An Explanation for the "Western" Sound?

I have been critical of the sound of Gregorian chant and possibly other forms of Western sacred music. This article at OAJ may explain the reason for the sound of Western sacred music leaning more towards higher voices.



Is the following true of the architectural styles that succeeded the Gothic?

In contrast, Gothic architecture has a distinct acoustic difference. The majority of the wall surface in a large Gothic church is leaded glass. These big expanses of glass are smooth and hard, but they are not unyielding. High-pitched sounds will reflect off them readily, but low-pitched sounds will actually shake them, and this shaking motion absorbs the energy out of the sound. Furthermore, many of the big north-European churches that were famous centers of musicianship had wood, rather than stone, vaulting, and the thin wood ceiling paneling was likewise shakable and absorbent to low pitches. Acoustic measurements show that large Gothic churches have a notable drop off in reverberance in the bass range.

Has this "typical" sound influenced the way schola and choir directors have recruited and organized the voices for their groups, so that this is the sound they wish to mimic or present?

This is significant for the development of western church music. The great composers of the baroque period were mostly employed at huge Gothic churches, and they wrote music tailored to those spaces. The continuous modulation and contrapuntal bass lines in the music of J.S. Bach, for instance, depends upon an acoustic in which the bass decays rapidly. Those bass lines are played on immensely loud organ pipes, and were they to reverberate for several seconds, the music would become muddy and the harmonic modulation would be irritating. The long reverberation in the high frequencies is not a problem, however, because high harmonics are consonant with all notes of a scale. A ringing bell-like descant of high reverberance gives a pleasing sparkle to baroque music without muddying the forward motion.

Would Western chant and singing sound "better" in an Orthodox temple or in the oldest Roman churches, as the lower male voices can be heard more clearly? There are East European temples that are built of wood rather than stone--do these preserve the "Byzantine" sound, and how are they able to do so, in a way that the bass is not preserved in Western temples that have wood? (Is it merely the lack of large [stained-glass] windows?)

It would seem that there should be rules of architecture and building composition so that the bass is preserved, so that there is the presence of masculine voices during the liturgy is emphasized; otherwise there may be consequences on the participation of men during the liturgy, even if they happen at a subconscious level. (And for the West, we should also remember that the actual participation of the majority of the laity in the liturgy was limited as they did not understand Latin.)

Kyrie "In Resurrectione Domini" - Old Roman Chant (Home Edition)