Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dazzling goulash of pop, folk, opera and Broadway, 2 Mar 2002
By A Customer
This is a very exciting and moving piece of musical theatre. It is spiritual without being parochially religious. Although based on the format of the catholic mass, and using the "chapter headings" of the mass as inspiration for the various musical movements, the style of the piece is a dazzling multi-coloured goulash of pop, folk, orchestral opera and Broadway musical. This mixture attracted some very negative criticism from the Establishment in the early 70's when it was written. I think that maybe this should be seen more as a comment on the critics' preconceptions and dislike of being surprised than on Bernstein's work. My only personal reservations focus on a couple of pop/folk sections which, being deliberately drawn from the music that was about in the late 60's/early 70's, now seem a bit dated. That's only a very minor gripe though. Listen with an open mind and delight in the blissfully peaceful ending.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another "Flawed Masterpiece", 14 Nov 2007
Bernstein struggled more than most composers towards the end of his life in order to assemble some sort of canon on which his achievement as a composer could be assessed. He reworked both West Side Story and Candide to position them more for the opera house, composed the "serious" opera A Quiet Place in order to house the earlier musical Trouble In Tahiti and conducted a number of fresh recordings of his early concert works. This seemingly acknowledged the danger that the great populariser of classical music might end up being overlooked as what he certainly was: one of the great twentieth century composers. Mass is a perfect illustration of this danger.
Like Bernstein's third symphony, Mass is essentially a drama: an angry questioning of God's role in His own creation. The musical theatre numbers that pepper Mass like arias (and which were co-written with Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz) continually voice ordinary human doubts about God, while the more academic choral sections suggest the real liturgical mass that Bernstein also had in his sights. Consequently if you really dislike musical theatre or classical music, you can guarantee to dislike a substantial portion of this work one way or another. What seems like a commercial move - combining styles aimed at classical and popular audiences - backfires except for those who happen to enjoy both.
Nevertheless, those who can stay the course will find some of Bernstein's best numbers here alongside some thrilling serious composition. There are songs here (such as "A Simple Song" and "Secret Songs") that contain some of the best melodic material that he ever composed, and many of the numbers are (for want of a better word) "toe-tappers". Moreover, the climactic aria, "Things Get Broken", is electrifying: although Alan Titus's voice will not suit all listeners in the role of Celebrant, overall he proves himself in the emotional range that he brings to these songs.
The classical side of the work is (typically for late Bernstein) a defiant but uncertain refutation of Serialism: jublilantly musical, but at the same time determined to prove that Bernstein could have handled discord had he wanted to. This means that the "Credo" and "In Nomine Patris" are so crowd-pleasing as to make one question (needlessly) whether they are serious classical music at all, while follies such as the abrasive "Kyrie Eleison" (a musical joke of sorts) merely makes one wish that Bernstein had not written with one eye on the reviews.
This work is not a good place to start with Bernstein - parts of the work have dated as badly as Schwartz's Godspell - but as musical tastes have swung towards Postmodernism with its acceptance of abrupt changes of style and tone, the work has become easier to assimilate. For existing fans of Bernstein's music, Mass has become something of a talisman: the most successful demonstration of his ability to combine high and low art to a serious moral purpose.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bernstein's Masterpiece, 12 Jun 2003
The most endearing thing about Leonard Bernstein's Mass is that you can go as deep as you wish. Not only is the music toe-tapping to solemn, but the moral, if I may, is awe-inspiring. A must-listen for any music appreciator.
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