From Quatre Motets Sur Des Themes Gregoriens-Duruflé grew up in Louviers in the northern French region of Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) where as a boy he was a chorister and studied piano. At the age of 17 he moved to Paris to study organ with Charles Tournemire. A year later Duruflé wasadmitted to the Paris Conservatoire where he studied organ piano and composition and was awarded five first prizes in various subjects. Upon graduation Duruflé became musical assistant to Louis Vierne at Notre Dame but soon after this wasappointed organist at Saint Étienne-du-Mont in Paris where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1943 he was appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire a position he maintained for 27 years. From 1926 until 1977 Duruflé published 14compositions including the Requiem Op. 9 (1947). Duruflé traveled extensively as a concert organist and was active as a recording artist. Later in life he and his second wife often performed as an organ duo. The composer suffered severe injuriesin an automobile accident in 1975 which left him nearly bed-ridden for the final decade of his life.Composed in 1960 Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens Op. 10 (Four Motets on Gregorian Themes) were dedicated to Auguste le Guennant director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris. Each of the four motets begins with an incipit of Gregorianchant which serves as melodic inspiration for the composition that follows. The four motets are (in order): ?Ubi caritas ? ?Tota pulchra es ? ?Tu es Petrus ? and ?Tantum ergo.? ?Ubi caritas? is an early Christian antiphon traditionally used in the Maundy Thursday service during the washing of the feet an act of Jesus from the Last Supper. The antiphon has become closely associated with the Eucharist and is sometimes alsoused at weddings. Duruflé sets only the first of the four stanzas of the text.

Almost 40 compositions half of which written for accompanied and unaccompanied choir can currently be found in the catalogue of works by the young Polish composer Katarzyna Danel (born in 1992). After winning several national composition prizes she was awarded the 1st prize of the 13th International Composition Competition 'Musica Sacra Nova' 2016 for Misericordias Domini for eight-part mixed a cappella choir. The complex sacred a cappella choral work is based on the eponymous Gregorian chorale (Psalm 89:2). This Latin choral piece is characterized by three main structures: by aleatoric sound clouds in major pentatonic scales which are emphasized by sustained organum-like notesfrom the Gregorian chorale melody on the one hand by Renaissance-style polyphony combined with modern harmony on the other hand and finally by long static chords merging in space and harmony. A wonderfully mystical spherical composition which by means of ad libitum passages marked in the musical text even gives the performer the opportunity to interpret the piece individually.

The issue of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Thomas Tallis is a vexed one for scholars as the only surviving manuscript is incomplete. In this manifestation the editors have set the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis to Gregorian ‘tones’ and employed verses by Thomas Tallis with faux bourdon. The notation is partially in Gregorian neumes on a four-line staff and partially in modern notation.The work alternates between chanted unison phrases and five part SSATB Choral verse.

Choeur à quatre voix mixtes-The superb setting of the Requiem Mass by organist and composer Maurice Durufle. He mixes Gregorian chant and splendid harmonies to make what is without doubt one of the most moving religious works from the 20th Century. Latin Text

A joy for the audience and choir alike. This contemporary work plays with Gregorian motifs and combines late-Romantic elements with distinctive passages. Prize winner at the international composition competition 'Musica Sacra Nova'. / Choeur SSAATTBB

Turtle Creek Series-See if you can keep a straight face as you sing these “serious” examples of fine choral literature! From the Turtle Creek Chorale Series comes a brilliant collection of settings of “Mary Had a LittleLamb.” Arranger Eric Lane Barnes presents a wonderful music history lesson with these marvelous tongue-in-cheek Lambscapes set in Gregorian chant baroque German classical and Italian operatic styles. For high schoolthrough adult choirs this humorous collection is a must!!!

This set of three motets for unaccompanied male choir sets the Latin words for the De Profundis Ave Maria and Laudate and manifests Lewkovitch's fascination both with chant and with modality.Contemporary Danish composer conductor and Organist Bernhard Lewkovitch has followed a rare path among modern composers. From 1947 he was Organist at St Ansgars Kirches and later remained connected with the Catholic Church by working as an Organist. Clearly he is inspired by the Catholic liturgy and sees his great output of ecclesiastical music as a vocation and a great responsibility. For many years his work by inspired by Gregorian chant and was composed in church modes then inthe mid 1950’s he began to expand into modern bitonality and polytonality culminating in Il cantico delle creature in 1962/3 in which there was no conventional notation and no fixed pitch. After that Lewkovitch had somewhat of a hiatus later returning again to the inspirations of the mid1950’s.

Vespro Della Beata Vergine-This edition is designed to meet the needs of both the scholar and the performer. It contains the complete music of all fourteen compositions as in Monteverdi's original print plus the psalm 'Lauda Jerusalem' and the two Magnificats in a choice of pitches. Also provided are a continuo realization notes on performance Gregorian antiphons for the feasts of the Virgin and examples of typical early seventeenth-century embellishments.   Complete performing material is available on hire and a Critical Commentary is available for sale from the OUP Hire Library.