A collection of Gregorian Chant, or Plainsong, sung by Portsmouth Cathedral Choir and conducted by David Price.
Plainsong: The Echo of Angels
£5.99 – £9.99
Description
About this release
“He Who Sings Prays Twice”, so said St Augustine of Hippo.
The music of Gregorian Chant, or plainsong is the Church’s most ancient form of chanted prayer, and perhaps its most haunting and beautiful. It can transport, delight and transform. This recording is a snapshot of how plainsong is used at Portsmouth Cathedral, from the simplest of psalms sung at weekday Evensong, a great hymn marking a major Feast Day such as Veni Creator for Pentecost, or through its use in simple motets as set here by the Cathedral’s Director of Music, David Price.
About the artists
Portsmouth Cathedral Choir
The Cathedral Choir is made up of twenty-four boy choristers and fourteen gentlemen (made up of seven lay-clerks and up to seven choral scholars) who contribute to the pattern of daily cathedral worship. The choristers rehearse on weekday mornings at 8.00am before a normal school day in preparation for the week’s music. In any normal week the Cathedral Choir sings for at least 5 services.
The choristers are educated at Portsmouth Grammar School that, as such acts as our choir school. Opportunities exist for counter-tenor, tenor or basses who, having completed their school or university education, are looking for the chance to sing and work within a cathedral foundation for a year with a Choral Scholarship.
The choir plays an important role in the life of the Diocese and City by singing at Ordination, Confirmation, Civic and Remembrance services. The choir is often invited to sing at churches throughout the Diocese of Portsmouth. The Royal Marines’ School of Music is now based in Portsmouth, and the choir and Orchestra or Band of the Royal Marines regularly work together.
The choir has been at the heart of