# Bernstein - MASS



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I'd just like to ask your opinions on this, imo, masterpiece of late-20th-century choral music.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

I love it. Bernstein's best works are those in which he mixes classical with elements from popular music - Mass, Candide, West Side Story. I like the text of Mass very much also.


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

_I'm lazily pasting this from the "Currently Listening" thread: _

I've been eyeing the Kristjan Järvi recording on Chandos for awhile. Its good to see its been getting some attention (aren't there at least three new recordings of it out now?) I used to have the old Columbia recording on LP-- wore it out! The Agnus Dei is terrifying! The final communion section still moves me to tears.

I remember when I first heard it, on cassette-- I was maybe 16. I checked it out from the local library, thinking it was, you know-- a Mass. The cassettes were in terrible condition and there were no liner notes or anything for me to go on. By the time it got to the marchlike Kyrie, the whistling, the kazoos, the jazz swing beats and the scat singing, I remember stopping the tape declaring (foolishly!), "How terrible! THIS isn't a mass!" Ha!

TO ADD:

Its interesting piece very much "of the times" but I think it is finally proving to have a wider appeal. Oh, and damn, does Bernstein knows how to write a melody!

_~Earthling_


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## KingsSinger9006 (Aug 25, 2010)

I like everything save for the rock numbers that he composed with Stephen Schwartz. They just seem so out of place and out of Bernstein's classical and jazz idiom, thus making the work seem very uneven.


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## DFa (Sep 6, 2010)

Go for the Chichester Psalms, brilliant


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## San Antone (Feb 15, 2018)

jhar26 said:


> I love it. Bernstein's best works are those in which he mixes classical with elements from popular music - Mass, Candide, West Side Story. I like the text of Mass very much also.


Oh, I love this warty thing. All of it, including the dated "rock" sections, yep, love it. I like the Alsop recording on Naxos the best.


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