Revised Heritage Mass Mass Setting by Owen Alstott

[glenn0914]

I was just wondering if someone can share the SATB music sheet of this revised Heritage Mass. I would really appreciate it very much if I could get the SATB music sheets for our choir. Please do email me in this email add: glenn_0914@yahoo.com....God bless you for sharing!

[NEMeinradt]

TheSensibleCatholic, I appreciate the thoughtful comment below, and concur that the over use of the tune has probably been a factor in my lack of interest in hearing it again. The local parish has chosen this setting sung, either with or with out a choir, for ten years. Sadly, with all of the new settings to choose from available from OCP, Heritage Mass setting is still the number one choice of that parish. 

[hughbe40]

beautiful traditional setting. If you are looking for something more upbeat and contemporary, please go to my channel and check my videos.

[MassSettings]

I meant parts of mass.

[MassSettings]

@Shenandoah58 Soooo true! The other week our accompanist was gone so the director played everything on the organ and one of the people in my section complained about it. I actually quit going to the choir mass a long time ago because the organ seldom got used and they don't let the people sing. They use "special" songs that the choir sings. I'm in the choir now, so I go, I do miss the other masses just for the fact that all we do is sing choral songs. The congregation only sings the parts.

[MrOrganist21]

Wow, 0 dislikes, that just goes to show how great of a Mass setting this is!

[serenityoct04]

Thanks for sharing this!

[MrOrganist21]

I'm not to fond of Alstott's psalms/gospel acclamations but this a wonderful Mass setting! I am so glad that my Church uses it!

[NortheastOrganist]

Of course, they had to use a piano to accompany this, even though it's clearly an organ-based setting.

[Shenandoah58]

@NortheastOrganist Yep they did. Playing a piano in a church that has a decent organ is like having a hot dog when filet mignon is available.

[lpa06432]

@MassSettings: I know that the original was published in 1978, but I wonder how long before that he'd actually written it. The new translation is awfully similar to the 1964 translation, the one that was used when the Mass was first said in the vernacular. The translation about to be replaced came into use in 1970.

[lpa06432]

@disneydanny2 : That's because the 'piano' sounds like a midi file on playback, not a real person, and the playback introduces an artificially heavy accent on 1. If you get a chance, listen to the setting performed with brass and organ--simple yet majestic.

[TomyHun]

I really love this version. The old one was great as well though. And I don't think the Latin soprano is all that disturbing, I'd rather say it's quite ornamental! Overall it has a very warm and mellow flow.

[mariachica97]

WHY DO WE HAVE TO SING THE PROPER OF THE MASS AT ALL??? Why can't people enter into their hearts, unite themselves as a community with Our Lord, & pray--speak the words? As someone with a hearing disability, high pitches & dissonance at Mass cause physical suffering & make it a penance to be there. I LOVE QUIET, SPOKEN MASSES where people actually pray instead of being focused on performing.

[mleonetti1991]

@mariachica97 Singing or chanting the prayers of mass has always been a tradition in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. I think, personally, it actually brings us closer because it raises our minds and hearts to heaven where the angels and the saints sing praise to God for all eternity.

[disneydanny2]

am i the only one who has "The Great Gate Of Kiev" running through their head when they hear this setting

[sttommore]

I don't always like Alstott's melodies, but this not bad at all. Layering the Latin and English could be a nice idea, but both texts end up getting muddled in the ear, which defeats the purpose, frankly.

[NEMeinradt]

Too long, too dissonant, and too over used by mediocre choirs. This is another setting I was hoping would be overtaken with the new translation and fade into disuse. However, with that said it does beat, hands down, quite a few of the other brand new classic contemporary praise team Mass settings posted here.

[TheSensibleCatholic]

@NEMeinradt are you sure you're talking about the right setting? This setting is through-composed and by far one of the shortest (just looking at many of the other files of recordings will tell you that), and cadences frequently (how exactly is it too dissonant?). The fact that it is "too overused by mediocre choirs" speaks to the crisis of sacred music in the Catholic Church. I'm sure this would be palatable to you if you heard it prayed by a choir that actually read music.

[SkipperChuck42]

very good; another keeper. Owen is another great composer who's been at this a very long time and generally does excellent work. I had not heard the other version of this setting, so I can't compare the two versions, but I have to agree, this flows well - something important when trying to get your congregation to sing.

[MassSettings]

I think this is probably the best of all the revised settings. It's almost like he wrote it the first time to these words and then changed it for the old one. The old one has us holding notes left and right. This one just flows. What do you think?