From: jacob@max.cc.brandeis.edu ( )
Subject: recordings of classical byzantine chant [?]
Organization: Brandeis University Math Department
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 07:35:35 GMT

 --- This was originally posted to rec.music.early.    ---
 --- Due to the lack of results I'm crossposting this  ---
 --- to rec.music.classical and canceling the previous ---
 --- articles. I'm not entirely convinced that the two ---
 --- readerships are that different but I guess it's   ---
 --- worth a try. My apologies to those who read both  ---
 --- groups.                                           ---

Is there anyone aware of any recordings of Classical Byzantine Chant
(as opposed to Neo-Byzantine Chant, that is to say the current music
of the Greek Orthodox Church) besides the ones I'm about to mention?

Note: whatever is on Ocora, Harmonia Mundi and other labels (in particular
      the recordings of the Ensemble Theodore Vassilikos available on the first
      two) are *Neo-Byzantine* as far as the Greek repertoire is concerned.

      Given that there's no such split in Russian, Rumanian, Serbian, Bulgarian
      and other repertoires, the distinction doesn't apply, but the very use
      of the label "byzantine" in those cases is questionable, even though, for
      marketing reasons I suppose, Harmonia Mundi is fond of it.

      In any case the scope of my inquiry is the *Greek* repertoire.

Anyway, here's the meagre results my research has produced so far...

So far I have been able to identify (at most) *two* such recordings
one from 1948 and another from 1957 (it's one or two, according to
whether the 1948 recording responds to the criteria above, which is not
clear)

The first recording is only partially of Classical Byzantine Chant.
It's volume 1 of the "History of Music in Sound", RCA Victor (1957) that
was realized by Egon Wellesz and is mentioned in the 2nd edition of
his "History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography", and there can be
no doubt that whatever is labeled there as "Byzantine" *is* Classical
Byzantine Chant.

The second one is called "Treasures of Byzantine Music"; it was recorded
by the Byzantine Chorale (Frank Desby, conductor) in 1948 and was available
on Byzantine Society Records (Los Angeles), a *very* obscure label...

Now the repertoire used in this second record *seems* to me to be classical,
at least insofar as I have identified the "Akathistos hymn" (btw, here's the
contents of the record:	Hymn to the Trinity -- The Akathistos hymn --
Photizu i nea Ierusalim ; Idete oti ego eimi theos ; Cherson avysotoken ;
Tus sus hymnolgus ; Christos gennate ; To proton eonon ; Splahnon ionan ;
Agapisose kyrie -- The Great ectenis -- Soson himas ; Ton stavron su ; Tu
lithu sphragisthentos ; Tin anastasin su ; Tu pnevma su -- Phos ilaron --
Meth imon o theos) which is a "classical" piece, *however* it might *also*
be Neo-Byzantine, and furthermore, browsing thru a library catalog shows that
that one Frank Desby who conducted the performace recorded on this record
has some interest in Neo-Byzantine questions, as he's the author of 
a booklet of "Excercises [sic] in Byzantine music : Chrysanthine or modern
system", 1952 and of a thesis (University of Southern California, 1974) on
"The modes and tuning in Neo-Byzantine chant"... If this is the same Frank
Desby it's likely then that the record is actually one of Neo-Byzantine
music.

Finally, Egon Wellesz makes an extremely vague mention (in the same place in
his history of Byzantine Music and Hymnography" where he mentions his own
realizations for "History of Music in Sound"...) of recordings made at the
Greek Abbey of Grottaferratta (near Rome) by Dom Lorenzo Tardo, but I haven't
been able to identify or locate anything whatsoever on the basis of so little
data.

[Actually the 2 volume book "P. Lorenzo Tardo e la musica bizantina: atti
giornata culturale Contessa Entellina, 25 agosto 1985, anno europeo de la
musica" published in 1985 comes with a cassette of a performace by the
"Coro del Ven. [venerabile?] Monastero bizantino di S. Maria di Grottaferrata",
under the P. Nilo Somma ("diretto da P. Nilo Sommma")... This is as close as
I get to whatever Wellesz was writing about in relation with the performaces
at Grottaferrata, although, obviously as that was written in 1961 it could't
strictly speaking be about the 1985 cassette; on the other hand the cassette
might simply be a one-time release of recordings made at Grottaferrata that
were never released and Wellesz was maybe talking of those.]

Anyway, if you know of anything else I'd be interested to know...

It is ironic that, whereas the label "byzantine" is often used quite loosely
because it sells so well, the *real thing* is simply unavailable... I think
one reason is that there are so few choirs that perform that repertoire,
a second one is the general unawareness, especially in Greece, that the
current music of the Orthodox Church is *not* Classical Byzantine Chant
compouned with the stubborn belief that it is...


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