Ubi Caritas

“This Gregorian chant- 'Where there is love, there is God – has been in my life since I was ten years old as a choir boy.  I sang a setting of it by Durufle, who is one of my favorite twentieth-century composers.  Both the words and the music have tremendous universal appeal.  I tried to bring out the inherent power and optimism of the Gregorian Chant by juxtaposing it with the chant of another culture.  Sometimes we need to look at the obvious through other people’s eyes.  It was Russ Landau’s persistence and tenacity that got the piece recorded properly, and with the appropriate groups at the Cathedral in New York.

There is a wonderful kind of upstairs/downstairs scenario at the Cathedral.  There is the daily round of services in the church itself, while below in the crypt all these groups are doing their own form of worship – whether in the soup kitchen, the gymnasium, the theater, or the studios. One of the downstairs groups is called “The Forces Of Nature”, an African chant group of great power and vibrancy.  Occasionally during a service we’d be in the middle of some sublime Gregorian chant, when we would hear “Forces Of Nature” start up their rehearsal with some intense drumming, giving us some stiff competition! At the time, it irritated me.  Now it is one of my favorite combinations."   - Paul Halley, 1991