Deutsche Grammophon: Bernstein — Mass | The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (2CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD (2-disc set)
• Brand / Label: Deutsche Grammophon / Universal Music
• Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
• Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
• Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra
• Celebrant (tenor): Kevin Vortmann
• Choruses: Westminster Symphonic Choir, Temple University Concert Choir, The American Boychoir
• Band: Temple University Diamond Marching Band
• Release Year: 2018 (Bernstein Centenary edition)
• Genre: Classical / Contemporary / Theatre Music
• Style: Theatre Piece, Choral, Crossover
• Catalog Number: 483 5009
• UPC / Barcode: 028948350094
• Condition: New / Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: 2 × CD
• Discs: 2
• CD1 runtime: 53 minutes 22 seconds
• CD2 runtime: 54 minutes 23 seconds
• Recording type: Live recording
• Cover & inside back cover photo: Sven Grot / B-99; Pete Checchia
• Manufactured in: EU
• Packaging: Standard double jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped
• Edition: Leonard Bernstein at 100 centenary release

Overview

Bernstein's Mass is one of the most unusual large-scale works in the 20th-century catalogue. A "theatre piece for singers, players and dancers," it was commissioned for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 1971, and it has divided opinion ever since. Choral writing, rock music, street theatre, liturgical Latin, and a theatrical narrative about a crisis of faith — all in the same work, all simultaneously. It shouldn't cohere, and yet in performance it often does.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin has championed this piece throughout his tenure as Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and this live recording captures why. The forces assembled are enormous: full symphony orchestra, Westminster Symphonic Choir and Temple University Concert Choir, the American Boychoir, the Temple University Diamond Marching Band, and Kevin Vortmann as the Celebrant — the tenor role at the work's dramatic centre. Vortmann carries the arc from confident priest to shattered believer with commitment and vocal clarity.

The live recording catches an energy that would be difficult to replicate in the studio. The acoustic of the hall gives the choral writing space to breathe, and the rhythmic passages — the Gospel-Sermon, the Gloria, the shattering Fraction — hit with the physical force the score demands.

Released in 2018 to mark the centenary of Bernstein's birth, this is the work's Deutsche Grammophon debut and one of the most significant Bernstein recordings of the centenary year.

Interesting Facts

• Mass received its world premiere on 8 September 1971 at the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in memory of her late husband.
• The work was considered controversial on its premiere — some critics objected to its mixture of sacred text with rock, blues, and theatrical elements; others, including many clergy, found it a serious and moving exploration of faith.
• Leonard Bernstein wrote the book and lyrics himself, with additional text by Stephen Schwartz (who would later write Godspell and Wicked).
• Yannick Nézet-Séguin became Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2012 and has also served as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera since 2018, making him one of the most prominent conductors working in North America today.
• The Celebrant's final breakdown in the "Fraction" section — "Things Get Broken" — is one of the most theatrically and musically raw moments Bernstein ever composed, requiring a tenor who can move between formal liturgical singing and near-spoken dramatic delivery.
• The American Boychoir, founded in 1937, is one of the oldest and most distinguished choral ensembles of its kind in the United States; its contribution to the Mass is integral to the work's sonic architecture.

Track Listing

CD 1 — 53:22 I. Devotions before Mass (tracks 1–3) II. First Introit — Rondo (tracks 4–5) III. Second Introit (tracks 6–8) IV. Confession (tracks 9–11) V. Meditation No. 1 (track 12) VI. Gloria (tracks 13–16) VII. Meditation No. 2 (track 17) VIII. Epistle: "The Word of the Lord" (track 18) IX. Gospel-Sermon: "God Said" (track 19)

CD 2 — 54:23 X. Credo (tracks 1–5) XI. Meditation No. 3 — De profundis, Part 1 (track 6) XII. Offertory — De profundis, Part 2 (track 7) XIII. The Lord's Prayer (tracks 8–9) XIV. Sanctus (track 10) XV. Agnus Dei (tracks 11–12) XVI. Fraction: "Things Get Broken" (tracks 13–17) XVII. Pax: Communion — "Secret Songs" (tracks 18–20)

Publishers

℗ 2018 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Stralauer Allee 1, 10245 Berlin. A Universal Music Company. Made in the EU.

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