Each year at Christmas, Gloriæ Dei Cantores celebrates the "dawn of redeeming grace" with a traditional candlelit Service of Readings and Carols, retelling the stories of Christ's birth that stir us with memories and hopes for peace and love. Just for a time as you listen to these carols and stories, let your heart fill with gratitude for our many blessings, and with goodwill toward others. Gloriæ Dei Cantores offers this recording with a prayer that the joy of the season brings you renewed hope and a fresh sense of wonder!

REVIEWS:

This chant schola, made up of members of the choir on Cape Cod, has recorded chant under Mary Berry and Richard Pugsley. For their two latest discs, the members of the schola divided the programs among themselves and took turns preparing and directing the chants. Seven men of the schola are on the latest disc, while seven women join them for the earlier disc. In the first (but newer) disc, the 24 selections range from the most familiar Marian chants to three unrecorded pieces. The latter include the responsory Benedicta et venerabilis , the Assumption hymn O prima Virgo prodita , and the antiphon Beata es Virgo Maria Dei genitrix , as well as only the second recording of the responsory Repleta est Spiritu Sancto . The familiar chants include the four final antiphons, distributed through the program in pairs (simple and solemn settings).

The excellence of interpretation is not surprising, for the first members of Gloriae Dei Cantores spent some time at Cambridge studying chant with Mary Berry in the 1980s, and she came to Cape Cod for many summer sessions until her lamented passing. Her influence has endured in the skillful semiological interpretations of these chants. All of the hymns are sung complete and the graduals include the repeat of the respond. It would be hard to single out a few pieces for special praise, but the sequence Stabat mater , which ends the program, is superbly executed through its five-minute length. The verses of the offertory Ave Maria , too, are expertly rendered; not only is this one of the most frequently recorded chants, but it is also one of the most frequently recorded offertories with verses.

In the other disc, released a year ago, the 18 selections include another three first recordings, the hymn Festiva vos , the antiphon Angelis suis , and the alleluia Benedicite Domino . The hymn Custodes hominum has only its second recording. The offertory Immittet Angelus is recorded with all three verses for the first time, and the offertory Stetit Angelus has its single verse. This program has few of the most familiar chants. The two scholas, men and women, sing most of the selections separately, joining to alternate in the verses of hymns and only rarely concluding a chant with octave singing.

The recordings, among the first Super Audio productions on this label, were made in the new Church of the Transfiguration, which the ecumenical community built on the grounds of their complex. The surround sound provides a nice sense of space around the singers. Since thematic programs focused on chants of the Blessed Virgin and the angels are so common, these discs are notable for containing some unusual selections. While I have always approved the schola’s chant recordings, these two discs attain a new height of excellence, the best chant singing of any American choir. The booklets are attractively printed, too. Both discs will grace any chant collection.

FANFARE: J. F. Weber

Nothing evokes Christmas like bells – ringing from a church steeple, accompanying a sleigh ride, or adorning evergreens. In this best-selling album, reissued at mid-price just in time for the season, the Christmas spirit is joyfully expressed through beloved carols performed on six-and-a-half octave set of Malmark handbells. The Gloriae Dei Ringers include old favorites in new arrangements, as well as original handbell works.

The Bells of Christmas is a new edition of the bestselling holiday recording, Hear them Ring. Featured are beloved favorites such as Away in a Manger, March of the Kings, and In the Bleak Midwinter arranged by some of today's best known handbell specialists and composers.

Described as "dynamically explosive" by the American Record Guide, the Gloriae Dei Ringers perform a diverse and expanding repertoire of original handbell compositions as well as classical arrangements. The Gloriae Dei Ringers, a sparkling and sonorous performing ensemble of young musicians, have dazzled audiences around the world including the US, Russia, Siberia, Italy, Finland and Switzerland.

"These virtuosi of metal and mallet positively palpitate with imagination and their arrangements are the ne plus ultra of shimmering, quivering pulsating pulchritude. The arrangement by Frances Legge Callahan summoning up twangy sonorities and pedal notes, a delicious range of colors including plucking and martellato effects. There are eleven players in this plucky Massachusetts group directed by Richard K Pugsley... they use 79 Malmark handbells (of 6 1/2 octaves). Twas Christmas Eve receives a rather suggestive reading that ends in Renaissance dignity whilst the witty coloration of The Twelve Days of Christmas is full of pitch extremes and glittering sonorities, like stars exploding. Away in a Manger is saturated in impressionistic ostinato; if you think handbells are inflexible creatures listen to the dynamic variance cultivated by these patrician East Coast ringers. They wouldn't rouse a butterfly's eyelids with the spectral quiescence of their Malmarks. A Flight of Angels is rhythmically novel; the sound of mallet on bell is distinctive as elsewhere the piping of shepherds in Shepherds, Watching is conveyed through simplicity and delicacy. Altogether their ensemble is metaltight, the sonorities they conjure full of lithe and pleasurable novelty."

— Jonathan Woolf, Musicweb-international.com

"The Gloriae Dei Ringers perform with a set of 79 bells covering 6 1/2 octaves. They are based in Massachusetts, but have toured in both eastern and western Europe, including Russia. This disc consists of arrangements of familiar Christmas carols as well as some original compositions for hand-bell choir by composers such as Donald Allured, Dale Jergenson, and Judy Hunnicutt. The performances are virtuosic, considering the teamwork essential to coherent ensemble in this medium. The program displays the wide variety of sounds that can be obtained from the bells through such techniques as plucking, martellato playing, and striking with mallets."

— William Gatens, American Record Guide

"From the Red Kettle Santas to the midnight call from the steeple, bells are a part of Christmas. This recording of Gloriae Dei's 11 musicians with their six-and-a-half-octave handbells goes beyond the usual arrangements of carols to transcriptions weaving dissonances and descants, the very highest and lowest tones, even the use of mallets on the bells to produce an intriguing and beautiful concert. In Twas Christmas Eve,Paul McKlveen pairs Let All Mortal Flesh with God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. A Flight of Angels is Dale Jergenson's composition specifically for the bells, as is Donald Allured's Bellfest."

— Patricia Nakamura, The Living Church

Nothing heralds the majesty of Christmastime quite like the brilliance and radiant beauty of music for brass instruments. On this remastered reissue of a classic holiday favorite, the Gabriel V Brass Ensemble presents a special collection of music for Christmas written by a variety of masters of the genre including Rolf Smedvig, Anthony DiLorenzo, Morten Lauridsen and William Berry. From the overflow of joy in J.S. Bach's Wie will ich mich freuen to the cinematic soundscape of DiLorenzo's Baltazar (A King's Journey) to the rosy-cheeked romp of Leroy Andersen's Sleigh Ride, each piece adds new luster to your celebration of this glorious season.

On their recording Sacred Songs of France, the first disc in a three-volume French choral pilgrimage, the acclaimed American choir Gloriae Dei Cantores takes listeners on a journey from the earliest days of organum in the Middle Ages to the delights of seventeenth century polyphony. This fascinating collection samples the musical genius and spiritual art of celebrated composers such as Josquin des Prez, and their lesser-known compatriots including Dulot, Goudimel and Mouton. Scholars will appreciate this disc for the generous survey it provides, while choral fans will love the grace, beauty and remarkable clarity of this glorious music.

"Allow this CD to transport you right past the malls and into the season's sacred mystery."
—The Dallas Morning News (The Chants of Christmas)

"I adore well-executed choral music for the holidays, and Gloriae Dei Cantores certainly fills the bill. Sing Noel is an outstanding. . . moving release of intensely lovely seasonal music."
— Christmasreviews.com (Sing Noel)

"One of the finest crafted, best blended, and innately musical ensembles with which I have had the pleasure to work."
—Keith Lockhart, Conductor, Boston Pops

This new release is a collection of ethereal and passionate Gregorian chants performed by Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola. The ensemble is made up of women and men who live in the Benedictine tradition and dedicate themselves to the study and performance of Gregorian chant. The three disc set includes The Chants of Mary, The Chants of Angels, and The Chants of the Holy Spirit. Each album is accompanied by full-color art booklets which give full texts and informative historical context to each chant.

"Three of the finest chant CDs have been released by Gloriae Dei Cantores. Be transported to a timeless place of eternal beauty."
—Kansas City Star
Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola has been praised by the New York Times for "expert renditions of Gregorian Chant" and "excellence of interpretation" by Fanfare Magazine. Their daily singing of Gregorian chant brings this vibrant and living form of sung prayer to life in these three stunning SACD's. These ancient chants still speak volumes today in this essential collection by the Schola that sets the example time and again. . . Not even the most seasoned monastic group delivers it better than the Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola.
—American Record Guide (About The Chants of Angels)
"This is yet another superb production from a source that sets the example time and time again. Do delve into the clear, cool waters of Gregorian chant – and this is a perfect place to start."
—Audiophile Audition (About The Chants of Mary)