A Reflection of America | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass | Carol Barnett, Philip Brunelle, ... ...

classical music: The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass | Carol Barnett, Philip Brunelle, ...

classical music:


	• The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass Carol Barnett, Philip Brunelle, ... Clarion, 2007 average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Modernist, intelligent and profoundly moving

Although the sentiments of the text are markedly politically and socially liberal--exponentially Vatican-II, even to the point that one could imagine this being played in a unitarian universalist meeting--the mass itself has so much to speak for it that I am rather intimidated by the task.

The bluegrass idiom is not a domineering force in the music: It has been wholly internalized and classicized, much the same way Moeran and Williams internalized and classicized the idiom of British folk music in their pastoral work. What could have so easily manifested as a gimmick is instead unflaggingly surprising and incisively intelligent: Barnett's score is utterly modernist in its handling of expectation and satisfaction, administering the familiar movements of American folk music in ways that underscore both the intellectuality of post-Romantic tonal composition as well as delivering a deeply affective textual and musical package. The first time I listened to this album in the privacy of my home I was brought almost to tears upwards of _four times_--freakish, considering my disposition.

The form and content of the mass, though modernized and treated with great liberty, is completely faithful to both the formal outline of the classical mass as well as the theological ideas it carries except in the case of the Credo, which has been replaced by an inappropriate (but beautiful) meditation on labor and paradise. Undercutting the affirmation of faith in an indivisible trinity reduces the very real emotional impact of the ballad which divides the mass into its canonical sections--a theological point which I raise as a non-religious person, and which I doubt will be of concern to most listeners. Other than the Credo, the faithful inventiveness of the text is a source of delight.

The high point of the Mass is, I think, without doubt the Kyrie, a show-stopping and sophisticated handling of folk idiom in a modernist context. The Sanctus is another real pleasure, although Barnett's score is far less complicated; what it temporarily lacks in sophistication (the folk idiom is not commented on or exploited by her setting, but feels taken for granted) it makes up in joyful energy: It is the most exuberant, sincere and personally moving piece of sacred music I have heard.

Purchase the album for the Mass--the choral pieces tacked onto the end are handsomely executed but nothing to compare with the feature event.

I simply cannot praise this album highly enough.

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A Reflection of America

I purchased this CD as a help in learning the bass part of the score. It's a wonderful fresh musical score. I believe that it will be around for a long time, enriching all our lives.

A groundbreaking world premiere scored for the unusual combination of chamber chorus and bluegrass ensemble, including mandolin, violin, guitar, banjo and string bass. The result is exciting new music - the perfect entry point for choral music lovers to the sound of bluegrass, and for bluegrass fans to the beauty fo choral singing. This CD also includes ten American choral masterpieces spanning the centuries. The composers represented here display a passion for voices and what they can convey through words. This CD is in the enhanced format, which includes the audio recording plus program notes, texts and biographies in PDF format.

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Tracks
The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Ballad Refrain | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Kyrie | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Ballad, First Verse | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Gloria | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Ballad, Second Verse and Refrain | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Credo | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Sanctus | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Ballad, Third and Fourth Verses and Refrain | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Agnus Dei | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Interlude: Art Thou Weary? | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Benediction | The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass: Conclusion | O Praise the Lord of Heaven (William Billings) | The Paper Reeds by the Brook (Randall Thompson) | Beneath These Alien Stars (Libby Larsen) | The Day is Done (Stephen Paulus) | I Cannot Dance, O Lord (Aron Jay Kernis) | Sing My Soul (Ned Rorem) | Heritage (William Bolcom) | Zuni Sunrise Song (Brent Michael Davids) | Water Night (Eric Whitacre) | My Soul's Been Anchored (Moses Hogan)