I wrote earlier about the Abbey of St. Martin in Ligugé, an abbey of an impressive age. Although re-founded in 1853, that was only because it was forced to close during the French Revolution in 1792. The year that all of monastic life in France was halted. The original foundation however dates from 361, at a time what was later called France was part of the Roman Empire. So what if it was closed down for a period of 55 years. What is that compared to more than 16 centuries?
The singing has aged surprisingly well. The voices are good, and there is probably a reason why the label decided to do a remastering for streaming and cd. It looks like they split the titles of the album in smaller pieces. A practice that, or so I’ve heard, has more to do with raising money than anything else: on streaming you get paid per song, so tracks of 12 minutes don’t make economical sense. I wonder what those breaks in the originals do with the integrity of the music.