For the dead or for the living?
5
By sergi73
Lest the album's title discourage those possesed of a heartily optimisitc attitude, or those who might be daunted or dismayed by the plaintive and reflective rhythmical turns Gregorian chant is wont to take at times, I advise all to LOOK CLOSER!! This music was composed primarily for the benefit of the LIVING, not the dead. The pieces here chosen are culled from the Mass of Requiem (meaning "rest") for the deceased and the Office for the Dead from the Liturgy of the Hours. Drawn as they are from Christian liturgy and the Christian mystery itself, they are in a sense a spiritual teaching tool for the Christian faithful, reminding them that in the "midst of life we are in death", and that the remedy for this inevitable eventuality is the resurrection of Christ Our Lord. It is not hopelessly pessimistic, as some might think, but cautiously optimistic, reminding us that we are called to aspire to eternal life; to which we attain only after passing through a sometimes treacherous earthbound existence, where God' s grace and the help of the saints, however, will never be wanting... SUBVENITE SANCTI DEI!
