Mass

Locations
Call Number: CD Religious Bernstein Mass
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 3rd Floor, CDs 2-week checkout	CD Religious Bernstein Mass	2-week checkout	On Shelf

"A theatre piece for singers, players, and dancers"--Container.
Text from the liturgy of the Roman Mass; additional texts by Stephen Schwartz and Leonard Bernstein.
Previously released material; originally released 1971.
Compact discs.
Booklet containing libretto with English translation of the Latin portions, and historical notes in English with German and French translations (87 p. : ill.) laid in container.
Disc 1. Devotions before mass ; First introit (Rondo) ; Second introit ; Confession ; Meditation no. 1 ; Gloria ; Meditation no. 2 ; Epistle ; Gospel-Sermon -- Disc 2. Credo ; Meditation no. 3 ; Offertory ; The Lord's Prayer ; Sanctus ; Agnus Dei ; Fraction ; Pax: Communion.
Alan Titus, singer ; other vocal soloists; Norman Schribner Choir ; Berkshire Boy Choir ; instrumentalists ; Leonard Bernstein, conductor.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Weird and Cool submitted by Jan Wolter on July 29, 2013, 7:04am Leonard Bernstein wrote this mass under a commission from Jacqueline Kennedy, since hiring a Jewish composer to write a mass is just the obvious thing to do. He first intended to do it straight, and it is structured like a traditional mass, but then he turned it into a theatrical performance, which starts in faithful harmony, but doubts creep in, parts of the chorus rebel, and finally a way is found back to a purer, simpler faith. Much of it is in Latin, but parts are in English (with some lyrics by Paul Simon!). It combines many musical styles and genres. G. Gordon Liddy's FBI investigated it, and decided that the Latin text might contain subversive anti-war, anti-establishment messages, so Richard Nixon bowed out of the premier.

I own this recording, and like it. Bernstein himself conducts and this is the original cast. But the music without the stage performance is only about 75% of the fun. Unfortunately, the chances of seeing a live performance is a bit slim - it isn't performed often.