Bliss
from Tuesday, May1st of the year2007.
So, not two seconds after I wrote that essay, I got an e-mail reminding me that the choir of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue was going to sing my Bright Mass with Canons (which I wrote for them) the following morning. It is such unfettered bliss to hear this music performed in a liturgical setting, because there is no clapping, no acknowledgement of performers, conductor, composer, anything ““ just focused listening. Here is a recording from February, 2005, of the Agnus Dei (its premiere outing). You can hear people clicking and clacking up the stairs to take communion. My favorite bit of this recording is the end, where a semichorus of trebles elegantly climbs a scale ““ I remember singing passages like this; with boys’ voices you can really appreciate the difference in color between each note.
Agnus Dei from Bright Mass with Canons (2005)
[audio:BMWCagnus.mp3]
Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
John Scott, Director of Music
Jeremy Bruns, Organ
7 Comments
May 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Loved the piece. (The sound of people “clicking and clacking” just adds to the spirituality of the piece). What about the whole of the Mass?
P.S The CD is exellent
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Glorious!! Thanks for posting it, Nico. You rock… or perhaps I should say transcend.
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Like the Agnus Dei very much–it’s interesting to hear the differences in style and approach when juxtuposed against the pieces in Speaks Volumes.
Is there a cd/mp3 version available for purchase?
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
That is beautful – the first of your music I’ve heard. Is the Mass published? I’d like to tell a choral director friend about it. Sounds like it could fit has chamber choir very nicely.
May 16th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Lovely. Do you have a recording of “Set Me As A Seal?” I bought the sheet music but it would be so nice to just HEAR it. Thanks.
May 18th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Glorious indeed! Thank you.
August 23rd, 2009 at 4:29 am
possibly one of the most gorgeous pieces i’ve ever heard. If i didn’t know better, i’d say the whole thing was purposefully recorded like that.
j