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The best modern music for Catholic Mass
11/11/07
Many of you are aware that Mozart, Beethoven, Bruckner, and other greats poured some of their most inspired music into the structure of the Catholic Mass. Some consider Beethoven's Mass in B minor to be amongst his greatest work and you know about Mozart's Requiem. Protestants have Bach and his gazillion cantatas.
A drop off occurs in the twentieth century, however, with only Classical music nerds able to name a few Christian works. The reason we lack serious, modern Christian music, of course, is the same reason we don't have Christian literature of Inferno quality or Michaelangelo's divine art- the secularization of society.
I'll be presenting the best of that small category over the next month or so. This week I have a Mass called Misa Criolla by composer Ariel Ramirez. It's a blend of European classical and South American folk musics. Criolla ("creole" in English) means "mixture" and is the term used for American music that blends distinct musical styles- particularly, the afro/Spanish/Indian music of South America. Listen for the South American flutes called Ocarinas, (I think, but please correct me if I'm wrong). The singer is the great Jose Carreras in his prime. The music is indescribably beautiful, but I will say that the diversity of sound is astonishing. Following the dictates of the Second Vatican Council, the language of the Mass is in the vernacular (Spanish, in this case). Believe it or not, the cd, called Misas del mundo, is out of print, so you're stuck with me. I'll play a second, Flamenco-based Mass next week, and, if you have any other suggestions for modern Mass music, let me know.
For the words to the movements, go here.
In Spanish, here, please.
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