Which of three "Masses" to choose? Submitted on: 2009-03-24
"Mass" was considered a major embarrassment when it opened the Kennedy Center in 1971, and critics fell over themselves mocking its jejune lyrics, solipsistic religiosity, and cringing amabition to imitate the success of "Hair." No work from a major composer was more tragically hip. But if Bernstein was quick to leave a painful fiasco behind ("Mass" is the only big piece of his that he never re-recorded), the gaudy music and street-fair theatrics somehow survived. Now a new generation is responding, although I have a sneaking suspicion that Christian fundamentalism may have something to do with this (imagine Bernstein's reaction).
There are three recordings to choose from, and I thought it would be helpful for prospective buyers to know how they difffer.
1971 Bernstein: This is the original cast album, made after the Washington D.C. premiere, with a huge panoply of performers. No ohter recording has assembled so many musicians and singers. For grandiosity and exuberance, Bernsteein's interpretation is unmantched. His critics may have smelled cheese, but the composer flung himself into his own expression wholeheartedly. Alan Titus as the young Celebrant is equally fervent, a hippie-apostle who believes every word, however clunky, put in his mouth. Titus went on to a notable operatic career in Europe but had a knock for the Broadway vernacular that runs through "Mass." Sony's bright, closely-miked sound has a lot of digital glare in its first CD version, but I haven't heard the latest incarnation.
2004 Nagano: As a transplanted American, Kent Nagano brought the true Bernstein idiom to Berlin for this high-energy reading with the Deutsches Sym. Orch. Production values are high, although nowhere close to the original. The recorded sound is very good. This would have been a total success except for Jerry Hadley as the Celebrant. Never much of a vocal actor, Hadley applies the cliches of an operatic tenor, complete with sobs, to a role that above all requires innocence, or at least guilelessness. He's also too old for the part of a post-adolescent searching for faith in a faithlesss world.
2009 Jarvi: The newest recording pulls back from the gaudiness of the score, attempting through a decent restraint to give "Mass" more dignity. In a way this is a half measure. The eye-popping embarrassments that litter Stephen Schwartz's flower-child lyrics (a ripeness of schlock unique in musical history, I think) cannot be erased. But Celebrant Randall Scarlata, the weakest vocally of the three choices, does the best in avoiding excess. His delivery has a Midwestern flatness that's not as cringe-worthy as Broadway glitz. Conductor Kristian Jarvi is competent, as are the various singers and musicians. The American idiom is spotty -- the recording venue was in Austria -- but I like the slimness of the forces involved. A pared-down "Mass" is saved from grandiosity. On the whole, Chandos's up-to-date sound is the best of the three versions.
Which of the three recordings would I choose? It depends on my mood. If I want the full hallucinatory impact, I turn to Bernstein's unvarnished electro-shock enthusiasm. If I feel too embarrassed for that, Jarvi's relative restraint does the best by a score that will always be green eggs and ham.
A fine performance that is a tribute to Bernstein's memory Submitted on: 2009-02-01
My recollection of Bernstein's own recording of Mass is that it was an intense but frenzied performance. That of course works for Bernstein, but you can't out-Bernstein Bernstein. I liked Mass when it first appeared and have appreciated it since; I thought numerous adverse critical reviews were little more than cheap pot-shots. After all, who was writing the music, and who was on the sidelines writing criticism? But anyway, I was thrilled to find a modern recording by a major figure such as Kent Nagano. Nagano takes the full measure of the work and does it justice, but the sense of personal frenzy (Bernstein's own ecstasy?) has been replaced by a more coherent whole that I find very satisfying. While it is often interesting to hear composers perform their own works, their performances are not necessarily definitive or even "the best." Kudos to Nagano, Hadley, et al, for bringing this wonderful theater piece to a new generation.
If I could give it less than 1 star I would Submitted on: 2008-10-12
I was immensely disappointed by this recording. The tempi are entirely too fast and the parts are miscast. The recording itself sounds muddy, and I get better sound off my 40 yr. old turntable with the original LP on it.
Best of All Masses Submitted on: 2008-09-29
"BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE BERNSTEIN"
"...there are disarmingly beautiful passages in this earnest and boldly eclectic theater piece, like the chorale 'Almighty Father,' with its austerely spacious harmonies, and the bebopping 'Alleluia.' That the work has been championed by contemporary-music dynamos, like the conductor Kent Nagano on his 2003 recording, is a testimony to its strengths."
- THE NEW YORK TIMES (September 11, 208)
don?t pay attention to the negative reviews Submitted on: 2006-05-12
This is for sure one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th. century music composed by the genius maestro Leonard Bernstein. Nagano did an excellent job and the sound is simply great!!! If you have the oportunity grab this one and don?t pay attention to the negative reviews, they are just people opinions.
Which of three "Masses" to choose?
A fine performance that is a tribute to Bernstein's memory
If I could give it less than 1 star I would