording. The music recorded in the CD was written specifically for the Sistine Chapel Choir for papal celebrations. The choir has recorded both Gregorian Chant and polyphonic pieces in this album.

What do you think about this new album? Do you like the way they are singing now? Feel free to leave comments on the Facebook page.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski