Ténèbres

Description

Offices of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday in a 3 CD box set. A pinnacle of composition by Father André Gouzes. "In the school of the ancients, the writing of this music sought the maximum of emotion and lyrical beauty in the proper expression of the word." The antiphons are short, simple, and lively, evoking the violence and fear that mark the night of the arrest on Holy Thursday and the hour of the Cross on Good Friday. Those of Holy Saturday, on the contrary, suggest the peace inspired by this day of rest. The responses, more challenging, often borrow their themes from Slavic liturgy, alternating simplicity and harmonic complexity for choir and assembly. The Lamentation of Jeremiah is sung in a rare and very moving Mozarabic version. "Three days to 'pass' through psalms, readings, and responses, the ordeal of these nights of pain and waiting, in order to welcome the resplendent dawn of the 'first day' of the new world inaugurated by the risen Christ. Nights of initiation and inner transformation where the liturgy simply reaches its peak of truth and beauty." The Choral Liturgy of the People of God is a liturgical corpus of over 3000 pages, composed by Father André Gouzes based on texts and translations by Brothers Daniel Bourgeois and Jean-Philippe Revel. A true "memory" of the liturgy, this work, created in the spirit of Vatican II, draws inspiration from the great liturgical traditions of the West and the East. Many religious and monastic communities, as well as parish communities and families, have already adopted it.