le Chant des premiers chretiens: songs of the early Christians

Chant of the Early Christians is an entry in Harmonia Mundi's Century series, a multi-volume guide to the entire history of Western music as accessible through its recordings. While not every volume of Century is as successful as this one, Chant of the Early Christians is unquestionably one of the best in the series. Part of what makes it so good is that all of the material comes from a single, consistent performing body, the Ensemble Organum under Marcel Pérès. One might note the unmistakable voice of Soeur Marie Keyrouz in some of these selections, simply explained by the fact that at one time Keyrouz was a regular member of Ensemble Organum.The concept behind this collection - "The Astonishing Diversity of Pre-Gregorian Repertories" - is a slightly controversial one. The earliest, seventh century Gregorian repertoire - about much we cannot know now - was mainly captured in manuscripts that are neither legible or pitch accurate.