Excerpt from The Catholic University of America’s Christmas Concert, 2019, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Wash. DC, aired on EWTN
“A Child is Born”, for organ and choir, is subtitled “Variations on Puer Natus in Bethlehem”; that is variations on the previous chant. This 1990 setting is by the American composer Leo Nestor (1943 - 2019), professor of music at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. In order to accent the syllables as if they were being chanted, Dr. Nestor frequently uses uneven meters of 5 and 7, which successfully echoes some rhythmic qualities of chant more than a regular tempo setting would. Both the first and last verses consist of unison voices and organ, but achieve very different effects. The main body of the piece is polyphonic but relies in large part on the melody of the original plainchant.

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