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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

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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).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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