I think the biggest thing for me must be that the synthesized performance cannot be what's in your head. The organ voices on notation software are famously bad -- the Kyrie of this Mass, since it is unaccompanied, actually gave me the impression that I knew what you were going for.

The tone clusters with alternating solo work, which had their own patient logic in leading to the ultimate resolution made sense and, I think, held together (I have questions about the size and composition of your ensemble, and think you could unshackle yourself a bit from the tyranny of your starting key).

The Gloria which I heard first, and almost last, looked interesting on the page, but I couldn't hear that music through whatever the MIDI was doing. In curiosity, I looked up some of your works for wind ensemble (the "Conference Call" suite) and found that the MIDI performances were expertly curated, and the result was fun, lively music that made a lot of sense. (On that note, I would really appreciate little epigraphs for the different sections of those pieces a la Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" or Joplin's "Wall Street Rag" -- I think it would help us understand the full 'satire' at work).

On the Mass, I would work with alternative voices for the organ setting / play around in the Finale Score Manager (or equivalent in your program) until you like how the big stuff sounds, and then share it, so we are helped, not hindered, from getting an idea of how this works in your head. When we become intuitively aware through listening that you have a vision for this work, and get a sense of what that is, we would be in a better position to appraise it or, if helpful, many of the expert composers on this forum could probably help you realize it even more clearly or, depending on choral forces available and intended use, practically.

But, thanks for writing music and thanks for sharing it.

Achoyce91,

I hope you'll excuse my questions, but if I'm going to attempt to understand the piece, in whole or in part, I shall need to clarify some mush in my brain.


Is the goal of the tone clusters to portray something transcendent, something numinous (if that's the word)?

Picking up on the satire which Nihil identifies, does the piece make more sense if I know those satirical moments are there, clearly signposted for anyone not so dense as to miss them? (For comparison, The Carnival of the Animals is great fun even for the uneducated, but even more for those who hear the cancan in the tortoises or the dance of the fairies in the elephants; the1812 Overture is an impressive piece without the knowledge of the competing themes: La Marseillaise v. God save the Czar, but it's so much more fun when you can hear them).

What time of year, since the seasons have different foci, do you think the piece fits best? Is it (for example) the expectation of Advent, or the severity of Lent, or the grind of the season called Ordinary Time -- so many undifferentiated weeks to work out the spreading of the Great Commission --or maybe even the exuberant joy of Paschaltide?

This reminded me of William Albright's "Chichester Mass."

I appreciate your work, though it probably is a bit outside of the realm of what I would be able to use.

Thank you for sharing your work, Alex!

@Bombarde16, WOW! THAT is the kind of Mass I was going for. Wish mine measured up to his. Such a shame there are so many masterpieces almost nobody knows about...

Achoyce91,

I enjoy singing (and listening to, when sung well) Durufle's Ubi Caritas, but tone clusters aren't the field I plow, as it were, in bringing my own compositions to fruition.

I'm seeking to understand what you, the composer, put into the piece, not what I may or may not find there. Learning about fugue subjects helps people appreciate the opus of Bach and learning about tone clusters and their use to create (invoke?) particular emotions or sense-responses will help me understand your work more than I presently do. Around here somewhere you'll find a setting I wrote of the text of the Introit for the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, in which I try to mimic the fluttering of a heart with vocal rhythms. If you don't grasp that, the piece looks rather like a modern attempt to be undergraduate-student complex just to prove something can be done.

I hope you'll help me to learn what is in your piece that I can appreciate.

"tone clusters aren't the field I plow,"

CGZ: Brilliant! Le mot juste. I have to remember that for future reference. Tone clusters have certainly been a la mode for the past generation of choral writing, it seems, but they are a seasoning I wish were used with more discretion instead of as if they were salt or sriracha.

I find your Mass setting quite interesting, and I appreciate your kindness in sharing it—although I feel a choir would have difficulty singing it well. I think the organ sounds you used are lovely; would you be to willing to share whence they come?

Alex,

I'll limit my comments to the mundane, for now.

If you intend the Gloria in Excelsis Deo to be sung at Mass, that line -- as intoned -- is sung by the priest, so he would need to be comfortable with what you've written as a line for him to sing with the organ underlay. I know there are some very musical priests out there, and I give thanks to God for them, but probably few would be interested to sing that line, and confident to do so, and skilled enough. (That's quite a trifecta!)


At the end of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo there's no Amen. That strikes me as odd from all sorts of perspectives.

As I was reminded recently in a very excellent crash course in Gregorian chant, Latin never puts the accent on the final syllable. All the way through the "qui tollis" section, you have a large percentage of the parts singing "qui tol -LIS". I've no doubt that the effect is intentional and part of the musical environment you're creating, but it's jarring to my ear. You use the same accent pattern in the Memorial acclamations, so it's clearly intentional, but a thing can be intentional and not achieve its goal.

I agree with Chonak about the let down on Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Couple that with the (clearly) jarring notes on Domini -- and it sounds to my uneducated ear as if the text is being intentionally lampooned. Since I trust that's not what you're doing, you might want to reconfigure that.

O yes… the demonic mass… I remember that one…

Good eye, CGZ, for the "qui tollis" parts in the Gloria. Also, I will find a way to reach the Amen as the text requires.

As far as the Sanctus, I'll make sure the "Dominus Deus Sabaoth" is connected and separate from the next word phrase. I'll experiment with changing the key as chonak has suggested.

PEACE!

Chonak,

I've been sheltered from most of Messiaen's work, actually. I've heard wonderful praise of his work, but had very little contact with it myself. Durufle is, I think, the closest I come.

Gerhard,

Could you support that claim, please.

Charles,

Thank you for that. What if I maintained that the "if appropriate" is an empty set, sort of like saying "I support the use of altar girls and contraception every time tusing them is an absolute necessity and morally upright"?

The NO is a new rite, completely different from the TLM with its own set of allowances… I refrain from stating anything else.

Andrew,

I appreciate that there is a difference, and I always appreciate language distinctions such as the one you identify, so thank you for that.

I don't see, however, in this case, that it makes much difference, or enough difference to rescue the practice. "Where applicable" still needs definition. When and where is the idea that a choir can replace the celebrant's intoning of the text actually applicable? Does the regulation address the Los Angles Religious Education Conference or Solemn High Mass with a laryngetic priest or....?

The stressed syllables in the Sanctus have been placed properly and I decided to have the priest intone the Gloria. I personally think a heavy majority of priests can sing the opening line. Also, concerning the Gloria, stressed syllables have been placed properly and an "Amen." has been added.

I'll have the revised videos up this evening.

That be all!

OK! Finally fixed the Gloria and the Sanctus! Below are the links. Enjoy!

Gloria https://youtu.be/-VeRLFM5Znc

Sanctus https://youtu.be/MsXk9u62ERY

@Dixit_Dominus_44, they are the flute and foundation stops from Vienna Symphonic Library’s simplest organ. They have a HUGE organ pack that comes with all sorts of stops. Forgot what it was called…