Visiting the immense Paris cathedral, one’s imagination begins to wander back to the medieval repertoire and whether there are still groups perpetuating the age-old melodies once heard in its vaults. Well, this continuity is assured thanks to Sylvain Dieudonné, an expert choral director trained in the Solesmes tradition, but with his own ideas about monody, something made clear by simply listening to the monodic pieces on the present recording, exclusively dedicated to the Virgin.

In spite of this, in my opinion, the recording’s most interesting works are the polyphonic pieces, some rarely performed, such as track one, the Aquitanian versus, or the duplum Alleluia Assumpta est Maria, in which the Maîtrise Notre-Dame of Paris encounters the origins of the school that has gone down in music history. Other monodic versions have been reconstructed with the help of manuscripts close to the French tradition of Gregorian chant, such as Mont-Renaud (Noyon Gradual), which helps in the rhythmic reconstruction of the responsory Vidi speciosam.

The same occurs with the liturgical drama of the Annunciation, taken from an Italian manuscript, though at times the version used is surprising for its peculiar, though attractive sound, as in the Christmas sequence Mittit ad virginem. Finally, the well-known Salve Regina, performed by male and female voices, shows the degree to which the medieval chant tradition has been revived in one of the main temples of Christianity. Excellent voices, in a varied and complete performance with sound reconstructions made directly from the sources. JUAN CARLOS ASENSIO