This revision of a very popular Australian mass by Stephen Robinson is available as sheet music at As One Voice.
I played the old version for many years and this shares the problem of all revisions of having to unlearn the old tunes. The parts that haven’t changed well…haven’t changed. This mass was always a delight to play on guitar because that’s what it was written for. The Sanctus is basically the same and most everything else is identical, with the recurring themes coming around often enough to make it all familiar enough.
I have found the Gloria has been the problem in other masses that didn’t survive revision intact because of the extensive rewrite into English that is unsympathetic to musical setting. Here, it is again a stumbling block, but his solutions are at least more elegant than say “Creation” or “Freedom”. He is forced to drag “Lord” and “God” in “Lord God heavenly King” over two bars each and that is a stretch. Otherwise his forced interpolations don’t stand out too badly at all.
So why not get out your mass books and sing along and see if this is a mass that your parish could use.
Lord Have Mercy
Glory to God
Gospel Acclamation
Lenten Gospel Acclamation: He has three – I picked “Praise to you Lord”
Holy Holy Holy
We Proclaim Your Death, O Lord
When We Eat This Bread
Save Us, Saviour of the World
The Great Amen
Lamb of God
So grateful that a revised edition of Mass for Moderns is available. It’s a shame that I’ve just learnt of it (May 2019) as it was published in 2016. It’s an easy Mass setting for the congregation to learn.
I love this mass setting. Absolutely excellent. so glad we can use it again
Mass for moderns shoyld not longer bve part of of the liturgy as Fr Robinson and the St Gerard order have been dissolved due to sexual abuse convictions.
So, disregard the Gospel because it was written by uneducated, and unqualified fishermen? God will use anybody to get his work done. You should really read the Bible, try not to throw stones when you live in a glasshouse.
If we were to discover that Sir Alexander Fleming had murdered people we would not abandon the use of penicillin; or, if we were to discover that Leonardo Da Vinci was a liar, embezzler, or worse, we would not destroy the Mona Lisa or the Last Supper. The Mass for Moderns is a musical composition of great Liturgical Prayers – the Kyrie, the Gloria etc – whose objects are the petition for forgiveness, the praise of God etc and it has moved many people – and appears to continue to be capable of moving people today – to feel love for and awe of the Triune God. I personally think it is my favourite of all modern Mass settings and think it eminently suitable for contemporary worship. Music, like the visual arts, are an important connector between the fallible human spirit and the mystery we call God.
Can anyone direct me to a website where I can purchase an mp3 of the Parts of the Mass?
G’Day Brian
This is an up to date link for the sheet music.
https://willowpublishing.com.au/product/mass-for-moderns-2nd-edition/
I suspect if anyone knows if an MP3 of a performance of the mass is available, they would at Willow. Perhaps you could contact them directly.
Geoff