December 2019 - Monks Of Stift Heiligenkreuz - Xmas Chant
Dec 8, 2019 15:00:21 GMT
jandl100 likes this
Post by Pinch on Dec 8, 2019 15:00:21 GMT
Okay chaps, ready your cassocks!
In the advent of 1989, my mum bought a Christmas tape for my sister and I - this one. Not really my cup of tea now, but as kids we all loved it, and it was the soundtrack to that Christmas and many after. The final track on the first side was Kate Bush's 'December Will Be Magic Again'. My dad wasn't one for anything remotely modern, and took a particular dislike to this Kate Bush track - such a dislike that, without mentioning it to anyone else, he recorded over it, replacing it with something more to his taste. And so it happened that one day in the run up to Christmas, with the crescendo of Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas' still ringing in our ears, my sister and I were distraught to hear that Kate Bush had been replaced with some distinctly un-Christmassy sounding monks. "It's Christmas music!", my dad assured us with a grin, but we weren't convinced. Still, we'd often have to endure at least a few seconds of Gregorian chant while we scrambled to stop the tape and fast forward it through to the end. And so through small but frequent doses I slowly came to associate this un-Christmassy sounding music with Christmas all the same. Thirty years later, and now I'd much rather listen to Gregorian chant than anything else that was on that tape. So, here we go:
Here are the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz favouring us with some festive chanting. Gregorian chant is an acquired taste - as the above anecdote indicates, I can easily understand why someone wouldn't like it. But it can be very relaxing and meditative, perfect for moments of quiet contemplation in the long Winter evenings. Enjoy!
In the advent of 1989, my mum bought a Christmas tape for my sister and I - this one. Not really my cup of tea now, but as kids we all loved it, and it was the soundtrack to that Christmas and many after. The final track on the first side was Kate Bush's 'December Will Be Magic Again'. My dad wasn't one for anything remotely modern, and took a particular dislike to this Kate Bush track - such a dislike that, without mentioning it to anyone else, he recorded over it, replacing it with something more to his taste. And so it happened that one day in the run up to Christmas, with the crescendo of Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas' still ringing in our ears, my sister and I were distraught to hear that Kate Bush had been replaced with some distinctly un-Christmassy sounding monks. "It's Christmas music!", my dad assured us with a grin, but we weren't convinced. Still, we'd often have to endure at least a few seconds of Gregorian chant while we scrambled to stop the tape and fast forward it through to the end. And so through small but frequent doses I slowly came to associate this un-Christmassy sounding music with Christmas all the same. Thirty years later, and now I'd much rather listen to Gregorian chant than anything else that was on that tape. So, here we go:
Here are the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz favouring us with some festive chanting. Gregorian chant is an acquired taste - as the above anecdote indicates, I can easily understand why someone wouldn't like it. But it can be very relaxing and meditative, perfect for moments of quiet contemplation in the long Winter evenings. Enjoy!
