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It was a noble pursuit.  Take the text to the Mass Ordinary (every music student's mantra during their early music history days. Repeat after me: "King George Can't Sing Alto") from a slew of composers from the Renaissance to contemporary, throw them together into a pot, and pick out the best pieces to form a new Mass. 

Good fun! 

Focusing on the traditional texts of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Octarium provided an alternative to Chancticleer's modern text interpretations of their And on Earth, Peace album. By retaining the original texts, Octarium offered three creative Masstiches on Saturday night's performance.  The possibilities for the expanding program are endless as there are countless Masses rife for such musicological pilfering and I hope artistic director Krista Lang Blackwood revisits the idea in the future.

Masstiche the First contained the following: Stephen Hatfield's "Kyrie" and "Agnus Dei" from his Missa brevis bookended by Monteverdi's "Gloria" from Messe a 4 voci, Arvo Pärt's "Credo" (Missa syllabica) and Salieri's "Sanctus/Benedictus" from Missa stylo a cappella.  I found this reimaging the most successful. 

Hatfield's pieces were melodic with a just enough twenty-first century bite.  The celtic "Kyrie" drew the listener in with its unassuming folk melody and the unison opening of "Agnus Dei" did little to prepare me for the more intricate harmonies that followed.  Monteverdi's "Gloria" was full of dancing imitation between the voices and curt phrases.  Pärt's "Credo" was the stand-out of the set even though it was not a flawless performance.  I felt the tempo should have been slightly slower to accentuate the glorious dissonances that Pärt masters so deftly - and singers dread.  Each stanza alternated between the male and female voices and held together quite well until the last couple of verses.  I commend Blackwood for choosing a "Credo" that did not barrel through the 150-plus words, but instead reveled in them.  Salieri's "Sanctus/Benedictus" was not as light as I would have preferred.  It is a classical piece and there should have been more pep to it.

On paper the second Masstiche was the most impressive:  Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame "Kyrie," Ockeghem's "Gloria" from Missa cuiusvis toni, Kalliwoda's "Credo" from Missa in a, and two selections from Missa brevis settings-Bernstein's "Sanctus" and James MacMillan's "Agnus Dei."  I never thought I would hear the Messe de Nostra Dame live, so for that I am grateful.  After the performance though, I feel maybe those early Renaissance works should be left to early Renaissance specialists as the choir seemed far removed of their comfort zone. The Ockeghem was typical gorgeous Franco-Flemish style of the late fifteenth-century and Octarium's pure sound fit perfectly.  Kalliwoda's (a contemporary of the Schumann's) "Credo" was innocuous middle-Romantic fare and I felt a touch of judicious vibrato could have elevated the performance more (but I realize that is against the dictates of Octarium's sound). 

I find it noteworthy that Jewish composer, Leonard Bernstein wrote two "Masses," Missa brevis (from which the "Sanctus" was excerpted) and the extravagant theatre/performance piece, Mass.  The astoundingly sensitive tenor, Jason Parr acted as cantor and Octarium as congregation.  It was a simple setting: skillfully performed and stunning to absorb. 

James MacMillan's "Agnus Dei" shared the same qualities of dissonance as Pärt, yet the compositional approach was much different.  MacMillan's freely atonal dissonances occurred because of the horizontal, melodic quality of his vocal lines whereas Pärt's vertical simultaneities were harmonically derived.  In these Mass contexts, I prefer Pärt but MacMillan's setting of "Dona nobis pacem" was beautiful.

The third Masstiche began with the men singing Gounod's "Kyrie" from the Deuxiéme messe pour les sociétés chorales.  The tight harmonies reminded me of a less syrupy Barbershop quartet.  Baroque Polish composer (and at the time unknown to me) Grzegorz Gorczycki's "Gloria" from Missa paschalis reminded me of why we listen to Palestrina instead of him.  It was a fine piece, nothing earth-shattering or particularly memorable and was written about sixty years too late to be considered timely.  French Renaissance composer Pierre Colin's "Credo" (Missa confitemini) was overshadowed by the performance of William Byrd's "Sanctus/Benedictus" (Mass for 4 Voices).  The Byrd simply resonated more and the music seemed to breathe. 

The final Masstiche closed with Barber's "Agnus Dei."  The singers were scared and it showed on their faces.  It was a daunting task: miss one note or have one interval out of tune and everyone instantly recoils.  To attempt the familiar piece with only eight voices was misguided as the tempo had to be pushed to maintain breath-support and there was nowhere for anyone to hide. Fearless and commendable? Sure, but not successful. Kudos to Ashley Winters for floating the climatic pitch effortlessly though! 


REVIEW:
Octarium
Masstiche
Saturday, February 20, 2010
St. Elizabeth Catholic Church (75^th and Main)
www.octarium.org

By Lee Hartman

Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition.  In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances.  He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator.  His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker.  He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).