Question on Old Anglican Chant

[Wm777]

At work, I like to let hymns and such play in the background, so I’ll pull up YouTube, find a good video, and let it roll. The other day, I found an incredibly beautiful Anglican version of the Psalms, which I’ll include at the bottom of this post.

My question is, one of the commenters (likely from the UK) made a curious comment I’m trying to understand. He said, “The problem is the modern chanting! Reduces it to a boring dirge. the Cathedral Psalter was the best and very good for congregations to follow and join in.”

I kindly countered this to ask what he meant because if he could show me something even greater, I’d have scored a two-fer… He provided a response, which I am still trying to figure out, but can anyone explain to me “the dirge” I’m seeing in the video (which I find not-dirge-like at all) versus what he means by the “Cathedral Psalter” version that he says rocks?

Enjoy!

 

[Wm777]

Also, if anyone knows where I can get the sheet music to BOTH old and new versions, please clue me in!

 

[AngelusDomini]

The link you posted is traditional Anglican chant. Psalters are fairly easy to come by. To start I’d search for The Parish Psalter with Chants.

 

[Wm777]

The link you posted is traditional Anglican chant. Psalters are fairly easy to come by. To start I’d search for The Parish Psalter with Chants.

It sounds like what you’re saying is, the “modern” chant to which the fellow referred is “The Parish Psalter with Chants”, whereas the older stuff to which he referred is “The Cathedral Psalter”. Yes?

Thank you for your help! God’s Blessings Be With You!

Wm

 

[AngelusDomini]

It’s difficult to say what he meant by ‘modern’. The cathedral and parish psalter are basically the same.

 

[ltwin]

My question is, one of the commenters (likely from the UK) made a curious comment I’m trying to understand. He said, “The problem is the modern chanting! Reduces it to a boring dirge. the Cathedral Psalter was the best and very good for congregations to follow and join in.”

To me, it sounds like he’s saying the music is better when the entire congregation sings along. So, I guess he’s saying this version is harder for that to happen and sounds awkward and unenthusiastic.