The Nativity of John the Baptist

I think I have distilled all my objections to the would-be liturgical music to which I object, (and it comes from all eras, in myriad styles,), and to performances of that which could, in other circumetances, in other hands (and in other larynxes,) be irreproachable, to a single sentence:

It thwarts recollection.

The Mass for the solemnity prayed in song at Madonna del Strada Chapel was truly magnificent.

The CMAA Colloquium just goes from strength to strength.

There was not a note of music that did other than turn heart and mind toward the Almighty.

And the silences!

This sounds odd, but they were as eloquent as the Ecce Sacerdos.... to which His Eminence Cardinal George and a splendidly vested, veritable army of priests and ministers processed, (today, I was singing, so I didn't see as much of the ceremony as I might have liked.)



This is a great space for silences.