THE CHANTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT • Gloriae Dei Cantores women’s schola • GLORIAE DEI 057 (SACD: 51:30 Text and Translation) As in their last...

THE CHANTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT • Gloriae Dei Cantores women’s schola • GLORIAE DEI 057 (SACD: 51:30 Text and Translation)


As in their last two issues ( Fanfare 36:5), a schola of seven members of the choir based on Cape Cod have sung another collection of Gregorian chants, preparing the interpretations among themselves without a director. The Mass Propers of Pentecost (except the second alleluia verse) are supplemented by the Propers of the Vigil of Pentecost and a couple of communion chants that focus on the Holy Spirit. The program concludes with Dufay’s setting of Veni Creator Spiritus for three voices in an alternatim setting. The hymns that Dufay set for the Sistine choir are frequently recorded, but the only sizable collection came from Schola Hungarica (13:1). Dufay provides a climax to the series of chants. In the middle of the program is a brief reading of the Pentecost event as related in Acts. I was always impressed by chant recorded here under Richard J. Pugsley and Mary Berry, but this new approach worked out for the last three discs strikes me very favorably. It’s the difference in later music between a vocal ensemble under a director and one without a director, the latter creating the effect that characterizes chamber music in the classical repertory. I hope they give us more, especially if the thematic program or the liturgical event is worked out as well as these are. Nicely done.
—J.F. Weber, Fanfare

"It just so happens that three of the finest chant CDs have been released over the last year by Gloriae Dei Cantores: The Chants of Angels, The Chants of Mary, performed by the men of the ensemble, and The Chants of the Holy Spirit, performed by the women.... "
—Patrick Neas, Kansas City Star

"The renditions of this music have rarely been as perfectly presented as what the Schola accomplishes here. . . . its primary vision [is] a living and loving manifestation of these ancient chants as something that breathes life into a contemporary cultural setting. Technically they are immaculate, and one can hear the evident love and devotion in every breath taken in this astoundingly beautiful music."
—Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition