Choral legends of the Gregorian come to the Baltics

RIGA - Long cloaks, a sacral approach to their songs and mystics; all this belong to one of the most original musical bands in today’s music – Gregorian! At this very moment they are heading to the Baltics with their newest program, “The Dark Side of Chant Tour 2011.”

Gregorian is obviously not just a name of a band. Influenced by Gregorian chants of the Middle Ages, the band transmits a historical musical approach to modern music. This is where they stand out, as most of their artistic pieces can be easily played in churches. They have shown pop and rock music in a different way – thus, Gregorian has also become a brand name.
Formed by German producer Frank Peterson, who has worked with Enigma and Sarah Brightman, the band soon turned into a musical surprise. With the album Masters of Chant – Chapter I, released in 1999, Gregorian gained unexpected public admiration. The album was a success throughout Europe. Since then the band has never been afraid to experiment in music, but they still managed to keep their unique style alive, which unified choral and popular music.

Peterson’s concept paid off, but possibly not only the musical idea was outstanding – the members of Gregorian were also. Found in the United Kingdom’s church choirs, members had to be able to sing difficult song arrangements. And today for the band these arrangements are the strong point, indeed! Gregorian polyphony is always strongly evaluated by the members to make sure the song is appropriate for the Gregorian approach. Those songs, which pass the evaluation process, are then sung in new versions. And the list of the covered music is inspiring: The Rasmus, Metallica, Sting, Elton John, Coldplay, Evanescence and The Beatles are just a few. It definitely broadens the variety of chosen songs and keeps the audience breathless. Additionally, it expands the range of the audience age, too. Next to people of mature age, there are youngsters who listen to Gregorian because of these popular music covers they sing.

However, those who think that a Gregorian concert is some sort of reference to the past are quite inaccurate. They may sound like monks from history, and they may probably look like them as well, but their performances use every technical invention to make their concert a show. And this is what the band has promised for the current tour – pyrotechnics, lasers, sound and light effects. It all makes the upcoming concert splendid and contemporary. And it has already been appraised in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Serbia and Poland. The next stop is the Baltic countries and Russia.

Supposedly, Gregorian is the best ending for a tough working day. On the other hand, there may be a huge number of people who can find this concert to be even more enervating. Gregorian demands its audience to be fully committed to this type of music. Despite the fact that the band does almost impossible things, in speaking to different groups of society, the music it plays is still somehow meant for a specific audience. If unordinary music arrangements are not your taste, then probably a Gregorian concert is not the best place to be.

After all, Gregorian can be framed as an intellectual popular music. Thus, everyone who has a slight or strong interest in spiritual and emotional music is gladly invited to become a part of this event. The band touches hearts not because of their pure sound, though this is also very important. It reaches our minds because of the feeling that music is made to be something holy. Today, when the musical environment is full of technical complexities, this feeling stays crucial. And in Gregorian, this feeling lives on...

Gregorian will be seen in Vilnius on March 17, Riga on March 18 and Tallinn on March 19.