It has been 6 years since the new English translation of the Mass came out, which means that the new mass settings that were written for it are now 6 years old. Having lived with these mass settings for 6 years, it is an opportune time to review which settings work and have lasting value, and which settings should be sent to the liturgical music graveyard. Sadly, in the various churches I have attended and played at in this timeframe, I have yet to hear a mass setting I can wholeheartedly endorse, yet I have encountered some that I do recommend while acknowledging their flaws. These are my thoughts; I encourage you to comment below about what mass settings you like and don't like. Mass settings will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 1. Harmony between text and music. The most common failure mode of new mass settings has been that the words fit the music awkwardly. Strange rhythms and melodies are a sign that words have been forced against their will to go where they don't belong. 2. Beauty and musical quality. 3. Singability to a congregation. Contemporary: There are three contemporary mass settings I will recommend. The first two I have personally played for congregations: Mass of Renewal by Curtis Stephan and Mass of St. Anne by Ed Bolduc. The third I have heard recordings of only - Mass of Communion by Matt Maher. I rank them thus: 1. Mass of Renewal. This is a strong mass setting all the way through. Its strengths are harmony of text and music and singability. The Alleluia is my favorite of any setting and is both joyful and incredibly singable. However, in its other parts, its weakness is that it tends towards the functional and lacks an overwhelming sense of beauty. Nevertheless, in my experience, this Mass setting produces the best results in congregational singing of any I have come across. 2. Mass of Communion. This mass setting is hot and cold. The Kyrie and Lamb of God are stunningly beautiful while remaining singable and textually harmonious. Their melodies mimic chant and intersperse Greek and Latin with English. The Sanctus and Memorial Acclamation are very good. The Sanctus borrows the opening of NICEA (tune of hymn Holy, Holy, Holy). However, the Gloria, Alleluia, and Amen are bland. The Gloria is difficult to pick up and took me many listens before I could enjoy it. The Alleluia engages in what I consider the very bad practice of singing "Allelu" before singing the full word. The Sanctus throws in a word not in the official text "singing Amen." I am surprised the USCCB allowed this and I would recommend removing the superfluous word "singing" if using this setting. Overall, this setting has some excellent parts that I recommend supplementing with another source for the Gloria, Alleluia, and Amen. 3. Mass of St. Anne. This mass setting does a very good job of having the words naturally fit the melody and is an objectively good piece of music. However, I find the style to be a little over the top in sounding like a rock performance. However, speaking from personal experience, the recordings online overstate the pop-rock feel of this mass, which can be diminished by more judicious accompaniment choices in a parish setting. The Gloria is the high point of this mass setting, and the Alleluia is the low point. I recommend subbing out the Alleluia for the Mass of Renewal Alleluia. Blended The mass settings in this category are some kind of blend between traditional and contemporary. Most of these settings can sound good both on an organ and on a piano. I recommend in this category Mass of Wisdom by Steven Janco, Revised Mass of Creation by Marty Haugen, and Mass of Christ the Savior by Dan Schutte. 1. Mass of Wisdom. This is perhaps my highest recommendation of any of these, with the caveat that I have only ever heard recordings of it online. The text and music fit each other perfectly, and it is a work of undeniable beauty. My only criticism is that the melodies are not particularly memorable. I should point out that from listening to this it seems to me that it would take a choir with some talent to pull this off - this would be a much more meager work without the harmonies you hear the the recordings. Recordings are available with both organ and piano accompaniment. I highly recommend that any parish with the requisite talent give this a shot. 2. Revised Mass of Creation. Moving on to a setting I've actually played for congregations (and moving down considerably in quality from Mass of Wisdom), we have the Revised Mass of Creation. Strengths: familiarity and utility. Haugen was able to revise the Mass of Creation while keeping its original character substantially intact, although the former product is superior to the latter. My congregation sings it, albeit a bit tepidly. People know this setting and are at least somewhat willing to sing it; on the other hand, I don't think anyone is excited by this setting or blown away by its beauty. 3. Mass of Christ the Savior. I think this is an objectively better work than Mass of Creation, however it has some serious pitfalls. I got really excited when I first heard the recording of this. The recording with organ and brass sounds grand and majestic while being incredibly easy to sing. Unfortunately, at the parish level, often sans organ and brass, this quickly starts to sound like a collection of trivial children's songs. There is also an unfortunate resemblance to the theme song of My Little Pony. Another oddity is that the Gloria repeats the phrase "on earth peace," however, it is done in such a way that it sounds like the text is "and on earth/peace on earth/peace to people of good will." If you look closely, it is a simple repeat of "on earth peace" but it took me a very long time to figure that out. Nevertheless, there is a reason this is OCP's top selling mass setting: it is incredibly easy to sing, and can be very beautiful when executed correctly. The Gloria and Sanctus are particularly strong; as with some of the other settings here, the Alleluia is weak. Traditional The mass settings in this category will sound best on the organ and are either hymnodic or chanted. I recommend Psallite Mass by the Collegeville Composers Group and Mass in Honor of St. Isaac Jogues by Jeff Ostrowski. 1. Psallite Mass. I recommend this to anyone with a truly phenomenal choir. It is phenomenally beautiful, but this beauty, at least in the recording, relies on flawless acapella singing of harmonies by a choir. Yet, despite all the harmonies, the melody is clearly distinguishable such that a congregation could sing along. They went all out with this setting, setting every text you could possibly need, from I Saw Water Flowing to the Pentecost Sequence. The style mimics Gregorian Chant but in a way that feels natural to the English language. In this sense it reminds me of Taize. Thanks to Adam Wood for bringing this setting to my attention. Liturgical Press claims this setting can be used with organ, piano, or guitar, but the recording is entirely acapella. 2. Mass In Honor of St. Isaac Jogues. This setting is an English Gregorian Chant setting. It is available for free form Corpus Christi Watershed. Recordings are available in three varieties: SATB acapella, Unison (Modern), and Unison (Gregorian). Modern and Gregorian merely refer to the type of music notation displayed in the performance videos. For the most part, the mass setting consists of simple melodies that a congregation could easily sing along to. The Gloria, Sanctus, and Lamb of God are particularly strong pieces. The Kyrie is beautiful but a bit more of a challenge. The Mystery of Faith I find to be nice but slightly uninspired. I was surprised by how much of a difference the vocal harmonies made to my appreciation of this setting. I found the unison recordings to be unlistenably boring, while the SATB recordings drew me in and got me singing along. I take this to mean that this setting should only be attempted with a choir with the skill to nail these harmonies. Honorable Mentions 1. Revised Mass of Glory by Bob Hurd and Ken Canedo. This has a very catchy gospel-esque feel. Additionally, there is excellent harmony between text and music. The Gloria is a high point of this setting, however, it may have been better received had they not put clapping or snapping fingers in the recording, which I do not personally feel comfortable doing. The rest of the setting does not live up to the Gloria. I further believe that the Sanctus, Mystery of Faith, and Amen are not the place for these jazz motifs. Alleluia Give the Glory is an awesome piece of music but I question while the USCCB allowed the composers to add the text "give the glory and the honor to the Lord." 2. Revised Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker. Before the new translation came out, Celtic Mass was awesome and the words fit the music very well. The same can not be said for the revised Celtic Mass. There are some obvious discordant phrases where a text is awkwardly crammed into a place it doesn't really fit. Nevertheless, there are still some great portions of this setting. While the Gloria has some serious flaws, the rest of it largely came out alive. Even if some of this revision is too awkward for use, listening to it was a nice trip down memory lane. 3. Mass for a New World by David Haas. Contemporary in the sense that people from the 1960s are still alive - however, the Gloria is very well done, as is the Alleluia. I do not think as highly of the rest of this setting. This is pretty much a classic folk mass, for better or worse. 4. Mass of the Desert by Tom Booth. This sounds good on the recording. I question the ability of a parish choir to reproduce this sound without the tools available in a recording studio. Dishonorable Mentions These are the Mass settings I love to hate. Despite their seeming lack of positive attributes, they have persisted in blighting the liturgical landscape for the past 6 years. Links to publishers will not be provided in this section as to give them as little free publicity as possible. 1. Storrington Mass by Marty Haugen. Haugen's publisher wanted something that sounded like Mass of Creation but to a new melody. The new product is terribly bland. Note to composers: do the first something awesome rather than making inferior imitations of something else good. 2. Mass of Joy and Peace by Tony Alonso. The goal seems to have been to sound joyful while being easy to sing. The actual result is something that sounds like a nursery rhyme song. I think such music trivializes the liturgy. Unlike Mass of Christ the Savior where such a sound is a result of bad performance, the original recording of Mass of Joy and Peace sounds this way. If you want to see some further ripping of bad mass settings, I direct you to Adam Wood's blog:
GIA settings OCP settings Other reviews: Father Anthony Ruff Adam Wood on WLP settings Mass of Communion Catholic Sensibility
10 Comments
-
3/16/2017 10:53:32 pm
What do you think of the Mass of Renewal by Gokelman and Kauffman (if you have heard it before)? - Gianna
Reply
3/22/2017 09:57:33 pm
Thanks for asking Gianna. I am familiar with it and have heard it played in two parish settings. I didn't discuss it because I feel kind of neutral about it. There is not really anything wrong with it, yet, there is not anything in there that gets me excited. It's kind of singable, but also a little boring. Both congregations I have seen it in sang it tepidly. However, I am aware that it is a popular setting and there may be other parishes that are able to execute it well. Seeing a congregation singing this setting loudly would change my opinion.
Reply
Joe
6/19/2017 06:06:31 pm
OCP launch a new mass setting
Reply
8/31/2018 08:42:22 pm
Dear Joe,
Reply
Patrick Loveless
4/15/2018 10:31:06 pm
One of my favourite Mass settings is the Glendalough Mass. Someone made a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5LQk8sucOk&list=PLGRqgnxypYHSAKVJd0Ygkh_Ufag6d5Zd1&t=0s&index=1
Reply
Mary M
12/4/2020 09:30:58 pm
Wow. Alonso's Gloria from Mass of Joy and Peace - comparing it to Schutte's Mass? Hardly! In the diocese I belong to, both the "traditional" and "contemporary" have taken a liking to this - really singing it in fully voice.
Reply
Donna
12/23/2020 12:22:55 am
Mass of Joy and Peace sounds like it should be the soundtrack for a preschool cartoon show or Reading Rainbow, if you remember that show. In my diocese nobody uses it. I mean nobody.
Reply
Gerry Daly
1/29/2021 04:13:46 am
One or two comments above criticising Mass settings as too simple and likening them to nursery rhymes are not really helpful after all a lot of children attend Mass and should see it as a joyful occasion - how often have we been told by young people that Mass is boring.
Reply
SMahoney
4/14/2021 07:47:44 am
Thanks for these brief reviews. I have noticed the title of the Mass in honor of St. Isaac Jogues, but have not yet looked at the music really.
Reply
Jeff
9/28/2022 11:55:05 am
In the diocese I was in previously, we used the Missa Simplex by Richard Proulx a lot. It's quite simple and singable, very traditional in style. I always felt there was near perfect harmony between text and melody. It sounds good on either organ or piano, easily led by a solo cantor, and the choir can sing harmony by reading the accompaniment parts.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI am a Catholic liturgical musician seeking to understand the role of the laity in worship and particularly the role of lay musicians in worship. Discussion of Liturgy:
Adoremus Chant Cafe Music Gift of God Musica Sacra Forum Pray Tell re:Worship Music Resources: CCLI Songselect Onelicense OCP GIA WLP Parish Book of Psalms Simple English Propers Hymnary Public Domain Hymns Matt Maher Audrey Assad Archives |