This is the third Gregorian chant album by the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey in California. This is not an actual Mass, but the traditional Requiem music according to the ancient Norbertine Rite, a form of the liturgy similar to the ubiquitous Roman Rite but the exclusive patrimony of the Norbertine Fathers. The album is available in stores on April 12, 2011.
The old cliché of a badly written novel beginning with the words: "It was a dark and stormy night…" could well apply to the recording of this album, as the date that worked for all the singers to record was the day of one of the longest and most violent tempests of 2010. The abbey’s cantor, Fr. Chrysostom Baer, decided that, far from detracting from the quality of the recording, the howling winds actually added to the haunting tones of chant. This is the reason for the atmospheric effects heard in the background of many of the recorded tracks.
- Rain and Bells
- Introit: Requiem
- Kyrie Eleison
- Gradual: Requiem
- Gradual: Si Ambulem
- Prose: Dies Irae
- Tract: De Profundis
- Offertory: Domine Jesu Christe
- Preface
- Sanctus
- Agnus Dei
- Communion Antiphon: Lux Aeterna; Requiescant
- Responsory for the Commendation of the Soul: Subvenite
- Antiphon for the Procession of the Body: Suscipiat vos Christus
- Antiphon for the Procession of the Body: Chorus Angelorum