I am inclined to believe that the length of vowels and consonants would have
formed an essential part of how the poems were chanted - discarding the
difference
seems like a rather bad idea.

But you never know. I am told that Chinese discards the difference between
its
tones when sung. Similarily one could imagine that a language might discard
the difference
between short and long sounds (if the difference is really only in the
quantity) in singing.

I haven't heard the Sequentia CD so I don't know what style of chanting they
use, but only in the simplest styles is it really possible to retain these
differences.  Most music, including folk music, is governed by a fixed
musical rhythm, to which the words are fitted.  Therefore, it's the long and
short musical notes which take precedence, not the long and short syllables
which are forced into the musical pattern.  When vowel length and (Chinese)
tones are discarded, it's up to the listener to supply them from the context.
 I discussed this once with a Chinese language teacher (who was not a
musician), who didn't understand the question.   In her mind, all of the
tones were there, although they actually weren't - it was just her
imagination which supplied them.

But again, I haven't heard the CD, so maybe what I'm saying doesn't apply in
this case.   But I'm sure that Sequentia was going at this from the
standpoint of musicians, and even though they may have a good intent to honor
the text, they're thinking of the music first.

Tim

Tim