TRACKLIST

1. Kyrie (tenor, bass, and chorus) 5.15
2. Gloria (tenor, bass, and chorus) 1.52
3. Laudamus (tenor, chorus) 4.31
4. Gratias (bass) 5.06
5. Domine Deus (tenor, bass, and chorus) 2.15
6. Qui Tollis (tenor) 4.27
7. Qui Sedes (bass) 4.15
8. Quoniam (tenor, bass, and chorus) 1.15
9. Cum Sancto Spiritu (tenor, bass, and chorus) 1.14
10. Credo (choir and orchestra) 1.31
11. Et Incarnatus (tenor, chorus) 3.18
12. Et Resurrexit (solo, chorus) 2.59
13. Sanctus (tenor e choro) 2.05
14 Elevation 3.31
15. Benedict (bass soloist) 3.03
16. Hosanna (chorus) 0.32
17. Lamb of God (tenor, bass and chorus) 3.18

The Messa di Gloria, composed in Cerignola in 1888, follows the path of the good traditions of the nineteenth century Italian sacred music, before the reform operated by Don Lorenzo Perosi. This youth Mass demonstrates the overwhelming, energetic talent of a composer able to shape like few pathetic meditation in the sense of a religious emotion rather than liturgical and spiritual, as full of passionate and intimate human participation. Polyphony is almost entirely absent: it dominates in the choral writing a massive homophony, sometimes declamatory. In solo pieces (the voices are those of Tenor and Baritone) it unfolds a vocal writing in which the sumptuous melodic invention provides material for a great richness of expression, rarely rhetorical. There is often room for extensive introductions; between the Sanctus and Benedictus, surprisingly, that's a real romance for violin solo, with virtuosic concluding cadence. At the time of the first executions between 1888 and 1891, non-critical lacked strict who stressed the absence of a sacred style and the persistent presence of a dramatic writing operatic taste. Modern critics speak of naivete; actually the Mass is an absolutely original product, permeated all the way from Mascagnian style. It is in the melodic freshness that runs through the whole score; it is in the choice of inventing a popular and effective Church music. The liturgy needs here are very distant, yet it captures a "profane" tone; the genuine inspiration guarantees the "spiritual contemplation" that would Mascagni theorized since 1900. There will perhaps devout prayer for this Mass, but there is certainly an expression of true faith, humane and vibrant with emotion.