And on Earth, Peace: A Chanticleer Mass

Eve of Yom Hashoah Day of Holocacaust Remembrance | 28 April, 2007
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I do not endorse syncretism in religion, and yet I believe the
prospect of human self -destruction is so enormously self-evident
today that I believe we ought to strive for deeper interfaith

understanding by any means neccessary. For this reason alone, the Chanticleer
Mass (to be released on CD May 8th) is worth noting......

Yr. Obdt. Svt.,


davebuehler | http://yourobdtsvt.blogspot.com/


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From Many Faiths, a Mass

Richard Termine for The New York Times

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
NY Times: April 28, 2007

Contemporary music is often like fusion cuisine, as composers spice up their
scores with unexpected ingredients. So when Chanticleer, the San Francisco-based
male a cappella choir, commissioned five composers of diverse ethnicities,
faiths and compositional leanings each to write a section of a new Mass, it
seemed that the resulting work might offer stimulating contrasts.

But when Chanticleer performed the premiere of “And on Earth, Peace: A
Chanticleer Mass” on Thursday in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan
Museum, it sounded strangely homogenous. There were noteworthy moments in each
section, but over all this multicultural Mass was underwhelming.

Joseph H. Jennings, the ensemble’s music director, wanted the Mass to have
unity, but it was almost too unified and felt static at times. This was
surprising, given that none of the composers knew what their colleagues were
contributing. Perhaps anticipating greater contrast, Mr. Jennings began and
ended the Mass with plainsong and interspersed the new sections with music by
Gabrieli and Gesualdo, as a sort of anchor.

Tellingly, one of the evening’s most uplifting moments was during the 16th-century composer Gabrieli’s “Deus, Deus, meus, respice in me.”

Chanticleer, an ensemble notable both for its unity and for its distinctly
individual voices, sings beautifully and is always a pleasure to hear, and it sounded divine in Gabrieli’s glorious polyphony.

The American composer Douglas J. Cuomo (who wrote the theme for “Sex and the
City”) contributed the Kyrie. Chanticleer sang “Kyrie eleison” in unison,
then added one note at a time to form shimmering tone clusters, before melting
into plainsong. The work ended with the lower voices singing “Kyrie eleison”
under a striking cluster of higher voices.

Kamran Ince, a Turkish-American composer, set the Gloria to texts by Rumi, a
13th-century Persian poet. Mr. Ince wrote somber, slow-moving and dreamy music
whose calm was occasionally shattered by intense outbursts. The English composer
Ivan Moody, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, composed the Sanctus, using
gently cascading harmonies on the word “Ossanna.”

The most theatrical contribution was the “Credo/Ani Ma’amin” of the
Israeli-born composer Shulamit Ran. Ms. Ran used lines from Maimonides’ 13
principles of the Jewish faith and texts relating to the Holocaust, read in English over a somber drone, then sung with dramatic intensity.

But the only composer who didn’t seem tentative about showing a little passion
was the Irishman Michael McGlynn, whose appealing “Agnus Dei” began with an
evocative, soaring “A Uain De” (“Lamb of God”) and faded to a whispered
“Dona nobis pacem” at the end.

Chanticleer continues its tour tomorrow and Monday in Virginia, and on Thursday
in Los Angeles. A schedule is available at chanticleer.org.



(See also:amazon.com for release details)