This record is a 'must' for anyone interested in the early development of Western music. Marcel Peres surely makes out rather too modest a case for his vivid and vigorous 'Eastern' interpretation of the Old Roman chant, shying away from any claim to authenticity and saying this attempt is ''only the result of the first stage of our researches''. It is a beautiful and stirring record which makes one look forward eagerly to further fruits of his admirable work. When you come to think of it, it seems utterly appropriate that an experienced Greek cantor, with historical as well as practical knowledge of his own Byzantine chant, should be chosen as a guide to the interpretation of music dating from a period when East and West were merged spiritually and culturally, when almost 50,000 monks fled from the East and came and settled in southern Italy, when 14 out of 23 popes were Greek-speaking,and when even Anglo-Saxon England had a Greek Archbishop of Canterbury.
The pieces chosen cover the liturgy for Easter Day and include three additional alleluias with Greek texts. It is fascinating to compare these chants with their later Gregorian counterparts: the structure is basically the same, but the ornamentation is entirely different. In the recording every ornament is said to be implicit in the notation and often relates as well to presentday practice in the Byzantine tradition. How much this practice may itself have been modified over the centuries is, of course, the essential question. The introduction of the ison, or modally controlled drone, seems entirely plausible and adds a distinctively Byzantine flavour to the whole performance.
Lysourgos Angelopoulos sings with great assurance and polish, not only the three pieces with Greek texts, but also the Hec dies. The other singers have a robust if somewhat rougher sound, but seem well able to cope with both micro-intervalsand repercussion. To my mind, the most exciting piece is the Alleluia Pascha nostrum, with its multiple repetitions and unrestrained exuberance.
The extraordinary clarity of the CD, which also reveals the depth and quality of the acoustics of Saint-Michelde Provence, would certainly tempt me to buy that version of the recording, rather than the LP, when investing in such an important record as this.'