Monk music

[asterroc]

Having just re-listened to the Anathem (Neal Stephenson) audiobook with its really nice monkish music at each chapter start, I really want to listen to some monk music. (I'm sure there's gotta be another name for it, but I can't think of it.) Anyone got a link to free downloadable monk music recordings, or barring that anyone want to recommend some that I can buy?

Edit: Is it Gregorian chants that I'm thinking of? I want polyphonic, male choir, acapella, Latin.

Comments

[tacotortoise.livejournal.com]

Let's see how far I can get without digging up my music history textbooks. For starters, Gregorian chant is strictly monophonic, so that's not what you're looking for. Polyphony didn't catch on until the 12th century or so, with Leonin and Perotin being early exemplars. Then you get to the Renaissance, where polyphony really started to flourish, with Machaut, Dufay, Ockeghem, Desprez, and Palestrina, to name just a few. These composers represent a wide variety of styles, so I would try searching for them on YouTube to see if any of them are the sort of thing you're looking for.

[tacotortoise.livejournal.com]

Also, the word you are looking for is probably "liturgical music," though this also includes things like Lutheran hymns that are not strictly for male voices.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I did in fact stumble across Palestrina on YouTube soon after writing this post, and then used him to seed a Pandora channel (after a few attempts to figure out what Pandora calls him).

It seems to me like "liturgical music" includes music of more modern centuries (post Reformation). In a literal sense it seems the term could also include the musical traditions of groups other than Christians, or it could include Christian rock (if used in the context of services).

I forget if you're a fan of sci-fi, but you might find the world of Anathem of interest. The society has perpetuated for something like 4,000 years under a system whereby the scientists and theoreticians have been cloistered away from the rest of society in self-sufficient mixed-sex monasteries where they perform their research but do not advance any technology. The world outside their walls waxes and wanes as they continue to advance theoretical disciplines (theoretical physics, philosophy, math, etc.) undisturbed other than when the secular powers feel need to call upon their abilities. It's a strange mixture of honoring the intellectuals by allowing them to do their work in peace, and fearing and segregating them to where they can't do any harm to society.