Choir
& Orchestra of Assumption Grotto Church
COMPLETE MUSIC REPERTORY (PDF format)
Orchestral Masses
Music begins one half hour before the designated Mass time)
Prelude music for each Mass begins twenty minutes before the time listed.
All performances take place in the context of the celebration of the
Mass.
Thus far, four CDs have been made with Fr. Perrone conducting the Assumption Grotto Choir and Orchestra: All are available in the Gift Shop.
Grotto Productions
13770 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48205
1-313-372-0762
To See this music go to Grotto Productions
Volume I: The Complete Mélodies “Affairs of the Heart” This two-CD set offers the first complete recording of Paul Paray’s songs (only 7 had been recorded previously). Included are the 13 orchestral songs; 3 secular poems for choir and orchestra; 15 songs with piano accompaniment; and 2 religious songs with organ. Ruth Lapeyre, soprano. Eduard Perrone, conductor, pianist. Essay on Paray and complete French and English translations included.
Volume II: The Oratorios World premiere recordings of Paray’s Jeanne d’arc oratorio (with text by Gabriel Montoya), a dramatic retelling of the life of Joan of Arc from the reception of her mission in childhood to liberate France, through her military triumphs, to her imprisonment and death; and the Christmas oratorio Pastorale de Noël (text by Lesablais) that narrates the story of redemption from the cry of humanity for redemption through the coming of the Magi kings. Both works are for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra. Musical analysis with musical notation and complete French and English texts included.
Volume III: Artémis troublée and String Symphony The only recordings made of the enticing ballet score Artémis troublée (Paris, 1922), created for Ida Rubinstein, and the Symphonie d’archets for string orchestra. The accompanying booklet features original art work for the costumes and stage scenery by Léon Bakst and a summary of the plot, as well as a full formal analysis with musical examples of both works.
Volume IV: The Chamber Music (in preparation; due for release April 2004) First recordings of Paul Paray’s once popular Sonata for Violin and piano, the Sonata for Cello and piano, and the String Quartet. Paray’s unique contribution to modern French chamber music has long been unjustly neglected. These performances feature Marian Tanau (violin), Nadine Deleury (cello), Eduard Perrone (piano), and quartet players, Varty Manouelian, (violin), Marian Tanau, (violin), James Van Valkenburg, (viola) and Robert deMaine, (cello).
"Dedicated to the Restoration of the Sacred in Catholic Church music, we promote Gate of Heaven, a collection of original Catholic hymnody which includes 40 hymns, sound samples of which can be heard. Printed music and sound recording available."
Christian culture is the natural environment
of truth, assisted by art, ordered intrinsically - that is, from within - to the
praise, reverence and service of God our Lord. To restore it, we must learn its
language.
Music really is the food of love, and music in the wide sense is a specific sign
of the civilized human species. Steeped in the ordinary pot of the Christian
imagination, we shall have learned to listen to that language by absorption,
that mysterious music the Bridegroom (Christ) speaks; and we shall begin to love
one another as he loves us; we shall see at last the Star of Hope which
"flames in the forehead of the morning sky" at the end of this dark
night.
John Senior
Great churches and cathedrals of the Catholic Church are a wonder to behold. Splendid in their appearance, they are still used the way in which they were originally intended. Mass is still offered in these great houses to the glory of God.
The Church's treasury of great sacred music likewise should be used for divine worship today, as the composers intended.
This tremendous musical legacy of the Catholic Church is still an integral part of our worship at Assumption Grotto. It is a living part of the Mass, along with the beautiful Catholic faith and its traditions. We keep them alive for everyone who hungers after something transcendent in a passing and materialistic world.
Roman Catholics belong to the Latin rite. We are reminded by Vatican II that "the use of Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rites ." [Sacrosanctum Consilium, Art. 36] Choral Masses here are always celebrated in this ageless language of the Church. "The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as proper to the liturgy, therefore...it should be given pride of place in liturgical services." [S.C.] Solemn Gregorian chant Propers are sung for all orchestral Masses at Assumption Grotto.
"One recognizes right liturgy by the fact that it liberates us from ordinary, everyday activity and returns to us once more the depths and the heights, silence and song. Right liturgy sings with the angels. It is silent with the expectant depths of the universe. And that is how it redeems the earth. Where liturgy is correctly understood and lived, there good church music also grows. The choir acts for the others and includes them in its own action. Through its singing everyone can be led into the great liturgy of the communion of saints and this into that kind of praying which pulls our hearts upwards and lets us join, above and beyond all earthly realizations, the heavenly Jerusalem." -- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger , Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"The treasury of sacred music is to be fostered and preserved with very great care." Sacrosanctum Concilium, Art. 112
"In a world full of so much ugliness, liturgy should be a rest for the soul, a repose where the soul can breathe. Beauty is not aestheticism. It is not an aim in itself It is a glimpse of God's glory.
"Heaven opens in liturgy. Beauty in liturgy cost's time, love, care, commitment. We must take time for preparing the liturgy, looking for the beauty of the flowers, the songs, the space, candles. All this has nothing to do with pure aestheticism, but is an expression of love. The faithful feel whether in a Church there is a love of God.
"Wherever you have a beautiful liturgy, people come. People are attracted, and rightly. We should not say that this is only a superficial attraction. Beauty is one way to God. It should never be separated from goodness and truth." -- Christopher Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna
Christian culture is the natural environment of truth, assisted by art, ordered intrinsically -- that is, from within -- to the praise, reverence and service of God our Lord. To restore it, we must learn its language.
Music really is the food of love, and music in the wide sense is a specific sign of the civilized human species. Steeped in the ordinary pot of the Christian imagination, we shall have learned to listen to that language by absorption, that mysterious music the Bridegroom (Christ) speaks; and we shall begin to love one another as he loves us; we shall see at last the Star of Hope which "flames in the forehead of the morning sky" at the end of this dark night. -- John Senior
Vatican II also teaches us that the Church's "treasury of sacred music is to be fostered and preserved with very great care. " [S.C., Art.112]
Other liturgical masterworks featured at Assumption Grotto: