Posted on 11/22/2009 2:07:22 PM PST by NYer
.- A community of Benedictine sisters living in the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph have released a Christmas CD titled “Christmas at Ephesus.” Proceeds from their new CD, comprised of traditional carols as well as the sisters' compositions, will go toward the building of a new monastery. The Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles are still new to the Kansas City Catholic community, invited by Bishop Robert W. Finn in 2006. A traditional monastic community of women who desire to emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary by living in quiet seclusion at the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus, they are a joyful group who sing while at work, at prayer or at play.
Last year the sisters recorded their first CD, “Echoes of Ephesus,” described by the prioress, Mother Therese McNamara, as a window into the life of the community. “People didn’t know about us,” she said. “But since that CD, they’ve been bringing us their prayer requests, for priests and for vocations, and priests have been coming to us for retreats.”
The sisters recently broke ground for a new monastery near Gower, Missouri. The proceeds from the Christmas CD will go toward that building plan.
The sisters have been encouraged by the success of the CD released last year. Nearly 60,000 copies were sold or given out. Their music and charism caught the attention of Ian Byrne, a Kansas City businessman and lead singer for the local Irish band The Elders. Through Byrne, the sisters connected with Steve Phillips, a recording engineer and musician with the band. With his assistance, the CD was recorded at Conception Abbey, where the acoustics are just right. Production costs were reduced by packaging the discs in cardboard cases.
Mother Therese is pleased with the results. “A lot of the arrangements are our own,” she said. “We recorded a fresh translation of Silent Night from the original German. One of the sisters did the translation and another set it to music. The church’s organ was broken so composer Franz Gruber played the accompaniment for Stille Nacht on his guitar.”
Some of the songs are familiar carols; others are original compositions by the sisters. Almost every day, one of the sisters is inspired to write a song, Mother Therese said. “We’re not professionals,” she said. “We just love to sing.”
The CDs, Christmas at Ephesus and Echoes of Ephesus, can be purchased for $20 online at the community’s website: http://www.benedictinesofmary.org/page-musicalrecordings.html
The recording sounds very interesting. One does long for some original repertoire, instead of the same dozen pieces by everyone making a recording!
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
The music is beautiful and is found at NYer’s last link on her introduction.
Thanks for the post.
Oh, I was looking for a new Christmas CD for my collection! This one could be nice!
Thank NYer! I’m still cogitating. I don’t like having Christmas music before Christmas, but I’m a choir leader, and we’ve been practicing since early October!
Very nice! Thanks.
bump
And even though she doesn't know it. My Mom thanks you too.
I usually hold out until Thanksgiving.;o) But my favorites are Medieval and Renaissance music, and other Classical Christmas music, both choral and orchestral. so it’s nothing like the typical stuff you hear on the Muzak in the stores.
I have a Thanksgiving music CD. I should get it out! I play the Gregorian chant and other old Christmas music during Advent, so it doesn’t “feel” Christmas-y, and get the Gatlin Brothers out after the 25th!
Rock around the Christmas tree! I'm just not into the more 'modern' Christmas music. I can take small doses, but mostly it's early music, or the carols done by John Rutter's Cambridge Singers, or the choir of the King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England.
My favorite Christmas Eve morning activity is either cooking, or wrapping gifts while listening to the public radio broadcast of "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols", from King's College Chapel. It's about an hour and a half of pure bliss for me! I'm in our Parish Choir, and a couple of years ago, we started singing an abbreviated "Lessons and Carols" in the half hour before Midnight Mass, and I love it!
The Gatlins’ album is mostly traditional carols, with beautiful harmonies as only close relatives can do.
We usually watch the Christmas concert from St. Olaf College in Minnesota (I think), on PBS shortly before Christmas. I’ll have to check the PBS listings online. It’s the only broadcast tv station we get, and then only if the sky is clear and the wind is right!
Our family has a Spanish choir. Usually we don’t get to go to Christmas Mass together because there aren’t enough seats, but this year there’s a Spanish Mass, so we’ll be able to go together even if the other Spanish music group is playing. The last time we tried - maybe when I was expecting James? - I had to go to Confession afterward. People are so selfish!
I looked through my music library and realized I have a CD of Advent music. It’s performed by the St. John’s College Choir, St. John’s College, Cambridge, England. It’s just beautiful, and I’m enjoying listening to it right now!
I do not have an Advent CD, but I have several of Marian songs ... Gregorian, Baroque, Mariachi ... that are good for the season.
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