MUSIC NOTES

Wow, what a joyful surprise to see this cover here for the first time! Thanks for finding it, Mary!
The CD is being released at the end of November, yes? Guess what's on my wish list for Christmas!!!

My son-in-law who plays blues guitar and harmonica and is almost charismatic in his approach to Catholicism would love this Mass.


‘Bluegrass Mass’ tied in with Bristol festival

By Jean Denton
Special to The Catholic Virginian
Oct. 5, 2009

There was some Catholic toe tapping to the strains of banjo and fiddle as the first ever “Bluegrass Mass” was celebrated in September exactly where it belonged: the “birthplace of country music,” Bristol, Virginia.

The unique Mass at St. Anne’s Catholic Church was held on the weekend of Bristol’s annual Rhythm and Roots festival, September 19–20. It was the brainchild of pastor Father Timothy Keeney and the work of another priest — and Bluegrass musician — Father Edward Richard.

Father Richard, a professor and vice rector of Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, brought a small ensemble of Bluegrass musicians from Louisiana and Kentucky to help him lead worship through the music he composed, at Father Keeney’s request, especially for this “Saint Anne Rhythm and Roots Heritage Mass.”

Parishioners had practiced the Bluegrass-style Mass parts for several weeks so by the time they arrived at church, they were excited about this worship “first” in the familiar musical genre born and bred here in their Appalachian Mountains.

Bristol, which straddles the state border with Tennessee, was the site of the “1927 Bristol Sessions,” a recording session that launched the careers of the Carter family and Jimmie Rodgers. It is considered by music historians to be the “big bang” of the commercial country music industry — hence the “birthplace” designation.

Father Keeney, pastor of St. Anne’s for eight years, said the Bluegrass Mass was something he’d wanted to do since he first arrived in Bristol.

“This form of music is an integral part of Bristol’s history and culture, and the church should always be a vehicle for dialogue between God and people in every age and culture,” he said.

“I’d been looking for a while for someone to write a musical setting for the Mass in the idiom of Bluegrass,” he explained, “but I couldn’t find the right person. There were plenty of people writing Bluegrass music, but not where the music served the liturgy.”

About a year ago a parishioner discovered Father Richard’s music and told Father Keeney about it. Soon afterward when the two priests met by telephone, they each knew they’d found a match.

Both had an interest in Bluegrass as a musical expression of an American culture. They also shared a profound respect for the liturgy.

“I’d been asked before — quite a few times,” Father Richard said about composing a Bluegrass Mass, “but until now I resisted. My idea was never ‘to go liturgical’ with this.”

However, he said, “Father Tim’s request was a bit more understandable. This is the area of the country where Bluegrass comes from; it is a big part of the Rhythm and Roots festival here. He (Father Keeney) told me, ‘You really need to do this. The people here need something Catholic that is part of the experience that goes on in our town.’”

Ordained a priest of the Missionaries La Salette in 1991, Father Richard began playing music as a boy in DeQuincy, Louisiana. He learned guitar and harmonica from his mother and was encouraged by other close relatives including an uncle “on the Cajun side of the family” who played French accordion.

After he developed his picking skills on the banjo, he met Sue and Clifford Blackmon and Ron Yule.

“They were the main people who played Bluegrass in that area where I come from and they were a big help and an inspiration to me,” he said. They’ve been playing together ever since.

The three joined him in Bristol over the weekend and, along with another friend, Bill Edlin from Kentucky, made up the band that led the Bluegrass Mass at St. Anne’s.

“I have to say it’s kind of astounding to be doing this here in this part of the country where this music I love comes from,” Father Richard said, noting that neither he nor the other band members had been to Bristol before.

“We love this stuff — it’s in our blood. And we have a similar spirituality with the people here. Our people are country people, so we find it easy to identify with them,” he said.

Celebrating a Bluegrass Mass was more than performing Bluegrass style music during the church service. Father Richard wrote Bluegrass music for the Mass parts that were incorporated into the liturgy, including the Gloria, Sanctus, Alleluia, Memorial Acclamation and the Amen.

They also sang popular Bluegrass gospel songs for the entrance and during communion and ended with the assembly ever-so-gently swaying to the recessional, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

After the three weekend Masses, Father Keeney reported, “The comments were almost universally positive. Everyone seemed to have big smiles on their faces as they left church.”

Referring to his initial hesitancy about writing the Mass, Father Richard pointed out, “I’m sensitive to my position in the seminary and the church, and I don’t want people to be offended. But there are a lot of different expressions of the liturgy.”

At the seminary, he laughs as he imagines his students hearing about the Bluegrass Mass and saying, ‘Really? Father Richard, the guy who celebrates the Tridentine Mass everyday?’”

Father Keeney is more certain. “The church has a message with which it has been gifted, the Kingdom of God and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It must use every idiom, method and melody it can to proclaim that truth. It is a truth that the world needs to hear,” he wrote in a guest column for the Bristol Herald Courier newspaper.

While the Mass drew many visitors who were in town for the Rhythm and Roots event, the pastor emphasized that the purpose of creating the Bluegrass Mass was not simply to “offer another venue for a festival.”

“Art can often be the vehicle that allows people to hear the message. It can touch a person’s heart with beauty. It can make him or her laugh and dance. It has the power to capture one and deliver them before the throne of God,” he said.

Following a common practice in Bluegrass, Father Richard based the music for the Mass parts on traditional folk tunes. The “Holy Holy,” for instance, he derived from a familiar melody known as “Shady Grove.”

Writing the Bluegrass Mass was not easy, he admitted.

“It had to be authentic — faithful to the liturgy and the words of the liturgy,” he explained. “It also had to be true to the genre. It must sound like Bluegrass, and I wanted it to sound like old-time Bluegrass in respect for the people of Bristol and the area.”

The biggest challenge, he said, was that it had to be “something people can sing, because singing the Mass is for the whole assembly.”

“It is all about giving glory to God,” he said.

Pope Benedict XVI album released
An album featuring for the first time the voice of Pope Benedict XVI was to be launched on Tuesday by a record label that counts among its artists the rapper Snoop Dogg and The Eagles.


By Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 2:38PM GMT 10 Nov 2009
Pope Benedict XVI: Pope Benedict XVI album released
Music from the Vatican is an album which features the voice of Pope Benedict XVI reciting and singing prayers and litanies in five language Photo: AFP

The CD, which is being released in time for Christmas, features the Pope reciting and singing prayers and litanies in five languages, including Latin, Italian and his mother tongue, German.

Entitled Music from the Vatican, the album has been produced by Geffen Records, which in the past has signed Nirvana, Guns 'N Roses, The Cure and Mary J Blige.

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"We are honoured to be partners on this historic production which will, for the first time, bring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI to a worldwide audience through these stunning musical compositions," said Colin Barlow, president of Geffen UK.

The Pontiff, who is said to have a good voice, is accompanied on the album by the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, with the classical music recorded at Abbey Road studios in London. It is the first time that he has ever collaborated in producing an album.

The CD, which features eight pieces of contemporary classical music, also features the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome, with recordings made in St Peter's in Rome.

The Pope himself did not have to go into a studio – recordings of his singing and recitals were provided by Vatican Radio.

The specially-commissioned music was written by three composers, including the Simon Boswell, a Briton who has composed scores for more than 90 feature films, including several directed by Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director.

While Mr Boswell describes himself as an agnostic, the two other composers are an Italian Catholic, Stefano Mainetti, and a Muslim Moroccan, Nour Eddine.

"We have all been very moved at how successfully these modern scores blend with the choir, the orchestra and the Pope's voice," said producer Vincent Messina.

Proceeds from the album will help fund musical education for underprivileged children around the world.

I think the title is "Alma Mater", but it's the same CD

www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=3814&Category_ID=145&SKU...
Click link above and scroll down to hear "snippets" of some of the tracks.

here comes a clip from the german "MORGENMAGAZIN" this week
mediathek.daserste.de/daserste/servlet/content/3344656?pageId=487890&moduleId=435054&categoryId=&goto...and here an english clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znpUakPTcqU&feature=player_embedded#

@benedetto.fan: thanks for the links. I had to laugh at the word CHARTSTUERMER!!! Papa is already that! And on the Sky video the reporter asked an Italian girl what she thought of Papa's voice. Her reply was in rapid Italian, but I think it was favourable. The reporter turned round and said "What did she say?" I thought that was so funny and typically English - not that I understood her either!
Can't wait, can't wait to get my CD!!!!!

Ouch!!! Somebody really doesn't like Papa's new CD. When I heard samples of his voice on the CD, it did sound a bit quavering to me too. I was wondering why those particular quavering excerpts were selected for inclusion in the CD when Papa often sings on key. I do hope Damian Thompson is overstating things a bit. I would love to see this CD hit the top of the charts.


How dare they subject Pope Benedict to this musical atrocity?

By Damian Thompson
Telegraph.co.uk
Last updated: November 14th, 2009

Here’s my Daily Telegraph review of the worst CD I’ve heard for many years – featuring, I’m sorry to say, the voice of the Holy Father:

The release of the album Alma Mater is supposed to be a significant religious and musical event. This is “the Pope’s first CD”, featuring the voice of Benedict XVI as part of an “enchanting blend” of new sacred music by three “world-class” modern composers.

Enchanting? That’s a matter of opinion. But it’s certainly a blend. The choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome is singing in St Peter’s; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is accompanying it in “the iconic Abbey Road studios” in London; and goodness knows where the quavering snatches of Gregorian chant sung by the Pope were recorded.

The result, we are told, “transcends musical, religious and cultural boundaries”. Actually, what it transcends is every consideration of good taste. Two of the composers, Stefano Mainetti and Simon Boswell, specialise in film scores, and that is the prevailing musical flavour of the album: Catholicism as imagined by Hollywood. Take a line of plainchant, fill it out with the pious harmonies of a deservedly forgotten 19th-century Catholic composer and drizzle kitsch all over them.

Then, lest the enterprise seem too Eurocentric and old-fashioned, add a twist of “world music”. This is presumably where the third composer, the Morrocan Nour Eddine, comes in. We hear an instrument that may or may not be a sitar, twanging away Bollywood-style until it is swamped by luxury strings. (Not for nothing is the RPO regarded as the most opportunistic of the London orchestras.)

How did the producers manage to acquire and mix tapes of the Pope saying prayers in various languages and briefly singing in Latin? It seems like the most terrible indignity to visit on the Successor of Peter, to say nothing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose praise these ancient texts were written.

But then the truth dawns: the appalling Alma Mater has been produced by Geffen Records with the encouragement of Vatican Radio. Unfortunately, that is not as surprising as it might seem. Rome itself frequently confuses solemnity and schmaltz: the last time I was in a papal basilica I had to listen to nonagenarian operatic tenors belting out sacred music just as mediocre as the pieces on this album, albeit without the showbiz overtones.

So there you have it: Gregorian chant meets Hollywood meets the Standard Tandoori, with the enthusiastic participation of the Roman authorities. The Catholic Church may have abolished the Inquisition, but it still knows the meaning of torture.

@benefan: Take no notice of dear old Damian! I've been reading his Holy Smoke blog for a long time - it's now been amalgamated with the other Daily Telegraph blogs. He likes to write things to try to shock. He claims to be ultra traditional and probably he is - he certainly prefers a whole Mass with Gregorian Chant to a CD like Papa's. But he ought to have a bit of a sense of humour here and realise that this disc is going to be beautiful in its own right.

I'm still longing for the CD and am going to make a copy to take in the car as soon as I get it. I haven't yet moved into the realms of an iPod, but when I do, it will go on that as well.

maryjos, 15.11.2009 12:34:

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@benedetto.fan: thanks for the links. I had to laugh at the word CHARTSTUERMER!!! Papa is already that! And on the Sky video the reporter asked an Italian girl what she thought of Papa's voice. Her reply was in rapid Italian, but I think it was favourable. The reporter turned round and said "What did she say?" I thought that was so funny and typically English - not that I understood her either!
Can't wait, can't wait to get my CD!!!!!

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ja, the first time when papa was a CHARTSTÜRMER was in 2007 with his jesusbuch. he was nr. one at SPIEGEL and FOCUS bestsellerlist for several month. but i think, in germany the DVD will not be so successful than his book.

as far as i could understand the girl, the answer was like: "of course the pope can be nr. 1, he has such a nice voice, much better than the twins from X-factor."

Great Roman Polyphony Returns to Saint Peter's

Not in a concert, but in a Mass. It will be conducted by Domenico Bartolucci, the most brilliant interpreter of Palestrina's music alive today. He was removed as head of the Sistine Chapel choir twelve years ago, but now, with Pope Benedict, has finally been rehabilitated

by Sandro Magister
www.chiesa.espressonline.it

ROME, November 16, 2009 – Among the arts to be represented in the Sistine Chapel next Saturday, November 21, at the highly anticipated meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, music is perhaps the one that has suffered the most from the divorce that has taken place between artists and the Church.

The distress in music has been the first to afflict the Church. Because while the masterpieces of Christian painting, sculpture, and architecture still remain accessible to all, even if they are ignored and misunderstood, great music literally disappears from the churches if no one performs it anymore.

And one can effectively speak of an almost generalized disappearance when it comes to those treasures of Latin liturgical music that are Gregorian chant, polyphony, the organ.

Fortunately, however, during the same days when pope Joseph Ratzinger will be seeking to reestablish a fruitful relationship with art, the organ and great polyphonic music will return to give the best of themselves in the basilicas of Rome.

They will again be heard not only in the form of a concert, but also in the living environment of liturgical action.

The culmination will be on Thursday, November 19, at the hour of evening when the setting sun blazes through the apse of Saint Peter's. That evening, making his solemn return to the basilica to conduct a sung Mass, will be the greatest living interpreter of the Roman school of polyphony, the one that has come down from Giovanni Pierluigi of Palestrina – whom Giuseppe Verdi called the "everlasting father" of Western music – to our own day.

This interpreter of undisputed greatness is Domenico Bartolucci, for decades the "permanent maestro" of the Sistine Chapel choir, the pope's choir, and now, at age 93, still a miraculously adept director of Palestrina.

Bartolucci is a living witness of the elimination of liturgical music from the West, but also of its possible rebirth. The last time he conducted a complete Mass by Palestrina at Saint Peter's was all the way back in 1963. The last time he conducted the Sistine Chapel choir was in 1997. That year he was brutally dismissed, and without him the choir fell into a sorry state.

But now comes its return – powerfully symbolic – to the basilica built over the tomb of the prince of the apostles.

At the Mass on November 19 at Saint Peter's, Bartolucci will not conduct Palestrina, but his own polyphonic compositions, in alternation with Gregorian chants from the Mass "De Angelis." And with that, he will show how it is possible to cherish the best of the Latin musical tradition even within the canons of the modern post-conciliar liturgy: just what Pope Benedict wants, as a profound theologian of the liturgy and a music connoisseur. Naturally, Bartolucci's secret dream is to return at last to conduct the emblematic "Pope Marcellus Mass" by Palestrina, as a Mass celebrated by Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's.

The anticipation that these signs will soon be followed by a change of the conductor of the Sistine Chapel choir will become more impatient from this point forward.

***

The context within which Bartolucci will return to conduct a Mass at Saint Peter's is that of the International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, which is held each fall in the basilicas of Rome, and is marking its eighth edition this year.

The program this year has two focal points: Roman polyphony, and organ music.

The inauguration will be on Wednesday, November 18, in the basilica of Saint John Lateran, with a concert in the spirit of Palestrina, conducted by Bartolucci himself.

Another event in the spirit of the Roman school of polyphony, in a modern reinterpretation, will be the oratory "Paolo e Fruttuoso," composed and conducted by Valentino Miserachs Grau, conductor of the choir of the basilica of Saint Mary Major and head of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, the Vatican's "conservatory."

The second focal point will be the organ. The Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra has completed the restoration of the huge Tamburini organ of the Roman basilica of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Its inauguration will involve a series of four concerts performed by the organists who supervised the restoration – Goettsche, Paradell, and Piermarini – and by other world famous organ virtuosos like Leo Krämer and Johannes Skudlik.

The organ is the main instrument of liturgical music, which unforgivably has been overlooked despite the fact that it is present in countless churches. But non-liturgical music will also be included in the program, with works by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert. On November 20, the octet of strings and woodwinds of the Wiener Philarmoniker will perform Schubert's sublime Octet in F Major in the basilica of Saint Mary Major.

The Wiener Philarmoniker is a constant presence at the Festival of Sacred Art and Music. Of all the major orchestras of the world, it is the one in which sacred and profane music are most closely intertwined.

For the next edition of the festival, the Wiener Philarmoniker has already agreed to perform Bruckner's ninth symphony and a selection from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in the Roman basilica of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, on October 26, 2010.

__________


The detailed program of the concerts at the basilicas of Rome:

> VIII International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, November 18-22, 2009

__________


A newly published book with critical essays, interviews, and documents concerning Maestro Bartolucci:

"Domenico Bartolucci e la musica sacra del Novecento", a cura di Enzo Fagiolo, Armelin Musica, Padova, 2009, pp. 248, euro 29,00.

The three most recent CD's he has recorded (the third is about to be released), with a cappella music for choir by Palestrina, Victoria, Lasso, Morales, and Bartolucci himself:

> La polifonia della scuola romana, prima edizione

> La polifonia della scuola romana, seconda edizione

> La polifonia della scuola romana, terza edizione

It is instructive to reread the interview that Maestro Domenico Bartolucci gave to "L'espresso," no. 29, 2006.

> I Had a Dream: The Music of Palestrina and Gregory the Great Had Come Back (21.7.2006)

It's November 23rd - a memorable day for two reasons. First, I got the cast off my leg, having broken my ankle about 2 months ago. Hurrah!

Secondly, it's 'Susan Day' - the official release of the Album 'I dreamed a Dream' by Susan Boyle. Anyone who watched her last night singing live on the UK's X Factor (a talent show like American Idol) can be in no doubt that she is no one-trick pony. Watch it on You Tube. She was amazing!! Mariah Carey was on as well, and although she has a remarkable voice, her cover of 'I want to know what love is' was rather slow, IMO and didn't compare with the Foreigner original. It was definitely Susan's night!

Hello Wulfrune! I don't share your enthusiasm for Susan Boyle, but it doesn't matter. I have heard her sing on You Tube.

But....you can guess what I'm waiting for!!!! According to my kitchen calendar Music From The Vatican - Alma Mater - is due to be released tomorrow and I've pre-ordered it from Amazon. I know dear old Damian didn't like it, but he's a perfectionist - must have a full Tridentine Mass with all the trimmings! Hey - but how did he even get a preview of it?

Glad your cast is off at last....and I bet your foot is rejoicing too.

Hi Wulfrune!

Yes, today is Susan Day. I have ordered my CD already and have received word that it has been shipped so I am delighted. I love the way she sings. She really has a beautiful voice.

Sorry to hear about your ankle. Two months is awfully long to be stuck in a cast. I'm sure you are delighted to be free at last. Papa would sympathize. You need to start building up your leg muscles so you will be back in shape for your next trip to Rome.

I have also posted this on the new thread Mary set up for Papal TV events.


Sistine Chapel Concert In Honor of Pope Will Air at CatholicTV.com and CatholicTV

Catholic Online

WATERTOWN, MA (November 27, 2009) - On Sunday, December 6th, CatholicTV will air a concert in honor of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This concert is offered to the Pope by the President of Germany.

The concert will take place in the Sistine Chapel. It will be viewable simultaneously at CatholicTV.com and on CatholicTV on December 6th at noon Eastern and will rebroadcast at 8PM.

CatholicTV is a nationally-broadcasted television network headquartered near Boston. CatholicTV streams its broadcast simultaneously, 24 hours a day at www.CatholicTV.com

CatholicTV will air additional special events with Pope Benedict XVI from the Vatican during the Advent and Christmas season.

Some of the special events will include the following (broadcast times in parentheses): The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (noon and 8PM), Christmas Eve Mass (11PM), and New Year’s Eve Vespers (noon and 8PM).

CatholicTV regularly airs Papal and Vatican events. Details on CatholicTV Papal Programming as well as archived videos can be viewed at www.CatholicTV.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=57

All online shows at CatholicTV.com are viewable free of charge.

About CatholicTV:
CatholicTV provides family-friendly, religious, news, and educational programming 24 hours daily. Founded over 50 years ago, CatholicTV is available in selected areas on cable in the United States and Canada, via Sky Angel and online via a live stream anytime, everywhere at the station's web site www.CatholicTV.com. Father Robert Reed, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, is the Director of CatholicTV. Click here to paste this into your browser to find out how to watch CatholicTV where you live: www.CatholicTV.com/schedule/where-to-watch.aspx

maryjos, 28.11.2009 13:07:

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Zippa dee do dah!!!!!Had an e-mail from Amazon UK this morning: my Alma Mater CD is on its way to me.
Mr Postman, hurry my way!!!!!!

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mary, hope you ordered reading glasses as well, the booklet is written for people with eagle-eyes ;-)))

today i received my DVD and i must say: unfortunately i'm a little bit dissapointed.
the music-DVD is okay so far, it's a good mixture of different music styles, but nothing really special. all in all one can hear papa ca.10 min., the other time you can hear the choir/orchestra.
the additional bonus-DVD tells the story, the background about the production of the "masterpiece". this is much more intersting for me than the music. there is a sequenz from the first angelus - really interesting und cute.
the best is a comment from vincent messina about the baby: "when you make a record it's like to make a baby"....."you never know, what's gonna happen!

not that I am misunderstood: all in all it's a good project, but i'm in doubt if it will be a "chartstürmer" ; after all the advanced messages i expected more.

here you can hear/buy the music files:

www.musicload.de/musik-aus-dem-vatikan/alma-mater-mit-der-stimme-von-papst-benedikt-xvi/musik/album/6...

fotos from the booklet


[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/2qdrkb7.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/2po4jrl.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/35irw9y.jpg[/IMG]

Thank you, benedetto.fan!!!! Those photos are beautiful and I like the soft colours of the background. I agree - the music on the CD with only a little bit of Papa's voice will probably disappoint me too. I haven't received my copy yet. But I am excited just because it's him!

Wow!!!

I don't know how the music will be but the photos on the Alma Mater CD are stunning. Thanks so much for posting them, benedetto.fan.