The Gregorian group became famous thanks to its unique performance of world rock and pop hits. Compositions fascinate with their originality and, bypassing the brain, penetrate directly into the heart. And the whole secret lies in the fact that the songs of the Gregorian group are performed in the style of a Gregorian church chant, against which modern electronic music sounds. The compositions have some similarities with Enigma, which is no coincidence.
A little bit about the project leader
Frank Patterson was born on December 20, 1963 in the city of Hamburg. At the age of four, the boy first began to master the simplest works on the piano, having reached the highest mastery in this art by the puberty period. Gregorian's founding father began his musical career in the distant 80s, when he was a regular dealer in the studio equipment store.
In his free time (when there were no visitors), Patterson recorded his work, which was soon demonstrated to Michel Cretu, one of the regular customers who at that time was not yet famous. The demo was appreciated, so soon new friends went to Munich, where Frank became a keyboard player at Sandra from Arabesque. The most outstanding work of that period was the performance of the singer’s world hit called “Maria Magdalena”.
Background
The musician worked in the project for five years, which did not prevent him from creating music for other artists. Many compositions were recorded with Michel Cretu, and after he married Sandra, friends went to Ibiza. It was there that the Enigma project was born, and the first album was introduced to the world in 1990.
Biography
Gregorian was born in 1991 thanks to Frank Patterson, the founding father and producer of the project in Hamburg (Germany). In Ibiza, he worked with Michel Cretu on Enigma's first album, MCMXC aD, and to add some mystery, their names are heavily veiled under the pseudonyms Curly MC and F. Gregorian. Also co-written was the hit Sadeness and the text for The Voice & the Snake, which was created under the inspiration of reading the Bible. However, due to creative disagreements, Cretu and Patterson soon diverged, which prompted Frank to return to his homeland and start his own work.
While on vacation in Spain, the musician met with Thomas Schwartz, who was a great friend of keyboards. The two guys were serious about creating something new and unique, in addition to the duo, Matthias Meissener, Michael Ver and Frank Patterson's ex-wife, Susanne Espelleta, joined.
Bad start
When enough material was accumulated to release the album, the debut vinyl of the band Gregorian - Sadisfaction was born. The name of the project is directly associated with the Gregorian liturgical chants that once came to Europe along with Christianity from Israel, Syria and Palestine. Moreover, the word gregorian refers to Pope Gregory I, who proposed a new calendar of chronology.
Everything was clear with the name, but the lack of lively interest in the unusual musical mix forced Frank Patterson to suspend the project. You can not say about the group Enigma, which, on the contrary, very quickly fell in love with representatives of the most motley audience.
Promotion of other projects
For most of the 90s, Frank produced performers such as Ofra Haza, Sarah Brightman and Princess. He established himself as an outstanding producer and talented creator of outstanding music that could make the soul cry and rejoice - either sweeping away everything in its path, then reviving from the ashes.
Closer to 1998, the audience was sufficiently prepared to accept such a combination of genres as pop rock with new age and liturgical choral, so Patterson came out of the shadows, choosing the most successful moment for this. It was then that he shook off the dust from his brainchild called Gregorian.
Project participants
- Frank Paterson is the author and leader of the group.
- Sarah and Amelia Brightman - female vocals.
- Gunter Laudan is a guitar.
- Roland Payle - Percussion.
- Harry Reismann - drums.
- Male choir.
Renaissance
A new idea for the project was the performance of various compositions, which at that time were popular in the Gregorian style. The whole secret was just that - what could be better than the new “tasty” sound of the hits that were familiar and loved by everyone? Everything was clear with the music, however, the main element was missing - voices that could emphasize the meaning conveyed by the melody. For the sake of this, Frank Patterson scored a choir of ten people, and each of them was either a native of the cathedral, or a bachelor of the Classical Academy. And in order to give the voices good acoustics and tune the performers in the right way, the producer rented a studio that was equipped in one of the ancient cathedrals of England. By his order, during the recording, the room was lit by the flame of two hundred wax candles.
Heyday
Soon the group began to receive a lot of offers from the organizers of the concerts, each of which was accepted. Musicians traveled to various cities, delighting fans with their vibrant show program and beautiful rock sound. In 2001, a DVD was released called Moments of peace in Ireland, containing videos by the Gregorian group, in which the choir members, dressed in monastic cassocks, sang against the backdrop of beautiful Irish landscapes. It also emphasizes the divine meaning of vocal exposition.
Conclusion
Frank Patterson is not only a talented composer and songwriter, sound engineer and arranger, but also a universal musician. He himself is able to show one of the participants exactly how this or that fragment should sound, picking up a guitar, sitting down at a synthesizer or drum kit. In addition, Frank has a producer's vision and knows what to do with the song in order to teach it in the most favorable light.
A similar project was a very risky venture, but the shot hit the target, and all eight Gregorian albums were more than successful commercially. The repertoire is extremely rich in its diversity and includes both Christmas songs and world hits of such rock bands as The Beatles, Deep Perple, Ice Cepellin, AC / DC, Metallica, Rammstein "And" HIM ".
In addition, the Gregorian group performs their own compositions. During live performances, the church choir against the background of instruments standard for rock performance sounds truly grandiose and leads the listener into a surreal world, far from our planet.