What are some good sources / albums to get started with traditional Catholic music?

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Those of you who’ve seen me post on other threads might know that I’m mostly a “progressive rock” kind of guy, but I also have other tastes.

I’ve bought two CDs by the Benedictines of Mary (“Lent at Ephesus” and “Angels and Saints at Ephesus”) and I’ve enjoyed them deeply. (They also work wonders at calming down RPR Junior when he’s cranky. :D) However, I’m pretty much a newbie when it comes to traditional Catholic music; all the parishes I’ve attended have used contemporary songs in the vernacular (English or Tamil), except at Christmas when a few older songs (such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”) are taken out of the storage cupboard. 🙂

Apart from the Benedictines of Mary, could you recommend other artists / CDs to get me started on traditional Catholic music, such as Gregorian chant? (and no, Enigma doesn’t count. ;))

Thanks in advance!
 
For Gregorian chant, any recording from Solesmes, combined with the Graduale Romanum (for the Mass), and the Antiphonale Monasticum and Psalterium Monasticum (for the Divine Office).

Check out their on-line store at www.solesmes.com

The current Antiphonale might be easier to use than the 1934 version still available, however most of the recordings will have been made with the older one, and there have been some significant changes to some melodies and psalm tones in the current one (2005-2009, currently 4 out of the eventual 5 volumes available). So the older one would be a better accompaniement for the recordings, while the newer one is necessary for actual liturgical use.
 
While not strictly Catholic, it’s from the tradition with the best vernacular music (Episcopalian!). There may be some overlap with Catholic hymnody. Awesome royal-watching as well. Awesome choral singing, awesome architecture. (or course bad theology lately). So nice to see everyone in the congregation SINGING. (of course they are on TV).

70 of the greatest church hymns from television broadcasts.
youtube.com/watch?v=ErZu8zFVDdY
 
OraLabora said:
For Gregorian chant, any recording from Solesmes, combined with the Graduale Romanum (for the Mass), and the Antiphonale Monasticum and Psalterium Monasticum (for the Divine Office).

Check out their on-line store at www.solesmes.com

The current Antiphonale might be easier to use than the 1934 version still available, however most of the recordings will have been made with the older one, and there have been some significant changes to some melodies and psalm tones in the current one (2005-2009, currently 4 out of the eventual 5 volumes available). So the older one would be a better accompaniement for the recordings, while the newer one is necessary for actual liturgical use.
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Thank you very much for this suggestion! I’m checking it out right now. 👍
27lw said:
While not strictly Catholic, it’s from the tradition with the best vernacular music (Episcopalian!). There may be some overlap with Catholic hymnody. Awesome royal-watching as well. Awesome choral singing, awesome architecture. (or course bad theology lately). So nice to see everyone in the congregation SINGING. (of course they are on TV).

70 of the greatest church hymns from television broadcasts.
youtube.com/watch?v=ErZu8zFVDdY
Click to expand...
Must save that for listening on a rainy day. 👍
 
27lw said:
It’s surprisingly watchable. Try the first couple minutes sometime. : )

Here’s a cool youtube that has a cutting-edge truly Catholic French-style awesome organ improv. The processional is really neat to watch. It’s from Notre Dame (Paris) Baptism of the Lord:
youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-pZp1FQPE
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Just started. Amazingly good! This is the kind of music I’m trying to listen to more often. Thank you very much, 27lw! 👍👍
 
RPRPsych said:
Apart from the Benedictines of Mary, could you recommend other artists / CDs to get me started on traditional Catholic music, such as Gregorian chant? (and no, Enigma doesn’t count. ;))

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
It’s hearing Enigma in a record store in 1990 that sent me searching for the chant I hadn’t heard for almost 30 years. At the time it was the Kyrie that caught my attention but finding the song on youtube many years later left me feeling very uncomfortable and disappointed. Quite happy I’d found the recordings of Solemnes monks in the meantime.
 
OraLabora said:
Another I just remembered, that costs $0, is The GradualeProject on YouTube:

The GradualeProject

And also:

gregoriana.sk/graduale/
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👍
Phemie said:
It’s hearing Enigma in a record store in 1990 that sent me searching for the chant I hadn’t heard for almost 30 years. At the time it was the Kyrie that caught my attention but finding the song on youtube many years later left me feeling very uncomfortable and disappointed. Quite happy I’d found the recordings of Solemnes monks in the meantime.
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Enigma was the second time I’d heard Gregorian chant, and frankly, I was quite repelled by the context in which they used it. The first was an old LP of my father’s. 😉
 
Hi RPRPsych,

CDs from this family music group came to mind. They’re the Mazzei family, and the name of their group is called “The Interior Castle.”

I don’t know if this is something that you would like, but they do sing a mix of traditional hymns and original music.

I have two of their CDs when their Mom was still singing with their group. I have the CDs called “Amazing Grace,” and “Sacred Songs and Hymns.” I think that they’re just lovely. 🙂

Here is a link to their website, if you are interested in taking a look:

theinteriorcastle.com/albums/index.html
 
oldgraymare2 said:
Hi RPRPsych,

CDs from this family music group came to mind. They’re the Mazzei family, and the name of their group is called “The Interior Castle.”

I don’t know if this is something that you would like, but they do sing a mix of traditional hymns and original music.

I have two of their CDs when their Mom was still singing with their group. I have the CDs called “Amazing Grace,” and “Sacred Songs and Hymns.” I think that they’re just lovely. 🙂

Here is a link to their website, if you are interested in taking a look:

theinteriorcastle.com/albums/index.html
Click to expand...
Now that sounds interesting! Thank you very much. 👍
 
RPRPsych said:
Enigma was the second time I’d heard Gregorian chant, and frankly, I was quite repelled by the context in which they used it. The first was an old LP of my father’s. 😉
Click to expand...
When I first heard it the only thing I paid attention to was the Kyrie. I never noticed the lyrics and if I’d had spare money I would have purchased the album on the spot. Now I’m happy I was cash-strapped because once I heard the entire song once I couldn’t listen again. The video just made it worse.
 
Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos - Any CDs
Soundtrack to the movie, “Into Great Silence” - Carthusian Chant
Chant Rediscovered - Monastic Choir of St. Peter’s Abbey at Solesmes
Gregorian Chorale - 1993 - Produced by Excelsior
 
Phemie said:
When I first heard it the only thing I paid attention to was the Kyrie. I never noticed the lyrics and if I’d had spare money I would have purchased the album on the spot. Now I’m happy I was cash-strapped because once I heard the entire song once I couldn’t listen again. The video just made it worse.
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True, true. They used to be pretty popular when I was a teenager, so I got accidental overdoses of them every now and then. 😦
StGerardMajella said:
Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos - Any CDs
Soundtrack to the movie, “Into Great Silence” - Carthusian Chant
Chant Rediscovered - Monastic Choir of St. Peter’s Abbey at Solesmes
Gregorian Chorale - 1993 - Produced by Excelsior
Click to expand...
Thanks! 👍
 
I reallt enjoy this one: Catholic Latin Classics

It’s not chant, but it is traditional. The O Bone Jesu is magical, and all of it is quite good.

There’s also this: Perotin, which isn’t chant either, but it is chant-inspired polyphony, and is from the 12th century, so I think it counts as traditional, too. 🙂

–Jen
 
There is a CD called Salve Regina: Gregorian Chant by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice and Saint-Maur, Clervaux. They have a wonderful selection of Gregorian Chants, and it is on iTunes.

Also on iTunes is a great CD called Allegri, Palestrina, & Mundy. It includes Allegri’s famous rendition of the Miserere Psalm (Pslam 51), Palestrina’s Missae Papae Marcelli (the Mass for the Coronation of the Pope), and Mundy’s Vox Patris Caelistis (mostly adhering to the Song of Songs).

On YouTube, there is a poster named Petrus Josephus who has some songs from these albums on his channel, as well as a plethora of other Gregorian Chants. If you look up “Sacred Baroque” on YouTube, there is one from Royal Chapel in Spain that is great as well.

May God bless you on your journey into Sacred Music! I love it! 🙂
 
RPRPsych said:
Those of you who’ve seen me post on other threads might know that I’m mostly a “progressive rock” kind of guy, but I also have other tastes.

I’ve bought two CDs by the Benedictines of Mary (“Lent at Ephesus” and “Angels and Saints at Ephesus”) and I’ve enjoyed them deeply. (They also work wonders at calming down RPR Junior when he’s cranky. :D) However, I’m pretty much a newbie when it comes to traditional Catholic music; all the parishes I’ve attended have used contemporary songs in the vernacular (English or Tamil), except at Christmas when a few older songs (such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”) are taken out of the storage cupboard. 🙂

Apart from the Benedictines of Mary, could you recommend other artists / CDs to get me started on traditional Catholic music, such as Gregorian chant? (and no, Enigma doesn’t count. ;))

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I listen to the John Michael Talbot station on Pandora. He plays and sings Catholic contemporary music and traditional music. There are other artists on this station and I’ve never been disappointed in what I hear.
 
Horton said:
I listen to the John Michael Talbot station on Pandora. He plays and sings Catholic contemporary music and traditional music. There are other artists on this station and I’ve never been disappointed in what I hear.
Click to expand...
Yes, this/
 
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