Various: Gregorian Chant (Newton Classics Audio CD) 6-CD set

Music has always played an important part in the lives of early Christians. Following on from the Jewish tradition of psalm singing, the power of voices singing served to magnify the contemplative power of prayer.

Gregorian Chant, named after Pope Gregory II (715-31) probably originated in the Frankish lands ruled over by Charlemagne’s father Pippin the Short, who received Pope Stephen II in 754. In the papal retinue was a group of singers, whose chanting at church services took root among the Franks and was endorsed by royal decree. Eventually, after many centuries of use, the chants were written down, and these preserved versions are sung today.

Chant has also undergone a makeover for the modern world. Featuring in popular films such as The Name of the Rose, after Umberto Eco’s novel, and repeatedly reaching the top of the record charts around the world over the past 20 years (Canto Gregoriano in the early 1990s, and currently a choir of nuns top the UK classical charts), it is also played in clubs as music to chill to, and has been marketed as the ultimate stress-busting music.

The chants on these six CDs take the listener through the Christian story, or the Church year.