One of the apps on my phone that I have come to enjoy is Ancient Faith Radio, specifically the music portion. They play various portions of the Orthodox service (in English and Greek). On the whole, I find it much more expressive and engaging than what seems to pass for worship music in most modern churches.
During my listening, I was introduced to the group Capella Romana, a "professional vocal ensemble that performs early and contemporary sacred music in the Christian traditions of East and West". The music in question was Orthodox Greek Chant, which strikes me as similar to Western Gregorian chant but with a more soaring harmonies.
They have given performances in which their voices were electronically adjusted to give a sense of what the sound would have been like if it had been sung in the Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom built by the Eastern Emperor Justinian (and not used as such since the conquest of Constantinople in 1453). Below is a portion of that concert (run time 5:40). The particular song is the Prokeimenon (typically sung before a Scripture reading).
Excellent post TB, that video is something to hear early in the morning before sunrise, thanks much.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - You are quite welcome. To be honest, I was so taken with a much shorter clip of a different song of theirs I had heard that I searched until I found them (I had not heard of them before listening to that short clip). I was immediately taken with their sound.
DeleteThere is something wonderful about this. It really hits deeply.
ReplyDeleteSparked a memory. Back in my broadcast days, I was cleaning up at my classical radio station. I found a ton of older audio processing gear. I dug up an old rack and wired everything up to a patch panel, then the patch to the production board. We used PR&E boards.
You could get almost any kind of sound you wanted. My test track was Gregorian Chants, and I played with the various things until it sounded like you were in a men's room at a concert. Just the lower registers were coming through and it was very muddy. I cut a quick "you are there" type tape. "Here we are in the men's room at the Basilica, interviewing Father Quido Sarducci. Father, how IS the mass proceeding at this point?"
That and an Indian accent got me a voice over on a commercial. Halcyon days.
STxAR, I am amazed that this could be recreated. What it must have sounded like, back in the day.
DeleteOne of my complaints about the Catholic church, at least the ones I've been too, they tend to play the same old stodgy music from two hundred years ago and it tends to be out of the ability of the average person to sing well. As a result, about 75% of the congregation doesn't sing or sings so low the next person beside them can't hear them. When I've done to other denominations that sing easier/newer songs, it surprises me how alive everything feels.
ReplyDeleteEd, I am of two minds about modern Christian music. On the one hand I completely agree: people seem to be much more involved and "alive. On the other hand, it often feels like a secular concert (and loud - something younger people are not sensitive to, but I sure am now). There seems to be little sense of the majesty of God in modern Christian music, something which I do find lamentable.
Delete(Also, I often find modern lyrics to be a great deal about us and not a great deal about God.