Bernstein: Mass

Alan Titus (Artist), Barbara Williams (Artist), Benjamin Rayson (Artist), Carl Hall (Artist), Dudley Williams (Artist), Ed Dixon (Artist), Leonard Bernstein (Composer, Conductor), Norman Scribner Choir (Performer), Berkshire Boy Choir (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Norman Scribner Choir, Berkshire Boy Choir
• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
• Composer: Leonard Bernstein
• Audio CD (October 28, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029XM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,513 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a Mass..., May 30, 2004

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bernstein: Mass (Audio CD)

The most important thing to remember before listening to this piece by Leonard Bernstein is that it is not a "Mass" in the traditional sense. Sure, it has a Kyrie, a Gloria, a Credo, a Sanctus, and an Agnus Dei, but there's much much more going on.

"Mass" is described a "A Theater Piece for Singers" and thinking of the work in this light elucidates much of the structure of this recording. For example, the "Things Get Broken" segment on Disc 2 (one of the more controversial parts of "Mass") seems overly drawn out when listening to it on CD. The reason this seems so is because there is a lot theatrically going on. The focus of this segment is more on theater than music, and so it's less exciting musically (it's still a great segment, though).

Judging from what's been written about this work, this recording of "Mass" is the only complete recording available right now. It includes the original cast and is conducted by Berstein himself. Someone had foresight.

It's easier to listen to this work as a theater piece. Sections of a traditional mass are interspersed with solos (by singers with titles such as "Rock Singer", "Blues Singer", "An Older Man", "A Young Girl") that usually function as commentary or embellishment to the traditional religious setting. The best example of this is during the "Confession". Following the singing of a more or less traditional Catholic confessional (complete in Latin and English), the Rock and Blues Singers provide their own unique perspectives. The First Rock Singer complains that he's not sure how to confess, because he's so messed up he doesn't know what he wants or feels at any time:

What I say I don't feel
What I feel I don't show
What I show isn't real
What is real, Lord - I don't know

The First Blues Singer than chimes in to say just how easy it is to get blessed if one just goes through the motions or says what people want to hear. A second blues singer sings an almost outright paean to lust:

It's easy to keep the flair in your affair
Your body's always ready, but your soul's not there
Don't be nonplussed
Come love, come lust,
It's so easy when you just don't care

Doubtless passages such as this in the context of a religious mass served to heighten the controversy around the work as a whole.

Berstein's incredible music pervades "Mass" - the stunningly beautiful "A Simple Song"; the incredible "Meditation No.1", "Gloria Tibi", the boy's choir-led "Sanctus". A mishmash of musical styles somehow blends together to form a coherent whole. There's traditional classical music (orchestra and choir), rock music, scat, jazz, blues, spoken word, quadrophonic tape, music for the stage, and others that weave in and out of the musical mesh. One gets the impression that Berstein was an incomprehensibly astute composer. This work alone proves that.

This piece was commissioned for the Kennedy Center opening (supposedly by Jacqueline Kennedy herself in honor of JFK - I have yet to read anywhere what she thought of it). That fact along with the highly religious context made this a very controversial work. The juxtapositions of the sacred and the profane were not appreciated by various religious communities at the time. "Mass" was called "Vulgar" and "sacreligious". Seeing that an altar is desecrated during the end of the piece, by the same character that sang "A Simple Song", there was probably much fodder for criticism. In truth, the piece is about crisis in faith, and it is a religious, though a very probing, work. Much of the commentary probably rings true for many: the hypocrisy of certain popular manifestations of religion and the double standards people sometimes apply to their religious and daily lives. In the end, "Mass" is more critical of people who claim religiosity than it is of religion in general. It is a beautiful, challenging, and inspiring piece of music. It does not deserve to be buried under trite controversy. Give it a listen, read the text, and, if nothing else, drown in the music.

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original Cast member, December 21, 1999

By 

Edward D. Morris (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bernstein: Mass (Audio CD)

I was a very fortunate lad of 13 and singing in the Berkshire Boys Choir in the summer of 1971 when some of us were told that we were to go to Wash. DC to sing with Lenny Bernstein. Most of us knew who he was but really didn't feel the significance of it. After the first rehearsel(which Ted Kennedy and family attended) we understood. Mr Bernstein was a marvel.He had so much energy and somehow knew exactly how things should be. The work itself is a grand scheme.With pit orchestra, stage brass,woodwinds,and rock bands, mixed choir,boy choir,street singers and the Alvin Ailey dancers; the stage logistics were enormous.Then there is the music: starting with quad tape in a kind of serial vocal colage' going straight into a "simple" folk tune. Musical genres of every kind follow;folk,scat,blues,12 tone,plain chant. Only a master of composition on the order of Bernstein could/would attempt such a thing. The storyline of wrestling with faith is a powerful and relational experience. Everyone goes through it(for most of our lives). We all finally come to the point where we have to talk to god with a "secret song". Bernstein knew these issues of faith all too well.And so do you. Being a oringinal cast member, I disqualify myself as a reviewer. Needless to say it was the greatest experience of my life. It changed my life the way few pieces can.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Misunderstood Work, Misunderstood Composer, November 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bernstein: Mass (Audio CD)

Leonard Bernstein has never recieved the recognition he deserves as a composer. He is known by his weaker music; namely, his broadway scores, like West Side Story and On the Town. His MASS strikes most listeners as being wierd. Those who have actually listened to it usually come to the conclusion that it is an expression of Bernstein's disdain for Catholicism. Allow me to obliterate both of these notions for you. What it really is is the story of the celebrant; he is an island of piety in the midst of a agitated and doubtful congregaion. He manages to keep things more or less together through the first hour and a half or so, but when disgruntled members of the congregation begin to throw accusations at God, he finally suffers a crisis of faith himself, during the hair-raising 'Trope: Things Get Broken.' He dissapears from the scene. The congregation is left to try and worship without him. After a rather awkward beginning, the entire congegation ultimately ends up singing, in a gorgeous canon (that's a round), and reaffirming their faith. At this point the celebrant rejoins them, reaffirming his faith as well. Then, they all (including the stage orchestra) sing a beautiful, contemplative chorale that is a prayer.

Some of the music may not be for everyone, but its profoundly moving message of reconcilliation is certainly one that is for everyone.