Top 11 Favourite Sacred Works

[Papy Oli]

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater
Tallis - Salve Intemerata
Byrd - Mass for 4 voices
Part - Kanon Pokajanen
Mozart - Requiem
Tallis - Spem in Alium
Allegri - Miserere
Palestrina - Missa Papae Marcelli
Fux - Requiem
Gesualdo - Sabbado Sancto
Part - Berliner Messe

[Dax]

No mentions yet for
Liszt - Via Crucis
Lili Boulanger - psalm 130 Du fond de l'abime
Ives - Harvest home chorales

If one may be permitted an album, then Simon Karas Byzantine hymns of Christmas.

Wot, no Duke Ellington?

[Karl Henning]

No mentions yet for
Liszt - Via Crucis

That is a beauty.

[Jo498]

Beethoven: Missa solemnis
Bach: St Matthew Passion
Handel: Messiah
Bach: Mass in b minor
Mozart: Mass in c minor
Brahms: German Requiem
Haydn: The creation (sacred enough?)
Monteverdi: Vespers for the Virgin Mary
Verdi: Requiem
Bruckner: Te Deum
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass

[Earth and Air and Rain]

There's no avoiding the grand monuments of Bach, Mozart, et al in a topic like this, nor the medieval & renaissance masters, but I'll offer my favorites from outside that central trunk of major masses and oratorios.

Handel:  Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 (1707) - unique and exciting, a young genius showing off to his Italian hosts
Haydn:  Te Deum, H. XXIIIc:2 (1800) - whirlwind setting encapsulating his choral mastery, with immense double fugue
Mendelssohn:  Say where is he born / There shall a star, from Christus, op. 97 (1847) - gorgeous trio & chorus for Christmas
Bruckner:  Ave Maria, Christus factus est, and Os Justi (1861-84) - towering works in the smallest form
Grechaninov:  Strastnaia Sedmitsa (Passion Week), op. 58 (1911) - stands right beside Rachmaninoff Vespers
Milhaud:  Psaume 121, for TTBB (1921) - among the most valuable works in male chorus repertoire
Martin:  Mass (1926) - exceptional a cappella setting, deep and memorable as few 20th-c masses have achieved
Howells:  Requiem and Hymnus Paradisi (1932/38) - both superb, the latter based partly on former
Duruflé:  Requiem, op. 9 (1947) - expert adaptation of gregorian chant, impressionistic and achingly beautiful
Finzi:  In terra pax, op. 39 (1954) - the culmination of his output of choral gems, Finzi's most perfect gift in his last years

Didn't even have space for numerous small American pieces that I love greatly...  Will have to wait for another thread.

[Brian]

Alphabetical.

Berlioz - L'enfance du Christ
Berlioz - Te Deum
Dvorak - Requiem
Dvorak - Te Deum
Faure - Requiem
Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
Lauridsen - O magnum mysterium
Lutoslawski - Twenty Polish Christmas Carols
Orban - Daemon irrepit callidus
Poulenc - Gloria
Zelenka - Missa votiva

Hon. Mention:
Janacek - The Eternal Gospel
Brahms - Ave Maria
Biebl - Ave Maria
Milhaud - Psaume 121
Grieg - Ave maris stella

[Brian]

Here's a YouTube recording of the most obscure choice on my list, by György Orbán (b. 1947).

http://www.youtube.com/v/2NoBKcrDesM

[Karl Henning]

Alphabetical.

Berlioz - L'enfance du Christ
Berlioz - Te Deum
Dvorak - Requiem
Dvorak - Te Deum
Faure - Requiem
Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
Lauridsen - O magnum mysterium
Lutoslawski - Twenty Polish Christmas Carols
Orban - Daemon irrepit callidus
Poulenc - Gloria
Zelenka - Missa votiva

Hon. Mention:
Janacek - The Eternal Gospel
Brahms - Ave Maria
Biebl - Ave Maria
Milhaud - Psaume 121
Grieg - Ave maris stella

Great list.

Although, you may not be listening to enough Henning.

(j/k)

[sheri1983]

Bach Mass in B
Bach Mathew's Passion
Bach Magnificat
Handel Messiah
Mozart Mass in C
Mozart Requiem
Beethoven Missa Solemnis
Handel Solomon
Handel Israel in Egypt
Haydn The Creation

I found Beethoven Missa Solemnis the greatest sacred piece I ever listened, I think I can add Brahms Requiem and maybe Schubert Masses but I didn't listened to it yet but I trust their works, and Bach Cantatas are one of the best in sacred music.

[knight66]

I am with you there on the Missa Solemnis, not like a mountain, more like a range of mountains.

Mike

[Spineur]

Here are a few more not yet mentionned

Michel Richard Delalande: De profundis
Felix Mendelssohn: Oratorio Paulus

My all time favorites are
Liszt Via Crucis
Haydn the seven last words or Christ
already cited a few times.

[Monsieur Croche]

Guillaume de Machaut ~ La Messe de Nostre Dame

Guillaume Dufay ~ Ave Maris Stella

Mozart ~ mass in C minor KV 427

Beethoven ~ Missa Solemnis

Rossini ~ Petite Messe Solennelle [original orchestration, twelve singers, the soloists doubling the SATB chorus, two pianos and harmonium.]

Messiaen ~  Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine

Stravinsky ~ Mass / Threni

Ligeti ~ Requiem

[North Star]

I think some changes are in order. I'm ignoring renaissance only because I can't be bothered with trying to fit all them in this small a list as well.

Bach - Mass in B minor
Bach - St. Matthew Passion
Berlioz – Requiem  L'enfance du Christ
Britten - War Requiem   Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem
Fauré – Requiem
Janacek – Glagolitic Mass
Mozart - Requiem    Monteverdi - Vespro della Beata Vergine
Mozart - Mass in C minor
Rakhmaninov – All-night Vigil
Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms
Zelenka – Missa Votiva

Honorary mention
Britten - War Requiem
Janáček - Otčenáš (Our Father)
Pärt - Stabat Mater
Tippett - A Child of Our Time
Vivaldi - Nisi Dominus RV 608

[SymphonicAddict]

Resurrecting old posts

On the top: my favorite all-time masses

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Janácek: Glagolitic Mass

In no especific order:

Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Dvorák: Te Deum
Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Bruckner: Te Deum
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater
Respighi: Lauda per la Natività del Signore
Penderecki: A Polish Requiem

[Contemporaryclassical]

Ockeghem - Missa Prolationum
Monteverdi - Vespers
Bach - St Matthew Passion
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis
Stravinsky - Threni

[bwv 1080]

Some not mentioned

Frank Martin - Mass
Charles Wuorinen - Mass for the restoration of St Lukes
Schnittke - Requiem
Schnittke - Choir Concerto
Schnittke - Psalms of Repentance
Gesualdo - Tenebrae

[kyjo]

At the current moment:

Boulanger (L.): Psalm 130 Du fond de l'abîme
Dvorak: Requiem
Fauré: Requiem
Finzi: In terra pax
Handel: Messiah
Lloyd: A Symphonic Mass
Poulenc: Stabat Mater
Schmidt, Franz: Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln
Schmitt, Florent: Psalm 47
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Vasks: Missa

[Karl Henning]

Of non-Henning works:
Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine
Rakhmaninov All-Night Vigil
Berlioz Grande Messe des morts
Liszt Via crucis
Bruckner Mass in e minor
Wuorinen Mass for the Restoration of St Luke's
Papa Missa in tempore belli
Victoria Missa Alma Redemptoris Mater
Tallis Mass for Four Voices
Byrd Mass for Five Voices
Clemens non papa Magnificat octavi thoni

[MusicTurner]

Regarding Liszt, difficult to choose between Via Crucis and the Christus Oratorio. But in the end, the varied content and the grandeur of Christus would probably win for me. The Via Crucis is a really remarkable, Spartan and modern-sounding work, however.

[Karl Henning]

Regarding Liszt, difficult to choose between Via Crucis and the Christus Oratorio. But in the end, Christus would probably win for me. The Via Crucis is a really remarkable, spartan and modern-sounding work, however.

I do need to visit Christus more.