SKU: MN.56-0076

UPC: 688670220791. Latin.

This mass setting was commissioned by the Friends of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and first performed on Ascension Sunday, 1994. Suitable for both church and concert use, the music is both lyrical and dramatic. The “Benedictus” is for SATB divisi and begins with a short 6/8 declamation, then moves into a section where the rhythmic idea is set in a sort of off-the-beat fashion, with all parts divisi playing against each other. A unison section with the off-the-beat motif follows. A majestic “Hosanna” follows. The “Agnus Dei” is set in a rubato triple meter in a homophonic style with close chords (also divisi.) At the “miserere,” the choir 1/choir 2 call and response motif from the “Gloria” returns. That same motif continues into the “dona nobis pacem,” as the movement (and the entire Mass) ends with a long decrescendo into a quiet call, “Pacem.” Duration 7:33.