Regarding classical religious masses or requiems

[Lance]

We were discussing on another thread about Beethoven's Missa Solmenis. I noted that this is not one of my favored works by Beethoven in the genre. So which ones do we like? I would like to mention some. See if you agree or can add to it. I am specifically stating masses or requiems and NOT oratorios such as Elijah or Messiah. The ones in bold are the best known and best loved so I know I am not alone on those!

•Gounod: Saint Cecila Mass
•Brahms A German Requiem
•Verdi: Requiem
•Schubert: Mass No. 6 in E-flat
•Berlioz: Requiem
•Mozart: Requiem in d & Coronation
•Fauré: Requiem
•Puccini: Messa di Gloria
•Weber: wrote at least two, interesting but not well-known
•JS Bach: Mass in b (but anything of Bach's religious works)
•FJ Haydn, several but particularly "Lord Nelson"

Ones that I was less enamored with [but still enjoy] include those by:
•Schumann
•Dvorak
•Cherubini
•Rossini

The one by Benjamin Britten is not my on my mind for the most part. Nor Bernstein's.

[david johnson]

I enjoy the ones you mention as well as even older material in a similar vein

[maestrob]

Lance, I have sung most of what's on your top list in Carnegie Hall and loved every work. The Schubert Mass No. 6 in E flat stays with me as a masterpiece, especially the vocal solos, but the highlight of my younger years as a musician remains the Bach B Minor Mass. Not to mention the Verdi Requiem, of course!

I'm also in love with Dvorak's Requiem, as well as the Kabalevsky, perhaps that composer's greatest work.

[diegobueno]

Apart from the obvious ones:

Machaut -- Messe de notre dame
Ockeghem -- Requiem
Dufay -- Missa Se la face ay pale
Byrd -- Mass for 3 voices

come to think of it, in early music circles those are also the obvious ones.

Haydn -- Lord Nelson Mass, Harmonie Mass, Missa in tempore belli
Bruckner -- Mass in e minor
Stravinsky -- Mass

Britten's War Requiem, because it incorporates war poetry, falls more in the oratorio category.
Bernstein's Mass falls more in the music theater category.

[Febnyc]

Peter Benoit - Hoogmis (Missa Solonelle)

[Holden Fourth]

B Minor Mass

Schubert 6

Verdi

Mozart

Faure

Lux Aerterna - Lauridsen

[barney]

I seldom listen to long Masses, because if I have the time for that I'll usually play an opera. But not all Masses are long. My favourites are probably pretty standard - Verdi Requiem, Rossini Stabat Mater, Mozart Requiem and Great Mass, the Schubert, Bach's Mass and Passions, most of the Haydn masses, Faure. I don't really know the Gounod with which Lance opened his list.

There's a Catholic church in the city with a noted music ministry - a sort of very minor Trinity Wall Street - which stages four masses a year with small orchestra, such as a Haydn or Schubert Mass. Not, for example, the Bach. I love to go when I notice they are on - delightful to hear the Mass in its intended setting. I don't partake of the elements because I am a Protestant, and the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne told me 20 years go that I should not.

[Belle]

I heard Schubert and Haydn, Rossini and Cherubini masses frequently each Sunday at Augustinerkirche, Wien. Smaller forces of that period, of course, and performed in the church itself really suited my tastes. They also performed other composers of masses less familiar to me and those mentioned below are a sample of what is on the program this year. I do note they have varied their composers on offer since I was last there for Mass (2015). How beautiful it was to hear the Haydn masses with the sound of horses' hooves outside for the usual tourist trade!! Notice that at Easter this year they're performing the Nelsonmesse - one of my favourites by Haydn.

03.03.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | A. Bruckner: Windhaager Messe ⇒ Details
10.03.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | J. G. Rheinberger: Messe F-Dur ⇒ Details
17.03.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | Z. Kodály: Missa brevis ⇒ Details
24.03.2024, 11.00: Palmsonntagshochamt | W. A. Mozart: Orgelsolomesse ⇒ Details
27.03.2024, 18.30: Orgelmeditation | M. Dupré: Der Kreuzweg ⇒ Details
28.03.2024, 18.30: Abendmahlsmesse | A. Bruckner: Messe für den Gründonnerstag ⇒ Details
29.03.2024, 18.30: Karfreitagsliturgie | P. Tiefengraber: Johannespassion für St. Augustin ⇒ Details
30.03.2024, 20.00: Osternacht | Festmusik für Chor, Bläser, Pauken & Orgel ⇒ Details
31.03.2024, 11.00: Osterhochamt | J. Haydn: Nelsonmesse ⇒ Details
01.04.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | W. A. Mozart: Krönungsmesse ⇒ Details
07.04.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | W. A. Mozart: Große Credomesse ⇒ Details
14.04.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | F. Schubert: Große Messe Es-Dur ⇒ Details
21.04.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | J. Haydn: Jugendmesse ⇒ Details
28.04.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | W. A. Mozart: Piccolominimesse ⇒ Details
02.05.2024, 20.00: FESTKONZERT | W. A. Mozart: Krönungsmesse & A. Bruckner: Te Deum ⇒ Details
05.05.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | M. Haydn: Oboenmesse ⇒ Details
09.05.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | W. A. Mozart: Loretomesse ⇒ Details
12.05.2024, 11.00: Hochamt | O. Nicolai: Missa solemnis ⇒ Details
19.05.2024, 11.00: Pfingsthochamt | J. Haydn: Paukenmesse ⇒

I love the Haydn masses but, naturally, my favourite is the Bach B Minor - which is head and shoulders above all the rest. When I heard Mozart's masses in Vienna I realized, in that context, how theatrical that sacred music really is!! It caught me off guard actually. And with the Schubert masses, I was able to discern some weakness with orchestration. Nonetheless, I enjoyed these because they were from my beloved composer.

[Belle]

Apart from the obvious ones:

Machaut -- Messe de notre dame
Ockeghem -- Requiem
Dufay -- Missa Se la face ay pale
Byrd -- Mass for 3 voices

come to think of it, in early music circles those are also the obvious ones.

Haydn -- Lord Nelson Mass, Harmonie Mass, Missa in tempore belli

Totally align with this stunning list, and also Biber's Requiem: it is on this CD, along with the humorous Battalia @ 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQCdrSDkAs

What about non-vocal religious music? Again from Biber, Die Rosenkranzsonaten. A huge work from a composer still underestimated, in my opinion. Elegant and difficult music for some listeners, Biber's use of scordatura adds to the 'mystery'. This music derived from the period of the rise of the master luthiers and virtuosi exponents of the violin. Into that mix goes the Italian castrati and their musical 'athletics'.

Part of it here, with which many here will already be familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBlivYSrBo

One of my all-time great composers is Monteverdi and this little gem throws that composer's delicate and elegant sound world into high relief:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Xek1Pk87M

[Febnyc]

OK - here's a dark horse to consider:

Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962): Requiem in C Minor.

Really quite beautiful - and how many choral works will you hear sung in Estonian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRJ68dI9W84

[Belle]

Not sung in Estonian, but from an Estonian composer: this is quite stunning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqfGFAGguFA

[Holden Fourth]

Another dark horse and one I discovered just recently

Misa Criolla - Ariel Ramirez composed in 1964

[Lance]

Absolutely! This is one of my favorite masses - a great recording on Philips with José Carreras. Thank you for including it!

Another dark horse and one I discovered just recently

Misa Criolla - Ariel Ramirez composed in 1964

[Lance]

I have to give the Kabalevsky a listen ... it's been a long time and somehow, I forgot about that one. Thank you for listing that.

Lance, I have sung most of what's on your top list in Carnegie Hall and loved every work. The Schubert Mass No. 6 in E flat stays with me as a masterpiece, especially the vocal solos, but the highlight of my younger years as a musician remains the Bach B Minor Mass. Not to mention the Verdi Requiem, of course!

I'm also in love with Dvorak's Requiem, as well as the Kabalevsky, perhaps that composer's greatest work.

[Lance]

Another Requiem I forgot about, just listened to tonight, that of Karl Jenkins -- a stunning work available on EMI 57966. Some marvelous choral work and solo work. For a modern-day piece of music, it is touching and inspiring. Bryn Terfel has a marvelous solo in the work.

[Febnyc]

Luis Bacalov, who won an Academy Award for his lovely film score for Il Postino, wrote a mass based on the music of Argentina - Misa Tango. It sometimes sounds like a hodgepodge of styles and form - with the bandoneon giving the piece a strange aspect.

Here's the Gloria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkPgZP2GBVU

[diegobueno]

The Misa Tango! I've actually performed that piece! I play with the Pan American Symphony Orchestra whenever they use a full orchestra (most of the time they're a tango group with just strings, piano and bandoneon) and one of these times was in 2014, with the Choral Arts Society, in a concert at the Kennedy Center. It was a lot of fun, as well as a thrill just to play on the main stage of the Kennedy Center concert hall.

[Belle]

Another glorious Requiem from Biber:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kkAiTbnTZY

[Lance]

Heard the Kabalevsky Requiem, Op. 72 this evening - very nice to hear this massive three-part work again. It has some golden moments, some good solos, and overall, captures one's attention. It's a longish work coming in at 88 minutes but going from movement-to-movement things go smoothly and well-connected. The 1964 Melodiya recording on Olympia is vivid and colorful with lots of drama throughout. While the Moscow Symphony Orchestra is fine, the choral work of Artistic Education Institute under Vladislav Sokolov is outstanding. Best of all, to have the composer conducting makes the Requiem even more inspiring and memorable. Thanks for listing this. It was a good listen!

I have to give the Kabalevsky a listen ... it's been a long time and somehow, I forgot about that one. Thank you for listing that.

Lance, I have sung most of what's on your top list in Carnegie Hall and loved every work. The Schubert Mass No. 6 in E flat stays with me as a masterpiece, especially the vocal solos, but the highlight of my younger years as a musician remains the Bach B Minor Mass. Not to mention the Verdi Requiem, of course!

I'm also in love with Dvorak's Requiem, as well as the Kabalevsky, perhaps that composer's greatest work.