This recording came about as a result of very concrete circumstances. After the Easter Vigil of 2002 in our abbey church, our retired
founding abbot was so taken with the simple beauty of the Tracts (chants sung between the 7 readings from the Old Testament) that he
proposed the community record them, to have a testimony of their beauty. To say that the community at St. Michael’s was out of recording
form at that time would be an understatement, since well over 13 years had passed since any attempts had been made to record anything.
Indeed, another two years would pass before any recordings were made.
As things developed, and once we got everyone in front of the microphones in the abbey church, recording went so smoothly that suggestions
poured in from the singers for other material they wanted to record, including some polyphonic pieces. Finally, we asked Fr.
Chrysostom Baer, who was then still a deacon, to record the Exultet as he had sung it at the Easter Vigil.
The eclectic selection on this CD is a cross section of music sung at the abbey that includes chants from the liturgy as well as motets and
part music from the Renaissance era. These latter are sung on more solemn occasions like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and the other
great feasts of the liturgical year.
Click here to purchase and download a digital version of Anthology.
