We are told that organised religion and classical music are institutions
under threat in modern society. I find it rather interesting
therefore that amongst the discs I have been reviewing recently
have been three major contemporary settings of either the Mass
or the Requiem Mass by composers from literally different corners
of the world with widely differing musical aesthetics. This would
seem to suggest the text and indeed the spiritual message behind
it still exercises a powerful attraction for composers and indeed
listeners whether are practising Christians or not. Likewise,
I continue to be both amazed and grateful to Naxos for their
ability to record so much remarkable music from around the world
in powerful and convincing performances and make it available
to music collectors at such a reasonable price.
The disc here is a perfect case in point. I feel guilty saying
it, but I am sure I am not alone, the name of Roberto Sierra
was totally unknown to me. So when you combine a complete unknown
with a Washington Times review of the first performance of a
piece that says;
"the most significant symphonic premiere
in the District since the late Benjamin Britten's stunning War
Requiem was first performed in the still-unfinished Washington
National Cathedral in the late 1960s.” my curiosity
was thoroughly piqued. Another laurel to cast at all of the three
performances and particularly the creative team on this disc
- every aspect of this disc both technical and musical is quite
superb. The two soloists were those involved in the first performance
reviewed above and they perform with all the authority and conviction
that extended familiarity with a piece brings. Seemingly new
to this musical feast is The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus. I remember some excellent limited circulation CDs on
the Koss label with Zdeněk Mácal from a few years
back but trawling the web for this review they seem to have been
absent in more recent times. This is the first appearance of
the Milwaukee Symphony on Naxos and what a debut it is. Every
section of the orchestra plays with power, accuracy and conviction
and if for no other reason I will look forward to hearing any
disc featuring the orchestra in the future.
In his brief but informative liner-note Roberto Sierra outlines
how this work sprung from memories of hearing the Latin Mass
while growing up in Puerto Rico. In using the title
Missa
Latina “Pro Pace” he has chosen to set the standard
mass text with additional chants incorporated to underline the
votive element in an appeal for peace in a troubled world. The
use of Latin-American instruments and rhythms in sections of
the Mass emphasises the influence of the country of his birth.
This is a substantial work with its seven extended movements
running to nearly seventy minutes. It was premiered at Washington’s
Kennedy Centre in February 2006. Although it does not say the
current performance is a live one I think I detected a couple
of extraneous audience noises but as can be implied from that
statement they are so slight as to matter not at all. Mentioning
the Kennedy Centre is I think significant in two ways; one it
underlines the fact that this is clearly a sacred work written
for concert performance and also, by chance, that venue was the
place for whose opening Leonard Bernstein wrote his Mass some
35 years earlier. I can imagine that the thing that makes a composer
grind his teeth most is when his unique work is likened to the
work of another. Sadly, it is a fact that when hearing a composer
for the first time we all use as points of reference music and
styles familiar to us. I would not want to labour the point because
they are very different works in objective and result but the
way in which popular idiom is fused with passages of more searching
musical material making the progression through the Mass a theatrical
rather than sacred experience is common to both works.
All of the Mass is written in a broadly tonal idiom and opens
with an
Introitus that immediately sets the tone with
high strings suspended over pastoral woodwind figurations and
atmospheric percussion. The soprano enters with an immediate
plea for peace. As already mentioned soprano Heidi Grant Murphy
is completely inside this part and sings with total conviction
and assurance. Curiously the tonal quality of her voice changes
through the performance - her final repeated cries of “pacem” in
the
Agnus Dei are quite exquisite - pure controlled and
unforced. At other times her voice gains a more mature quality
that I did not feel suited the desired simplicity of the music.
Conversely Nathaniel Webster is more at ease in the declamatory
sections but does not convey the essential relaxed easy humour
of the more populist and rhythmic sections - he sounds a tad
square. The quality of the engineering is evident as much in
the quiet and reflective passages as in the more dramatic sections.
Orchestral and choral textures are beautifully clear and detailed
with the entire performing group placed in a warm but not overly
resonant acoustic. The Uihlein Hall is the main concert venue
for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and on this evidence it
is a very fine hall indeed.
As the
Introitus continues
the soprano’s melismata soar over the chant-like first
entry of the chorus before the orchestra slips quietly into the
first of many overtly Latin-American rhythms - I like very much
how this is treated in a mysterious almost ritualistic manner
before the movement subsides into silence. The
Kyrie immediately
launches into sterner territory with descending orchestral scales
grinding over and against each other like tectonic plates. Again
in the background the Latin-American rhythms lurk. The sense
is that the chorus act as the institutional church whilst the
soloists represent a more individual response. I have no documentary
proof to support this idea, it is a purely subjective response
to the way in which the music is allocated and divided amongst
the performers. After one last climax with funereal drums and
fanfares the music dies away again with a sense of unresolved
expectation. Not surprisingly the
Gloria provides the
first real outburst of exuberance with a riot of instrumental
colour and rhythm. With apologies for any dental wear this causes
- this did make me recall similar passages in the Bernstein
Mass -
even down to the use of a baritone in a similar leading/celebrant
role. On a purely personal level I found the upbeat passages
some of the least interesting in the work - I suppose that is
because they are the most ‘obvious’ and do the least
to confound one’s expectations.
The
Credo that follows
lies at the heart both structurally and emotionally of the whole
work. It is also comfortably the longest and most complexly dramatic
movement lasting nearly 21 minutes. The opening juxtaposes the
verbal certainty of “I believe in one God” with music
that is unsettled, full of doubt and uncertainty - it’s
a fascinating musical contradiction and one that Sierra handles
with great musico-dramatic skill. Having built to a nervy quasi-fugal
climax the soloists find temporary rest with the words “et
incarnatus” the lyrical solo lines intertwining over a
walking-bass. The peace is short-lived and at almost the exact
centre of the movement (track 4 10:40) - and by extension the
work - the music builds towards the baritone’s declamation
of “crucifixus”. The music here is sparse and foreboding.
I particularly like the orchestral writing accompanying the words “judicare
vivos et mortuos”. It has a wild dance-of-the-dead quality
with the Caribbean instruments hammering away in a style far
removed from the normal good natured rhythms associated with
them. Some peace is restored by the final Amen although it feels
more like a truce than peace. After the extended drama of the
Credo there
is little respite to be found in the
Offertorium. Again
a sense of searching and striving permeates the orchestral prelude
of the movement before the baritone enters in more subdued mood
than the previous movement.
The proceedings lighten for the choral
setting of “Lauda Jerusalem tuum” before leading
into a jubilant final Alleluia. Perhaps because I am naturally
contrary I enjoyed the
Sanctus least. To my ear it is
the movement which is most self-consciously a crowd-pleaser.
This is the movement which prompted the Washington Post critic
to write: “the Sanctus could almost be turned into a pop
song …” I’m not sure when that critic last
listened to any chart music but I suspect he’s stuck in
a decade far removed from our own. It’s an appealing melody
for sure but it does not lie convincingly with the musical language
of the rest of the work. Within that style frankly John Rutter
has written better tunes. What we have here ends up sounding
like one of those excruciating “modern” anthems that
are meant to appeal to young people going to church. Fortunately
we are soon back on track with the final movement, the
Agnus
Dei. Here, as mentioned earlier, Heidi Grant Murphy is in
superb form, impassioned but lyrical with high-lying lines spun
with ease over the chanting chorus. Her final appeals for “pacem” are
absolutely spine-tinglingly beautiful [tr. 7, 3:30]. I would
have been very happy for the work to end in this mood of rapt
contemplation. The final “happy-ending” alleluia
feels like an emotional dilution of what has immediately preceded
it but at least it gives us one last example of the brilliance
of all those involved.
If as a result of hearing a disc you wish to seek out more by
the composer and performers involved then surely the CD must
be deemed a success. So, by that measure this is something of
a treasure. I see from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
website that
Andreas Delfs is no longer the Music Director of the orchestra
- that being the case this is a pretty excellent legacy. As an
appendix to this review - the liner-notes explain that the orchestra
was the first to make available for download live recordings
from its website. These include
Sierra’s
Third Symphony. Having mentioned earlier the orchestra’s
absence from the CD market I have downloaded some performances
with Andreas Delfs. These include a splendidly sonorous Richard
Strauss
Alpine Symphony for the princely sum of $1.49
and a Bruckner
Symphony No. 7 for $4.99 - both in excellent
sound recorded at 320 kbps. What an interesting
concert
season they have next year too! Definitely an orchestra to
listen out for and I hope they become stalwarts of the Naxos
catalogue.
A powerful and individual major work performed with exemplary
skill and commitment in superb sound.
Nick Barnard
see also review by Brian
Reinhart
Heidi Grant Murphy (soprano);
Nathaniel Webster (baritone) 
