Customer Reviews for Mass in g minor
Arnold McKay
Location: from Wilmington, DE
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
June 3, 2012
Hauntingly Beautiful
This is one of Vaughan William's high achievements. As with most of his music, the Mass is couched in traditional harmonies, with many references to earlier modes. The work also utilizes parts of familiar plainsong chants, woven into a hauntingly beautiful complex harmonic structure. His use of a double chorus and solo voices in the Gloria and other sections may be beyond a small church choir, but would be easily performed by a good volunteer choir of 20 or more. He even provides a keyboard intoduction to each movement, "in case the pitch drops" in the preceding section. He provides an accompaniment throughout, but only for rehearsal. A major a cappella piece, the Mass will take weeks of preparation, but the wonderful result is why this is a much loved work of English church music.
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