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FRANK MARTIN :
Messe pour double Chœur a cappella (1922)
Saturday 2 November, 1963 – Hamburg, Germany
Bugenhagen Kantorei, cond. Franz Brunnert
Bärenreiter Verlag, 2014 (BA7594)
“This mass, composed in 1922 (except for the 'Agnus Dei' which dates from 1926), was a work of my own free will, without commission or remuneration. Indeed at that time I knew of no choral conductor who could be interested in it. I never submitted it to the Society of Swiss Musicians for performance at one of their annual events. In fact I had no desire to have it performed as I was afraid it would be judged on a purely aesthetic level. As far as I was concerned it was a matter between God and myself. The same was true later on for a Christmas oratorio. I felt that religious fervour should remain private and not be influenced by public opinion. So much so that this composition remained in a drawer for forty years, included as a formality in my list of works. It was there in 1962 that the conductor of the Bugenhagen-Kantorei in Hamburg, Mr. Franz W. Brunnert, saw it mentioned and asked me to send it to him for perusal. He and his choir gave the first performance in the autumn of 1963, 41 years after it was composed. All the aforementioned shows clearly that, even though I wrote the mass for a large number of voices, it is music of an inward nature.” — Frank Martin