Iain Simcock, Director of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, has been releasing various videos illustrating the work of the Schola, with a view to promoting its work and some of the CDs that have been made. I thought Choir members might be interested in these, so I am posting links to them.
Firstly, in these two extracts of recorded interviews, Iain Simcock speaks about his work respectively at Solesmes Abbey in France and with the Schola Gregoriana.
The other videos are mostly Gregorian chant and early polyphonic chant. Several of them are under the direction of the renowned founder of the Schola, the late Mary Berry. The videos are as follows:
Alleluia Dies sanctificatus, the Alleluia for Christmas Day from 10th century Winchester, with bilingual Latin/Greek text, suggesting particularly ancient origin.
The Responsory Regnas Augustine, commemorating the mission of St Augustine of Canterbury to England.
The chant Sanctificavit Dominus, Responsorium VII from Matins for the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple.
Alleluia Tu es Petrus, recorded in the Sistine Chapel.
Venit ad Petrum, a chant for Maundy Thursday from a Sarum manuscript, sung by John Rowlands-Pritchard, recorded in Salisbury Cathedral.
Two tracks from CDs of early polyphonic music:
a Kyrie from the Messe de Notre Dame by Guillaume de Machault; and
Motetus Thomas Gemma, a 13th century motet in honour of St Thomas Becket and
Thomas de Halys.
Finally, leaping forward to the 20th century, a setting of Ave Maris Stella by Marcel Dupré.