Most scholars agree that a link exists between the Old Roman repertoire and the so-called Gregorian. The latter became official in Carolingian times, leading to the invention of Western notation. The main problem regarding this link is the absence of notated sources of Old Roman chant before the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. These reconstructed Vespers are an attempt to demonstrate not only the magnificent service of Easter Vespers as sung in St John of the Lateran in the twelfth century, but also a whole repertoire and performance style, carried through from at least six centuries previously.
Marcel Peres defends his theory that as late as the twelfth century and beyond, the style of performance in a Roman basilica would have been similar to that practised today in Eastern rite Christianity. Indeed, many of the earliest neume shapes we strive to interpret spring to life in the light of such a style. This performance is exhilarating, even convincing. An outline of the famous Gregorian Alleluia, Pascha nostrum, for example, which we sing today from sources dating from the late ninth and early tenth centuries, can be detected – and this is exciting – in the Old Roman tradition as presented here, buried beneath countless repetitions of typical phrases and a proliferation of ornament, elements that serve to build up a cumulative impression of strength. They are pruned away in the (presumed later) Gregorian revision, which is terser, more structured melodically, more coherent, according to a later understanding of modality. An important and fascinating disc.'