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Although the style of music itself differs significantly from real Gregorian chants, the group works in the style of the Roman Catholic Church, in whose liturgical chants ... Read all

Gregorian (English Gregorian) - Music band, organized in Germany, performing famous pop and rock compositions in a style similar to Gregorian chants. All songs are performed by a choir of 10 people.

Although the style of music itself differs significantly from real Gregorian chants, the group works in the style of the Roman Catholic Church, in whose liturgical chants Gregorian chants are used. In particular, at concerts the vocalists perform in monastic cassocks.

Creator Gregorian groups is Frank Peterson, one of the founders of the Enigma project. Also on his conscience is the production of such famous and not very performers as Ofra Haza, Sarah Brightman, Princessa, Violet. In addition, Frank Peterson - famous composer, arranger and sound engineer. He plays the synthesizer and piano as well as the guitar and percussion instruments. As a producer, Frank is able to take any song and make it the best it can be.

Frank was born on December 20, 1963 in Hamburg. He began learning to play the piano at the age of 4. Musical career Franca began in the 80s when he worked in a shop specializing in the sale of equipment for music studios. In between working with customers, Frank recorded a demo tape with his musical material. By chance, he got into a conversation with one of his clients, to whom he showed his creation. This client turned out to be none other than Michael Cretu, at that time not at all a famous producer. Michael liked the recording so much that he invited Frank to go with him to Munich. Frank agreed and began working as a keyboardist for Sandra, the former lead singer of Arabesque, who was just starting her solo career.

Frank's first major achievement and recognition came in June 1985 when he played keyboards on Sandra's biggest hit "Maria Magdalena". Frank Peterson (his name was incorrectly listed as Frank Peter on Sandra's album) continued to play in Sandra's band throughout

five years, while continuing to write songs for other stars, who subsequently occupied the top lines of the charts. These songs were often composed together with Michael. In 1987, Michael Cretu and Sandra got married, and in 1989 married couple left for the Spanish island of Ibiza, not forgetting to take Frank with her.

However, in Ibiza, Frank and Michael did not spend their time in vain. They created the phenomenal band Enigma (the name means "mystery", "mystery") and recorded their first album "MCMXC a.D", which was released in 1990. To maintain an air of mystery around the album, Michael is credited as Curly M.C. and Frank as F. Gregorian. Peterson co-wrote the most famous track on the album, "Sadeness", and wrote the lyrics to "The Voice & the Snake" inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation. This is one of the darkest and most sinister tracks on the album.

In the end, in 1990, the partners broke up. Frank returned to Hamburg while Michael stayed on the island. The official reason for this was Frank Peterson's desire to work on another project. While on vacation in Spain, Frank met Thomas Schwarz, who was known as a talented keyboard player, and the two of them were eager to start writing and producing music. Thomas invited virtuoso keyboardist Matthias Meissner to the team, with whom he had worked back in 1988. These three composers and musicians plus Frank's former wife Susana Espelleta and their assistant Michael Wehr made up a powerful team. Their first album was released in 1991, shortly after Enigma's debut. It was called "Sadisfaction" and the band's name was "Gregorian" (short for F.Gregorian). In addition, the name is associated with Gregorian chants, the origin of which goes back to the 7th-9th centuries AD. The liturgical songs of the Western Christian churches came from Syria and Palestine and very quickly made their way into Christian Europe. The word "Gregorian" itself refers to Pope Gregory I. It was during his reign (AD 590-604) that the Gregorian style began to develop. But the "golden" time of these chorales falls on the period from 750 to 850 of our century, when such songs become the most famous and popular music of Western and Central Europe. By the way, around the same time, a very similar album by Gala was released called "Gregorian", which is often mistakenly considered the second Gregorian album.

It was very similar to Enigma, but with a lighter sound. Far different from the Masters of chant albums released a decade later, "Sadisfaction" nonetheless already included some of Frank's signature reworkings of old hit hits. There were also elements of sampled choral chants, the voice parts of which were performed by The Sisters of Oz and were distinguished by an even more pop sound than later by Enigma. Later, a single from one of the album's songs "Once in a lifetime" was released, which became the style standard of the Nemo studio, being performed by Sarah Brightman (on the album Dive) and twice by Princess (Spanish version for the album "Princessa" and English - for the album "I won't forget you"). The first diamond single "So sad" equaled the sales of "Sadeness" using Gregorian psalms against darkness and a powerful rhythm section. Since this album, Frank has established a reputation talented composer and producer, and later on repeatedly confirmed that he can write original, vibrating and destructive music.

For the next 8 years, Frank Peterson successfully produced such stars as Sarah Brightman and Ofra Haza. For a long period of time, no releases with the Gregorian name were made: Frank felt that the oversaturated market would not have accepted his creations. And the world did not suspect that a few years later the name Gregorian would become synonymous with a huge commercial success in the field of ambient pop.

In early 1999, after the release of Sarah Brightman's fourth album Eden, which combined pop and opera, the singer embarked on her first world tour. A little later, the fourth Princessa album "I won't forget you" was released, which was produced by Frank. Peterson wrote most of the songs for this album together with Thomas and Matthias.

It could take a little break. But Frank could not sit idly by. He settled into the "Nemo" studio in his residence and on the eve of the new millennium decided to revive his old project Gregorian. However, this time, instead of sampling pre-recorded liturgical chants in Enigma style, the cunning art alchemist came up with the idea of ​​rewriting the most famous pop and rock hits of the past four decades to the style of Gregorian chants.

Getting down to business, the maestro, along with his friends, Michael Soltau, Carsten Heusmann and Jan-Eric Kohrs, listened to a huge variety of compositions - from rock ballads of the 60s to pop hits of the 90s, trying to determine which of them are most suitable to perform in the Gregorian style. Then followed

a long and laborious process of interpreting the familiar 12-tone score of selected works into the Gregorian pentatonic mode. In addition, in addition to the musical consonance of the songs, the concept required them to be performed in English, and not in Latin, so the lyrics also had to match stylistically. As a result, 12 tracks of famous, but rather diverse in style, performers were selected. The 60s are represented in the album by such timeless hits as the single "Still I" m sad "by the Yardbirds (this song was also performed by Boney M and twice Rainbow), the ballad "When a man loves a woman" by Percy Sledge and the composition "Sound of silence" Simon & Garfunkel, the 70s with the opus "Sebastien" Steve Harley, the 80s with the anthem of the electro-pop group Ultravox "Vienna" from, the elegy "Brothers in arms" Dire Straits, the neo-romantic "Fade to gray" Visage and the ballad Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up". And finally, the 90s presented "Losing my religion" by REM, "Nothing else matters" by Metallica, "Tears in heaven" by Eric Clapton.

Now it was necessary to comb everything and, without a hitch, build it into the Gregorian "soundscape". After transcribing the melodies of the vocal parts of each song, the four producers still had to solve the problem of how to make the well-known and, in general, rather boring hits sound in a new way. To this end, some song intros have been lengthened and instrumental passages have been slightly adapted or rewritten. Then, each composition acquired a new electronic instrumentation with bright bass and a clear rhythm. All arrangements were made in studio "Nemo" using the most modern synthesizers, sequencers and percussion machines. The result is a sound that reflects the creative team's desire for a more modern ambient pop sound.

However, Frank understood that the final assessment of his project would largely depend on the quality of the vocals, so when the musical part was ready, he personally recruited a choir of 10 vocalists, the most famous session singers in England, who came from famous cathedral choirs and classical institutions such as St. Martin's Academy, Royal College of Music, King's College, Cambridge, Royal Northern School of Music and Trinity College of Music. Choir members included Philip Conway, Thomas Barnard, Jeremy Birchall, Andrew Busher, Mark Bradbury, Timothy Holmes, Roger Langford, Gregory Moore, David Porter Thomas and Christopher Tickner. They sang in the best churches in England, in particular in cathedrals London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham, Southampton and Edinburgh. Moreover, when choosing them, Peterson was guided not only by the presence of exceptional vocal abilities in the latter, but also by their openness to the perception of new progressive ideas.

With the accompaniment recordings ready, the working group of the "Nemo" studio went to the UK to record the choir. To ensure good acoustic performance, Frank Peterson rented an old London church, which had been converted into a recording studio, so that the choir sang in their usual conditions, though listening to pre-recorded musical accompaniment through headphones. Assuming that the atmosphere of the studio would be somewhat chilly due to the saturation of technical equipment and would not cause an appropriate mood among the performers, Peterson ordered 200 wax candles to be lit during the recording sessions.

After recording solo and group parts, the team returned to the "Nemo" studio and started mixing tracks and fine-tuning musical accompaniment. At the same time, short variations were written, which allowed for smooth transitions from one track to another. As a result, the recording of a 10-track album called "Masters of chant" took about a year (the album was released in the last quarter of 1999) and required a large investment. But it was worth it: mixing ageless musical style with familiar lyrics and melodies was so successful that the album won worldwide acclaim. The combination of soft slow music and the singing of the monks captures from the first minutes and with each new track draws you into its own, a little dusty, but mysterious and intriguing world. Those who have ever experienced the energetic impact of Gregorian know firsthand about the charming and inspiring sound and voices of the monks and the calming effect of ritual chanting. This style still fascinates many people just as it did during the time of Pope Gregory I. The second album, Gregorian, sold millions of copies around the world and received gold and platinum in Germany, Portugal, Australia, the Philippines, Belgium, Norway , South America and other countries. Now it is already clear that the next project of Frank Peterson has again become a world hit!

The success of the album inevitably led to the fact that all the performers were simply torn apart by invitations to perform, and in early 2000 they went on a long tour of Europe. It should be noted that the magnificent concerts of such a choir were a complete revelation for the inhabitants of Europe - they convinced the listeners that there were no studio tricks when recording the album. On the other hand, according to the concept, the entire environment during the performance of the group, including the appearance of the participants, was to emphasize the theme of the Gregorian monks serving. In this regard, both on the album cover and in music video singers were dressed in pseudo-monastic robes, and concerts were held in churches, where sometimes up to 2000 listeners crowded. The curiosity was that due to the authenticity of the external effects, many fans really believed that they were performing in front of real Gregorian monks! As for the musical part, the very combination of antiquity and modernity, as well as the use of smoke machines, flashing lights and sound levels close to those of a rock concert, always provided enthusiastic and unceasing ovations at the end of each show.

Such a sold-out tour aroused even more interest in the album, and the company "Edel" decided in October 2000 to release a reissue of the album "Masters of chant" with two bonus tracks: famous band U2 "I still haven"t found what I"m looking for", which was previously released as a separate single and the song "Save a prayer" by Duran Duran. In support of this release, in November of the same year, the singers again went on tour to Germany.

In the meantime, Frank and his team returned to the studio again to repeat the path they had traveled. Three long months of song selection and arrangement followed, six months of refurbishment of the new church "Henry Wood Hall" in London into a recording studio and mixing of tracks. True, this time no one - neither singers nor publishers - had to be convinced that the project would be winning. Preparation for the recording was thought out

before the smallest details, and the production team - Jan Erik Kors, Karsten Hessmann and Michael Soltau - played an important role here. "Projects like this require a highly efficient infrastructure," explains Frank Peterson, "you can't just hire any professional singer and record them in the first studio you find." Finally, in October 2001 new album group Gregorian "Masters of chant Chapter II" (Part II) saw the light of day.

All in all, "Master of chant Chapter II" proved to be more difficult to produce than its award-winning predecessor. "We've been working a lot with strings and guitars," says Peterson, inspired by the high expectations of the success of his first work. "People shouldn't be allowed to get bored for lack of original ideas, and at the same time, they shouldn't be pressured with over-ambitious experiments."

In the second part, the orchestral component was expanded, and some ethnic instruments were included in it. The album "Master of chant Chapter II" includes two original compositions - "Moment of peace" (by Carsten Heusmann, appeared first as a separate single, the female part was performed by Sarah Brightman) and "Babylon", as well as world classic rock hits " child in time" deep purple, "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd, "In the air tonight" by Phil Collins, "Stairway to heaven" by Led Zeppelin, which acquired a completely new and unexpected sound. "Chapter II" was as successful, if not more so, than its predecessor. A tour of the participants across Europe followed again, during which about 60 concerts were given, and the performers themselves were awarded the status of superstars. There were no longer enough churches and churches to hold such a number of live concerts, so sometimes small concert halls with suitable acoustics. In late 2001, this tour was followed by a bigger budget DVD and VHS cassette called "Moments of peace in Ireland", in which the choir performed their numbers against the background of the historical sights of this titled country.

Exactly one year after the release of the third album Gregorian in October 2002 "Master of chant Chapter III" (Part III) is born, thus completing the thematic trilogy. The new album's color scheme, including the performers' monastic togas, was changed to a mustard yellow tone, as opposed to red for the first album and blue for the second. The album is notable for two insanely beautiful compositions - "Join me in death" by modern Finnish love-metal band HIM and "Voyage, voyage" by French 80s disco star Desireless. The women's parts were again performed by Sarah Brightman, hiding under the pseudonym Hepsibah. In addition, the chill-out version of the hit "Join me" (the last track) is presented to us by the German electronic duo Schiller. The first countries in which the new album was released were Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and within the first weeks of release it began to climb up the pop charts of these countries.

Discography:

1. Sadisfaction 1991

2. Master of chant 2000

3. Master of chant Chapter II 2001

4. Master of chant Chapter III 2002

5. Master of chant Chapter IV 2003

9. Dark Side 2004

10. Master of chant chapter V

11.Christmas Chants

12. Masters of Chant Chapter VI

In contrast to the Gregorian chants, the choir performs with an impressive musical accompaniment, including guitar (depending on the composition - electric or acoustic), drums, keyboard instruments. There is also computer processing of music with the help of special effects. At concerts, Gregorian perform in the style inherent in rock bands, in particular, they perform compositions “live”, turn on the audience.

In addition, Frank Peterson is a well-known composer, arranger and sound engineer. He plays synthesizer and piano as well as guitar and percussion. As a producer, Frank is able to take any song and make it the best it can be.

Frank was born on December 20, 1963 in Hamburg. He started learning to play the piano at the age of 4! Frank's musical career began in the 80's when he worked in a store specializing in the sale of equipment for music studios. In between working with customers, Frank recorded a demo tape with his musical material. By chance, he got into a conversation with one of his clients, to whom he showed his creation. This client turned out to be none other than Michael Cretu, at that time not yet a well-known producer. Michael liked the recording so much that he invited Frank to go with him to Munich. Frank agreed and began working as a keyboardist for Sandra, the former lead singer of Arabesque, who was just starting her solo career.

Frank's first major achievement and recognition came in June 1985 when he played keyboards on Sandra's biggest hit "Maria Magdalena". Frank Peterson (his name was incorrectly listed as Frank Peter on Sandra's album) continued to play in Sandra's band throughout

five years, while continuing to write songs for other stars, who subsequently occupied the top lines of the charts. These songs were often composed together with Michael. In 1987, Michael Cretu and Sandra got married, and in 1989 the couple left for the Spanish island of Ibiza, not forgetting to take Frank with them.

However, in Ibiza, Frank and Michael did not spend their time in vain. They created the phenomenal band Enigma (the name means "mystery", "mystery") and recorded their first album "MCMXC a.D", which was released in 1990. To maintain an air of mystery around the album, Michael is credited as Curly M.C. and Frank as F. Gregorian. Peterson co-wrote the most famous track on the album, "Sadeness", and wrote the lyrics to "The Voice & the Snake" inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation. This is one of the darkest and most sinister tracks on the album.

In the end, in 1990, the partners broke up. Frank returned to Hamburg while Michael stayed on the island. The official reason for this was Frank Peterson's desire to work on another project. While on vacation in Spain, Frank met Thomas Schwarz, who was known as a talented keyboard player, and the two of them were eager to start writing and producing music. Thomas invited virtuoso keyboardist Matthias Meissner to the team, with whom he had worked back in 1988. These three composers and musicians plus Frank's former wife Susana Espelleta and their assistant Michael Wehr made up a powerful team. Their first album was released in 1991, shortly after Enigma's debut. It was called "Sadisfaction" and the band's name was "Gregorian" (short for F.Gregorian). In addition, the name is associated with Gregorian chants, the origin of which goes back to the 7th-9th centuries AD. The liturgical songs of the Western Christian churches came from Syria and Palestine and very quickly made their way into Christian Europe. The word "Gregorian" itself refers to Pope Gregory I. It was during his reign (AD 590-604) that the Gregorian style began to develop. But the "golden" time of these chorales falls on the period from 750 to 850 of our century, when such songs become the most famous and popular music of Western and Central Europe. By the way, around the same time, a very similar album by Gala was released called "Gregorian", which is often mistakenly considered the second Gregorian album.

It was very similar to Enigma, but with a lighter sound. Far different from the Masters of chant albums released a decade later, "Sadisfaction" nonetheless already included some of Frank's signature reworkings of old hit hits. There were also elements of sampled choral chants, the voice parts of which were performed by The Sisters of Oz and were distinguished by an even more pop sound than later by Enigma. Later, a single from one of the album's songs "Once in a lifetime" was released, which became the style standard of the Nemo studio, being performed by Sarah Brightman (on the album Dive) and twice by Princess (Spanish version for the album "Princessa" and English - for the album "I won't forget you"). The first diamond single "So sad" equaled the sales of "Sadeness" using Gregorian psalms against darkness and a powerful rhythm section. Since this album, Frank has established a reputation talented composer and producer, and later on repeatedly confirmed that he can write original, vibrating and destructive music.

For the next 8 years, Frank Peterson successfully produced such stars as Sarah Brightman and Ofra Haza. For a long period of time, no releases with the Gregorian name were made: Frank felt that the oversaturated market would not have accepted his creations. Little did the world know that a few years later the name Gregorian would become synonymous with huge commercial success in the field of ambient pop.

Best of the day

In early 1999, after the release of Sarah Brightman's fourth album Eden, which combined pop and opera, the singer embarked on her first world tour. A little later, the fourth Princessa album "I won't forget you" was released, which was produced by Frank. Peterson wrote most of the songs for this album together with Thomas and Matthias.

It could take a little break. But Frank could not sit idly by. He settled into the "Nemo" studio in his residence and on the eve of the new millennium decided to revive his old project Gregorian. However, this time, instead of sampling pre-recorded liturgical chants in Enigma style, the cunning art alchemist came up with the idea of ​​rewriting the most famous pop and rock hits of the past four decades to the style of Gregorian chants.

Getting down to business, the maestro, along with his friends, Michael Soltau, Carsten Heusmann and Jan-Eric Kohrs, listened to a huge variety of compositions - from rock ballads of the 60s to pop hits of the 90s, trying to determine which of them are most suitable to perform in the Gregorian style. Then followed

a long and laborious process of interpreting the familiar 12-tone score of selected works into the Gregorian pentatonic mode. In addition, in addition to the musical consonance of the songs, the concept required them to be performed in English, and not in Latin, so the lyrics also had to match stylistically. As a result, 12 tracks of famous, but rather diverse in style, performers were selected. The 60s are represented in the album by such timeless hits as the single "Still I" m sad "by the Yardbirds (this song was also performed by Boney M and twice Rainbow), the ballad "When a man loves a woman" by Percy Sledge and the composition "Sound of silence" Simon & Garfunkel, the 70s with the opus "Sebastien" Steve Harley, the 80s with the anthem of the electro-pop group Ultravox "Vienna" from, the elegy "Brothers in arms" Dire Straits, the neo-romantic "Fade to gray" Visage and the ballad Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up". And finally, the 90s presented "Losing my religion" by REM, "Nothing else matters" by Metallica, "Tears in heaven" by Eric Clapton.

Now it was necessary to comb everything and, without a hitch, build it into the Gregorian "soundscape". After transcribing the melodies of the vocal parts of each song, the four producers still had to solve the problem of how to make the well-known and, in general, rather boring hits sound in a new way. To this end, some song intros have been lengthened and instrumental passages have been slightly adapted or rewritten. Then, each composition acquired a new electronic instrumentation with bright bass and a clear rhythm. All arrangements were made in studio "Nemo" using the most modern synthesizers, sequencers and percussion machines. The result is a sound that reflects the creative team's desire for a more modern ambient pop sound.

However, Frank understood that the final assessment of his project would largely depend on the quality of the vocals, so when the musical part was ready, he personally recruited a choir of 10 vocalists, the most famous session singers in England, who came from famous cathedral choirs and classical institutions such as St Martin's Academy, Royal College of Music, King's College Cambridge, Royal Northern School of Music and Trinity College of Music. Choir members included Philip Conway, Thomas Barnard, Jeremy Birchall, Andrew Busher, Mark Bradbury, Timothy Holmes, Roger Langford, Gregory Moore, David Porter Thomas and Christopher Tickner. They sang in the best churches in England, in particular in the cathedral churches of London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham, Southampton and Edinburgh. Moreover, when choosing them, Peterson was guided not only by the presence of exceptional vocal abilities in the latter, but also by their openness to the perception of new progressive ideas.

With the accompaniment recordings ready, the working group of the "Nemo" studio went to the UK to record the choir. To ensure good acoustic performance, Frank Peterson rented an old London church, which had been converted into a recording studio, so that the choir sang in their usual conditions, though listening to pre-recorded musical accompaniment through headphones. Assuming that the atmosphere of the studio would be somewhat chilly due to the saturation of technical equipment and would not cause an appropriate mood among the performers, Peterson ordered 200 wax candles to be lit during the recording sessions.

After recording solo and group parts, the team returned to the "Nemo" studio and started mixing tracks and fine-tuning the musical accompaniment. At the same time, short variations were written, which allowed for smooth transitions from one track to another. As a result, the recording of a 10-track album called "Masters of chant" took about a year (the album was released in the last quarter of 1999) and required a large investment. But it was worth it: the blending of an ageless musical style with familiar lyrics and melodies was so successful that the album won worldwide acclaim. The combination of soft, slow music and the singing of the monks captures from the first minutes and with each new track draws you into its own, slightly dusty, but mysterious and intriguing world. Those who have ever experienced the energetic impact of Gregorian know firsthand about the charming and inspiring sound and voices of the monks and the calming effect of ritual chanting. This style still fascinates many people just as it did during the time of Pope Gregory I. The second album, Gregorian, sold millions of copies around the world and received gold and platinum in Germany, Portugal, Australia, the Philippines, Belgium, Norway , South America and other countries. Now it is already clear that the next project of Frank Peterson has again become a world hit!

The success of the album inevitably led to the fact that all the performers were simply torn apart by invitations to perform, and in early 2000 they went on a long tour of Europe. It should be noted that the magnificent concerts of such a choir were a complete revelation for the inhabitants of Europe - they convinced the listeners that there were no studio tricks when recording the album. On the other hand, according to the concept, the entire environment during the performance of the group, including the appearance of the participants, was to emphasize the theme of the Gregorian monks serving. In this regard, both on the cover of the album and in the music video, the singers were dressed in pseudo-monastic robes, and the concerts were held in churches, where up to 2000 listeners sometimes packed. The curiosity was that due to the authenticity of the external effects, many fans really believed that they were performing in front of real Gregorian monks! As for the musical part, the very combination of antiquity and modernity, as well as the use of smoke machines, flashing lights and sound levels close to those of a rock concert, always provided enthusiastic and unceasing ovations at the end of each show.

Such a sold-out tour aroused even more interest in the album, and the company "Edel" decided in October 2000 to release a reissue of the album "Masters of chant" with two bonus tracks: the hit of the famous U2 group "I still haven't found what I" m looking for", which was previously released as a single and the song "Save a prayer" by Duran Duran. In support of this release, in November of the same year, the singers again went on tour to Germany.

In the meantime, Frank and his team returned to the studio again to repeat the path they had traveled. Three long months of song selection and arrangement followed, six months of refurbishment of the new church "Henry Wood Hall" in London into a recording studio and mixing of tracks. True, this time no one - neither singers nor publishers - had to be convinced that the project would be winning. Preparation for the recording was thought out

down to the smallest detail, and the production team - Jan Erik Kors, Carsten Hessmann and Michael Soltau - played an important role here. "Projects like this require a highly efficient infrastructure," explains Frank Peterson, "you can't just hire any professional singer and record them in the first studio you find." And finally, in October 2001, the new Gregorian album "Masters of chant Chapter II" (Part II) was released.

All in all, "Master of chant Chapter II" proved to be more difficult to produce than its award-winning predecessor. "We've been working a lot with strings and guitars," says Peterson, inspired by the high expectations of the success of his first work. "People shouldn't be allowed to get bored for lack of original ideas, and at the same time, they shouldn't be pressured with over-ambitious experiments."

In the second part, the orchestral component was expanded, and some ethnic instruments were included in it. The album "Master of chant Chapter II" includes two original compositions - "Moment of peace" (by Carsten Heusmann, appeared first as a separate single, the female part was performed by Sarah Brightman) and "Babylon", as well as world classic rock hits " Child in time" Deep Purple, "Wish you were here" Pink Floyd, "In the air tonight" Phil Collins, "Stairway to heaven" Led Zeppelin, which acquired a completely new and unexpected sound. "Chapter II" was as successful, if not more so, than its predecessor. A tour of the participants across Europe followed again, during which about 60 concerts were given, and the performers themselves were awarded the status of superstars. There were no longer enough churches and churches to hold such a large number of live concerts, so sometimes small concert halls with suitable acoustics were used. In late 2001, this tour was followed by a bigger budget DVD and VHS cassette called "Moments of peace in Ireland", in which the choir performed their numbers against the background of the historical sights of this titled country.

Exactly one year after the release of the third album Gregorian in October 2002 "Master of chant Chapter III" (Part III) is born, thus completing the thematic trilogy. The new album's color scheme, including the performers' monastic togas, was changed to a mustard yellow tone, as opposed to red for the first album and blue for the second. The album is notable for two insanely beautiful compositions - "Join me in death" by modern Finnish love-metal band HIM and "Voyage, voyage" by French 80s disco star Desireless. The women's parts were again performed by Sarah Brightman, hiding under the pseudonym Hepsibah. In addition, the chill-out version of the hit "Join me" (the last track) is presented to us by the German electronic duo Schiller. The first countries in which the new album was released were Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and within the first weeks of release it began to climb up the pop charts of these countries.

Discography:

1. Sadisfaction 1991

2. Master of chant 2000

3. Master of chant Chapter II 2001

4. Master of chant Chapter III 2002

5. Master of chant Chapter IV 2003

Biography of Frank Peterson and the Creation of Gregorian

Frank Peterson was born on December 20, 1963 in Hamburg. Having learned to play the piano since childhood, Frank worked in a music equipment store in the early 80s, where he recorded his first demo. One day he showed his demos to Michael Cretu, already quite famous at that time. Cretu liked it and invited Frank to Munich to work in his team. So Frank became the keyboardist for the rising pop star Sandra.

Peterson's first notoriety came in June 1985 when he played the main keyboard part of Sandra Maria Magdalena's song. In subsequent years, Frank often acted as a co-composer of Sandra's songs together with Cretu. In particular, under the pseudonym Frank Peters, he participated in the writing of such hits by Sandra as Around My Heart, One More Night and Johny Wanna Live.

In 1989, Peterson moved with the Cretu family (by that time Michael and Sandra were married) to the Spanish island of Ibiza. There, Frank and Michael hit upon the innovative idea of ​​superimposing religious chants on dance rhythms. They adopt the pseudonyms F. Gregorian and Curly M.C. respectively, and found the Enigma project. In 1990, the first single of the Sadeness project was released, which went from underground club music to a global hit. After the overwhelming success of Sadeness, Michael and Frank decide to release a full length Enigma album. A disc called MCMXC a.D comes out at the end of 1990 and breaks all sales records. In addition to Sadeness, Frank is involved in writing the text of another Enigma composition - The Voice & The Snake, written based on the biblical Book of Revelations.

In 1991, Peterson abruptly ended his collaboration with Cretu and returned to Hamburg. official reason break - the desire to start a solo career. Since then, Frank and Michael have never met, which suggests a "bad" separation of partners.

In Hamburg, Peterson meets aspiring composer and producer Thomas Schwartz and virtuoso keyboardist Matthias Meissner, with whom he begins work on his solo project Gregorian, in the title of which he used his old pseudonym. The debut album Gregorian - Sadisfaction was released in 1991 and was a great success in Europe. With the exception of its main hit So Sad, the album did not intersect with the work of Enigma in any way and contained high-quality pop music. The album was followed by successful singles So Sad and Once In A Lifetime with vocals female duet The Sisters Of Oz.

After the release of Sadisfaction, Frank "forgets" about Gregorian for a long time and starts producing other projects. So for the period from 1993 to 1999, Peterson produced four albums by Sarah Brightman, three albums by Princess (Princessa) and one album by Ofra Haza (Ofra Haza), and also founded his own studio Nemo Studios in Hamburg.

Masters Of Chant

In 1998, Frank Peterson decides to resume work on the project and, together with his new team (Michael Soltau, Carsten Heusmann and Jan-Eric Kohrs), begins work on a new Gregorian album. The idea of ​​the album was as follows: to show the most memorable songs of different generations with the help of Gregorian chants. After many hours of listening, the team selected 12 songs representing four generations: from the 60s to the 90s. "We listened to hundreds of songs before we decided. But in the end, only first-class ones were selected," says Peterson. Among the selected songs are such classics of world music as Simon & Garfunkel, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, REM, Eric Clapton, Metallica. And the work began ... Each composition was re-arranged and an instrumental introduction was written for each composition. All arrangements were recorded at Nemo Studios in Hamburg. After recording the instrumental parts, the Gregorian team traveled to England to record the choir. To record the vocal parts, Frank Peterson invited a leading English church choir of 12 people, who sang in all the major cathedrals in Britain. The recording of the choir took place in an old English church, which was temporarily converted into a studio. This is because Peterson wanted to achieve the natural sound of a church choir, which is only possible in a church. Also, 200 candles were lit in the church to create a natural atmosphere. After all the vocals were recorded, the Gregorian team returned to Hamburg and started mixing the album. As a result, work on the album lasted a year.

A The album Masters Of Chant went on sale at the end of 1999 and immediately took off to the top of the charts in many countries. It went platinum or gold in Germany, Norway, Belgium, Australia and other countries. The album was so successful that Gregorian decided to tour Europe. The tour began in early 2000. All concerts were held in old churches. The choir, dressed in real monastic robes, sang only live. A successful tour further spurred interest in the album and the Edel label released in October 2000 a re-release of Masters Of Chant, supplemented by two new tracks - I Still Haven "t Found What I" m Looking For (U2) and Save A Prayer (Duran Duran). In early 2001 the DVD Gregorian - Masters Of Chant In Santiago De Compostela was released. For this DVD, 10 video clips were specially recorded, filmed in the mountains and ancient castles.

IN At the end of 2000, Frank and his team start working on a new project album. This time Gregorian decided to cover the famous rock ballads. Within 3 months, new compositions were selected and arrangements for them were recorded. To record the choir, a London church was "occupied" for six months. Finally, in October 2001, Masters Of Chant was released. chapter II. The first single for the album, Moments Of Peace, was specially written by Carsten Heusmann. The album proved to be as successful as its predecessor and a second European tour was not long in coming. More than 60 performances were given, not only in churches, but also in theaters. At the end of 2001 the second DVD of the project was released - Moments Of Peace In Ireland, clips for which were filmed in picturesque places in Ireland.

R A year later, in October 2002, the Masters Of Chant album was released. Chapter III, which concludes the trilogy. The list of world music stars covered on this disc is impressive - Depeche Mode, Elton John, Sting, Duran Duran, Chris Isaak, HIM... The album also included two original compositions - Before The Dawn and Out Of The Cold. For the first time, a dance remix was included on a Gregorian album. It was made by the German electronic duo Schiller for the song Join Me. The first countries in which the disc was released were Germany, Austria and Switzerland. After a week of sales, the album soared to the top of the charts. In December 2002 the third DVD of the project was released - Masters Of Chant. Chapter III, unusual for the inclusion of the non-album track Voyage.

Most online sources describe "Gregorian" as a group performing modern pop and rock songs in the manner of Gregorian chants. Then there is the mention that the group uses the image of medieval monks and the performers come on stage in cassocks, and in most cases the details end there. The future leader of the "Gregorians" Frank Peterson began his career as a keyboardist for the ex-soloist of the disco group "Arabesque" Sandra. Together with her friend (and later husband) Mihai Cretu, in the second half of the 80s he wrote hits for other artists, and in 1990 he became a co-founder of the Enigma project, which blew up the charts of many countries with its unusual style, which so they called it "enigmatic". After the release of the debut album "MCMXC A.D." (on which Frank, for reasons of mystery, was referred to as F. Gregorian), the partners parted, and Peterson, overwhelmed with new ideas, returned from Ibiza to Hamburg, where he began to select partners for another project.

The record, recorded under the name "Gregorian", was like the work of "Enigma" in a raunchy version and, despite the presence of sample chorales, had little in common with the upcoming "Gregorian" works. After the release of "Sadisfaction", Frank turned to other things and produced for eight years various artists such as Sarah Brightman and Ofra Haza, and only in 1999 decided to return to his brainchild, however, having previously revised its concept.

Now the musician wanted to adapt modern (and not quite) hits to Gregorian chants without using samples, and together with several composer friends began painstaking work for the selection of material. After combing through all the decades from the 60s to the 90s, they chose 12 pieces of various artists from Eric Clapton before " Metallica" and from " Dire Straits" before " R.E.M.". Further, the compositions were distilled into the Gregorian style and designed for electronic new age, and then the casting of soloists for the choir began (with preference given to graduates classical school). The recording of vocals took place in the building of an old church converted into a studio, and candles were lit in the room to create the right mood for the performers. The whole process of preparing the album, including mixing and polishing, took a lot of time from its creators and required large investments, but fortunately all the costs paid off when the disc went on sale. "Masters Of Chant" turned out to be a remarkable restart for "Gregorian" - in six European countries the record became gold (and in Portugal - platinum), and in nine states it hit the top ten.

The success of the album was accompanied by requests for concerts, and in 2000 the band went on their first tour. The mysterious and bewitching music of "Gregorian" moved from players to churches (where musicians used to perform), and listeners who saw real (as they thought) monks on stage, were even more imbued with respect for her.

At the end of the tour, the studio circle was repeated, and during the creation of "Masters Of Chant Chapter II", the orchestrations became more complex and ethnic instruments were used. The album, which, along with other things, includes arrangements of such famous rock anthems as " child in time" And " Stairway To Heaven", expanded the geography of distribution of "Gregorian" discs to southeast Asia and in addition to gold certificates and holes in the top ten brought the group the first hit single - "Moment Of Peace" with vocals from Sarah Brightman. Now the "Gregorian" machine was in full swing, and not a year went by without another album appearing on the market with the same hooded monks on the cover. Most of them made up the "Masters Of Chant" series, but there were some exceptions. So, in 2004, the disc "The Dark Side" was released, which really consisted of darker than usual things with covers of such performers as " Nine Inch Nails ", "Doors ", "Sisters Of Mercy" etc.

On next year the first best collection "The Masterpieces - Decade I" was published, and in 2006, Peterson's wards released the Christmas disc "Christmas Chants" (this disc easily made it to the German Top 30 and became the best seasonal album of the year). During the second half of the 2000s, "Gregorian" stamped out three more chapters of the endless...logy "Masters Of Chant", and at the turn of the decades they once again retreated into darkness with the program "Dark Side Of The Chant". A small step aside was made a couple of years later, when the "monks" collected themes from films ("Against All Odds", "Titanic", "The Return Of The King", etc.) on the disc "Epic Chants", but already on the next release, the band returned to the traditional "chants" format.