• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Impressions • Plainchant Settings for Organ

Richard J. Clark · June 29, 2018

BRAND NEW release from The Sacred Music Press/The Lorenz Corporation, Gregorian Impressions is a collection of organ works based on familiar and beloved plainchants.

Shifting in character, they are designed to accommodate a variety of liturgical or concert circumstances. At the very least, this music can be performed on a two manual instrument with limited ranks. However, colorful registration, especially in animating chant melodies is encouraged on instruments with larger resources.

With intense dynamic and expressive intent, this collection cries out for the pipe organ to breathe and to sing.

• View Sample pages and Forward with notes on registration here.

• Order Score: Gregorian Impressions • Plainchant Settings for Organ

      YouTube:  I. Pange lingua
      YouTube:  II. Adoro te devote
      YouTube:  III. Jesu dulcis memoria
      YouTube:  IV. Ubi caritas
      YouTube:  V. O filii et filiae
      YouTube:  VI. Veni, creator Spiritus
      YouTube:  VII. Ave Maria

• Tracks 1, & 3-7 were recorded on the 1999 Smith & Gilbert Organ (IV/54), Saint Cecilia Church, Boston, MA.
• Track 2 was recorded on the D. A. Flentrop (I/8) at Saint Mary’s Chapel, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.


PLAYLIST:


OWE A GREAT debt to Timothy E. Smith and Theodore Gilbert, builders of a unique instrument. Featured at several concerts during the 2014 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists and celebrated by the Boston Music Intelligencer as “Cavaillé-Coll-esque,” it is situated in one of the most glorious (and useful) acoustics in New England.

To the casual listener it is somewhat notorious for its power. But noted by every distinguished organist is the warmth and richness of its foundations and strings (voiced by Theodore Gilbert). More recent additions to the instrument by Timothy E. Smith have only added to the array of richness and color, seamlessly complimenting ranks with Gilbert’s voicing.

Such richness and warmth is certainly on display in these recordings, e.g., the introduction and coda of Veni, creator Spiritus or the building up of foundation stops and reeds on Jesu dulcis memoria.

None of this begins to speak of the highly pragmatic liturgical design of the instrument: foundation stops that speak clearly into the nave to support congregational singing, dynamic flexibility to accompany soloists, choral works, and chant, and an antiphonal division that unites a 19th Century architecture with the 21st Century liturgy. All of these necessary elements are the design and vision of Timothy E. Smith.

Finally, what is quite special to me, is not always the full array of the organ, but the quiet moments of reflection while composing and improvising. A few soft 8’ stops speak into an empty and darkened sanctuary, expressing most exactly what I ask. I thank God for an abundance of these moments for nearly twenty years. Such moments of musical and prayerful sanctuary have saved my life.

Soli Deo gloria

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Gregorian Chant, Pipe Organ Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Young people have entrusted me with their absolute preference for the Extraordinary Form… […] But, above all, how can we understand—how can we not be surprised and deeply shocked—that what was the rule yesterday is prohibited today? Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the Extraordinary Form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?”

— Cardinal Sarah to Edward Pentin (23 September 2019)

Recent Posts

  • “Go!” • The Word That Changed My Life Forever
  • Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
  • At the Cross • Stabat Mater
  • Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2023
  • PDF Download • Vespers Organ Accomp. Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent) — 24 pages

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.