Two new recordings from St John Cantius, Chicago

One of the new CDs is entitled Magnificat: Music for Our Lady. Recorded at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago by the Ensemble Cor et Vox, this CD focuses on the mysteries of Christmas through the eyes of Our Lady.

It includes a rarely heard setting of the Magnificat by the German composer and organist Buxtehude, and another by the French Baroque master, Charpentier. The CD also includes excerpts from the famous Bach Magnificat, as well as the famous Ave Maria settings of Schubert and Bach/Gounod arranged for chorus by Fr. Scott Haynes, SJC. There is also a setting of the Alma Redemptoris Mater by Legrenzi for two sopranos and basso continuo.

Two of Mozart’s Marian motets are included (Sancta Maria K. 273 and Alma Dei Creatoris K. 277) and the CD concludes with Corelli’s famous Christmas Concerto. The concerto’s Pastorale movement paints an image of the shepherds visiting the manger of the Christ Child in Bethlehem. For more information and to purchase, please click here. A sample track appears below.

The second CD, entitled Te Deum, presents the complete Midnight Mass (Extraordinary Form) for Christmas Eve from St. John Cantius in Chicago. The Schola Cantorum of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius sings the Gregorian chant Propers of Midnight Mass, and the clerical chants (the orations, Epistle, Gospel, Preface of Christmas, “Ite missa est”) are also included.

The Ensemble Cor et Vox sings the jubilant Missa Brevis in C K. 258 (‘Piccolomini’) of Mozart, which is included on the Te Deum CD as the Ordinary of Midnight Mass. Charpentier’s exuberant Te Deum H. 146, presented in its entirety, completes the CD and ushers in the festivity of the Christmas Octave. For more information and to purchase, please click here. A sample track appears below.