Jesu dulcis memoria. Gregorian Chants

Amici Cantores and Antiqua Laus directed by Enrico De Capitani
Coop. Edit. Nuovo Mondo-Universal Music 2009


In the middle ages when they really did know how to sing, the highest musical expression was a melody made up of “a-a-a-a” that was called “Jubilus” (it is still preserved in some noble museums of the territory around Milan, but the Milanese priests no longer use it), where the whole chant is one single letter “a-a-a-a”, according to a musical motif that is much more fetching than a chant with expressed words. The finest image of reason when enthralled is that of the wide-opened eyes of a child. When you really love someone you are content to be there, thinking or looking, because any word you venture to say would diminish that splendour. When you have before you something fascinating, speaking or trying to give explanations leave a bitter taste in the mouth, and leave us with a kind of anger  the more you say, the less you say.

(Excerpt from the introduction by Luigi Giussani to the booklet enclosed in the CD)