GREGORIAN BIOGRAPHY

Masters Of Chant Chaper I

If you read Frank Peterson's (producer and founder of Gregorian) biography, then you know that he recorded the Gregorian first album - Sadisfaction - in 1991. Soon he realized that people didn't like his creation, so he put off his idea of blending pop-music and Gregorian chants and moreover this niche was already occupied by Enigma. In 90's he was producing such artists as Princessa, Sarah Brightman, PeCh, Ofra Hasa and many others. By the end of 90's people got used to Gregorian chants in New-Age and pop-music, so Peterson decided to bring his idea back but in a new style. Obviously Frank risked a lot because nobody knew how people would react to such hits playing.
In 1998 Frank Peterson with his team re-started the work at Gregorian project. His idea is singing the famous songs of different genres in the Gregorian style. The idea wasn't new, since the release of Sadisfaction there were many similar bands. They often recorded only one album and then disappear. Obviously Frank took a lot of risk because nobody knew how people would respond to this way of singing the hits.
Peterson selected twelve songs that became word hits from 60's to 90's. They are rock ballads and pop songs. Before releasing the record they had a very hard work at adapting the music. The first problem was that Gregorian chants are sung in Latin without music, but not in English. Then there was a problem in song selection because they had to convert 12-tone music to the Gregorian one with only 7 tones.
Then the compositions were re-arragned. They had to give a new life and fresh sound to well-known songs. They removed intros from some songs and modified instrumental solos in others ones. All the arrangements were made in Nemo Studio in Hamburg with using of their awesome synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines
Then, they had to find vocalists for a choir. Frank hired singers himself who were famous session singers in England and sung in major church choirs or universities, like Academy of Saint Martin, Royal Musical College, Royal Cambridge College, Royal Northern Musical School and Musical College of Saint Trinity. They choir members were Philip Conway, Thomas Barnard, Jeremy Birchall, Andrew Busher, Mark Bradbury, Timothy Holmes, Roger Langford, Gregory Moore, David Porter Thomas è Christopher Tickner. Other members joined for a tour - Michael Dore, John Langly and Alex Mack. They sung in the best cathedrals of - London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sauthgemptone and Edinburgh. Frank was looking for singers who didn't only have a good vocal but who were also open to new ideas.
Choir recording was held in Nemo Studio. In the same time they wrote interludes for smooth transitions between songs. In order to achieve good sound Frank Peterson rented an old English church that had been re-build for a recording studio, so the choir sang in familiar conditions with the only exclusion that they listened the recorded music in headphones. Considering that the studio atmosphere was a bit cold because there were many equipment and singers wouldn't be in a proper mood Peterson ordered to light two hundred candles.
It took a year to record the first album of the new Peterson's project. A lot of money was spent, but that was worth it. Frank Peterson showed the Gregorian chant in a new style and gave a new like to well-known compositions. The main idea was to mix two things that seemed incompatible - medieval chants and modern music. It took a lot of efforts and time, but the result was great, we got a brand new project that got major recognition soon.
The Masters Of Chant album was released at the end of 1999 and went top in charts in many countries. It had more than a million copies sold and it became platinum and gold in Germany, Norway, Belgium, Australia and many other countries. The album had a great success, so Gregorian decided to make a tour across Europe that started in the February of 2000. All the surroundings, the appearance of the musicians should put people in a proper mood. The concerts took place in churches with 2000 listeners inside. They achieved a great atmosphere; some people even thought that they were real monks
The successful tour attracted people to the album and Edel - the company that published Gregorian - released a new version of Masters Of Chants in the October 2000 with two new tracks - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2) and Save A Prayer (Duran Duran). At the beginning of 2001 they made a video album Masters Of Chant In Santiago De Compostela that was released at DVD and VHS. They filmed 10 video clips for it in a small town in the Northern part of Spain Santiago De Compostela where the body of Saint Jacob (Christ disciple) was kept.

Masters Of Chant Chapter II

At the end of 2000 Frank and his team started their work at the second album of the project. This time Gregorian decided to cover famous rock ballads. It took three months to select the compositions and make arrangements for them. And it took six months to re-build Hendy Wood Hall cathedral for a recording studio and to mix the tracks. This time they didn't have to convince singers and publisher in the further success. "Such projects require a high quality infrastructure" - Frank Peterson explains, - "You cannot hire professional singers and recorded them in a studio next door". Finally, Masters Of Chant Chapter II was released in the October of 2001. Its production was harder than the one of the awarded first album. "We worked a lot with a string orchestra and guitars" - Peterson says - "We shouldn't bore people by the lack of new ideas but we shouldn't press them with overambitious experiments".
It is also worth mentioning that they use ethnic instruments in the second album. Then, there were two original compositions written by the one the producers - Carsten Heusmann - Moment Of Peace and Babylon. Moment Of Peace was the first single of the album, the video was also filmed. The songs was made after a terrostist acttact on the 11 of September in America when the two building of the World Trade Center were destroyed.
The album was as successful as its ancestor was and Gregorian gave a European tour again. They gave more than 60 performances and became superstars. There were no enough cathedrals for so many concerts, so they used small concerts halls with a good acoustics. At the end of 2001 the second DVD of the project was released - Moment Of Peace In Ireland that was filmed in the marvelous sights of Ireland.

Masters Of Chant Chapter III

Just a year after, in the October of 2002, Masters Of Chant Chapter III was released. They covered such starts as Depeche Mode, Elton John, Sting, Duran Duran, Chris Isaac, HIM… There also three original songs - Be, Before The Dawn, Out Of The Cold. He female vocal was by Sarah Brightman, who hided after the nickname of Hepsibah. It was the first album with a dance remix. The remix for Join Me was made by a German electronic duo Schiller. The first countries where the CD was released were Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The third DVD - Masters of Chant Chapter III was released in the December of 2002, surprisingly it contained a non-album track Voyage Voyage.

Masters Of Chant Chapter IV

Masters Of Chant Chapter IV was released on the 6th Of December in 2003. Apparently from the previous Gregorian works, this album had some new features. The female vocal was made by Violet who is more known under the name of Amelia Brightman (Sarah Brightman's younger sister). You might saw her at the Gregorian concerts or at their videos; currently she is working at her first album.

The Dark Side

The latest Gregorian album, which was released in October 2004, is really surprising, it's much darker and heavier, but it's still beautiful and romantic, to learn more read this review. In the first half of 2005 Gregorian toured across Europe, you can view the concert photos here.

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