New Album: 'Gregorian Chant: Christmas in the Cloister'

10/23/2012 - 3:31 PM PST

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Christmas in the Cloister: Gregorian Chant and Christmas Carols by the Nuns of Mount Saint Mary�s Abbey

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 23, 2012) - Just in time for the Holidays, the Nuns of Mount Saint Mary�s Abbey in Massachusetts are re-releasing the album Christmas in the Cloister, which combines traditional Gregorian Chant with more recent and popular Christmas Carols.

The album features the Midnight Mass, the Lauds Hymn and the Third Mass of Christmas along with all time favorites Silent Night, Il Est N� and In Dulce Jubilo.

The album will be released physically and digitally on November 6, 2012.

Christmas in the Cloister
When Mount Saint Mary�s was founded in 1949, the music for the Eucharist and the Divine Office, in the age-long tradition of the Church, was all Gregorian Chant in Latin. However, almost from the beginning, the sisters sang a program of carols before Midnight Mass.

The community, which began with thirteen sisters, grew rapidly, and by 1962, there were over sixty members. The sisters were blessed with two outstanding mentors: Dom Desroquettes, O.S.B. for chant, and C. Alexander Peloquin, director of music at the cathedral of Providence, Rhode Island, for polyphony. It seemed a good time to make a recording. That was 50 years ago. Since good music has a timeless appeal, and since there is a growing interest in chant, this seemed like a good time to reissue the original record.

It is only natural that song, the inseparable companion of joy and love, is so often on the lips of the contemplative. This recording is a celebration of God's greatest expression of love for us � the gift of Christ. The song in which the sisters are here reflecting on the mystery of Christmas is of two kinds: first, Christmas Biblical texts set to ancient and prayerful melodies of Gregorian Chant, and secondly, carols in modern polyphonic arrangements.

Mount Saint Mary�s Abbey
Mount Saint Mary�s Abbey is home to forty-five Cistercian nuns (more commonly known as Trappistines). The more complete, formal name of the Order is Cistercians of the Strict Observance whose founding at Citeaux in France dates back to 1098 and is now comprised of monks and nuns who live in one hundred and seventy two autonomous monasteries throughout the world.

Mount Saint Mary�s Abbey was founded by an Irish monastery, Saint Mary�s of Glencairn; it has since given birth to three other U.S. based communities: Our Lady of the Mississippi, Iowa, Santa Rita Abbey, Arizona, and Our Lady of the Angels, Virginia.

The sisters are religious women who have dedicated their lives to prayer and contemplation; the essence of their consecrated life is monastic, based on the Rule of St. Benedict. They possess a strong communal orientation with certain intrinsic values, needed to support their prayer. They gather in church seven times each day to offer praise and thanksgiving to God. They also support themselves by the labor of their hands. They maintain a certain level of silence and degree of solitude in order that they may be present to Christ, in Himself, in their sisters, in their world and creation. Similarly they desire to be attentive to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and so want to be available and open to the grace with which God wishes to bless them.

Jade Music
Jade Music has a proven dedication to releasing quality classical and spiritual music for more than 20 years. Jade Music�s catalog includes works by world-renowned choirs of Santo Domingo de Silos, Solesmes, Saint-Wandrille, and Saint-Madeleine du Barroux, among others.

Jade Music, an independently owned operation with offices located in Los Angeles, California, and Paris, France, is distributed by ADA/WEA in the United States, Universal Music in France, and Warner Music International in the rest of the worl

Tracklisting
1. Christmas Midnight Mass: Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion
2. Christmas Lauds Hymn: A Solis Ortus Cardine
3. Third Mass of Christmas: Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion
4. Susani
5. In Dulce Jubilo
6. Il est N�
7. Silent Night
8. How Far To Bethlehem
9. Coventry Carol
10. While Shepherds
11. Welcome, Son of Mary
12. Lullay, My Liking
13. The Christmas Child
14. Abbey Bells

Contact

http://milanrecords.com/jade/releases/releases.php?release_name=CHRISTMAS_IN_THE_CLOISTER CA, 90065 US
Jade Music - ,

Keywords

Gregorian Chant, Christmas, Mary, Music

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