On Saturday 30th January, a meeting was held at the London Oratory to launch a new grouping, the Gregorian Chant Network, of scholas and interested parties to coordinate the promotion of Gregorian Chant in the Catholic liturgy.
The meeting was opened and the concept of the GCN introduced by Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society. After lunch Colin Mawby, the distinguished composer and former Director of Music at Westminster Cathedral, gave the keynote address on the importance of Chant, followed by a fascinating practical session on methods of conducting the Chant, embedded below (40 minutes).
The meeting was attended by members of the Latin Mass Society, Una Voce Scotland, the Association for Latin Liturgy, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, a number of chant teachers and experts, and the Directors of a score of Gregorian Chant scholas from all over the country, 36 people in all. The meeting concluded with First Vespers of Septagesima Sunday in the Little Oratory, led by Fr Anthony Alexander.
Thoroughly enjoyed the day and to see old friends. I thought Colin Mawby's paper and session very thought-provoking. Good to see him again. 1st Vespers of Septuagesima in the Little Oratory a joy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame the sound quality is so poor. I can vaguely make out that he's talking about Credo IV, but that's about it, unless the sound quality gets markedly better as the recording progresses. Memo for next time: put the microphone in front of the speaker?
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