Region of the Isles Chant CD

The beautiful island of Tautra in Norway where a Cistercian monastery was first founded in the 12th century has been the home of a new Cistercian foundation of nuns since 1999, serving most recently as an atmospheric and acoustically effective recording venue for a chant cd to be produced this year by our region of monasteries in the Cistercian Order. The region, composed of the Cistercian houses of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Norway, brought four monks and five nuns together at the end of January 2011 to record a selection of liturgical pieces representative of our various houses. In assembling the material for the cd, Dom Richard Purcell, (photo above, left) Abbot of Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, Roscrea and director of the recording, combined popular choral pieces Gift of Finest Wheat, Search Me, O God and Set your heart on the higher gifts with Gregorian mass and processional chants, also including compositions from our own monks and nuns of the region. The recording also features the choral piece commissioned for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland in 2012 entitled Though We Are Many. The Office of Compline from the community of Tautra was also recorded with a harp accompaniment.

It is hoped that the album will be available for sale in our monasteries and music shops towards August of this year. Those participating in the making of the cd were Srs Gilchrist, Sheryl and Hanne-Maria (Tautra), Dom Daniel (Caldey), Srs Michelle and Sarah (Glencairn), Br Raphael (Mount Saint Bernard), Fr Aelred (Portglanone) and Dom Richard (Roscrea). For more information about the monasteries of the Region of the Isles, you can visit our links page for website details.

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