Chanting Monks from Orange County, CA

Online, March 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - GREGORIAN CHANT: REQUIEM
BY THE NORBERTINE FATHERS OF ST. MICHAEL'S ABBEY

Available in Stores, physically and digitally, on April 12, 2011

The New Album

This is the third Gregorian chant album by the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey in California. This is not an actual Mass, but the traditional Requiem music according to the ancient Norbertine Rite, a form of the liturgy similar to the ubiquitous Roman Rite but the exclusive patrimony of the Norbertine Fathers. The album is available in stores on April 12, 2011.

The Recording

The old cliche of a badly written novel beginning with the words: "It was a dark and stormy night..." could well apply to the recording of this album, as the date that worked for all the singers to record was the day of one of the longest and most violent tempests of 2010. The abbey's cantor, Fr. Chrysostom Baer, decided that, far from detracting from the quality of the recording, the howling winds actually added to the haunting tones of chant. This is the reason for the atmospheric effects heard in the background of many of the recorded tracks.

The Norbertine Fathers and the Pacific Symphony

Thanks to the buzz and press coverage surrounding the previous two album releases, Carl St. Clair, the music director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, invited the Norbertines to perform with the Orchestra. The three concerts, which took place in late February 2011 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, were extremely popular and well received.

The Expansion Project

St. Michael's Abbey has been blessed with many vocations since its beginnings in the 1960s, and the boarding preparatory school consistently receives the highest ratings for its classical education and formation. Because of its growth, the community needs to expand its facilities. When the community began to consider expanding, it discovered that its current site is geologically unstable so the community will have to move to new land

Jade Music

Jade Music has a proven dedication to releasing quality classical and spiritual music for more than 20 years. It established itself as the premiere record label of the choir of the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain. Jade Music is distributed by ADA/Warner Music Group in the United States, Universal Music in France, JVC in Japan, and Warner Music International in the rest of the world.

Praise for previous recordings:

The Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey could have an unlikely hit with their CD of Gregorian chant. -- Tim Mangan, The Orange County Register

Silverado's chanting Norbertine Fathers have struck a chord with their CD, Christmas at St. Michael's Abbey, recently in the top 10 on Amazon's classical vocal and song list. -- Rick Reiff, Orange County Business Journal

The singing on the album is so very beautiful, and thoroughly authentic. -- California Catholic Daily

GREGORIAN CHANT: REQUIEM (Tracklisting)

1. Rain and Bells
2. Introit: Requiem
3. Kyrie
4. Gradual: Requiem
5. Gradual: Si Ambulem
6. Prose: Dies Irae
7. Tract: De Profundis
8. Offertory: Domine Jesu Christe
9. Preface
10. Sanctus
11. Agnus Dei
12. Communion Antiphon: Lux Aeterna; Requiescant
13. Responsory for the Commendation of the Soul: Subvenite
14. Antiphon for the Procession of the Body: Suscipiat vos Christus
15. Antiphon for the Procession of the Body: Chorus Angelorum

The album comes in a high-quality digipak with extensive liner notes.