Top 11 Favourite Sacred Works

[amw]

Off the top of my head -

Bach - Mass in B minor
Bach - St Matthew Passion
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis
Schubert - Mass in E flat
Byrd - Mass for five voices
Mozart - Requiem
Zelenka - Requiem in c minor (ZWV 48?)
Ferneyhough - Missa brevis
Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles (if I had to pick favourites, this one would arm-wrestle the B minor mass and Missa Solemnis for the top spot)
Stravinsky - Threni
Ligeti - Requiem

I'm boring :\

So here's a much less boring list! I haven't heard any of these pieces, but they do seem pretty obscure

James A. Butterfield - Belshazzar
Antonio Zachara da Teramo - Credo
Johannes Verhulst - Mass in E major, Op. 50
Joseph Schnabel - Mass No. 4
Andreas Hofer - Missa Archi Episcopalis à 19
Cécile Chaminade - Messe pour deux voix égales, Op. 167
Johann Gustav Eduard Stehle - Missa Solemnis No. 4, Op. 67
Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I - Requiem
Andreas Johann Lorenz Oechsner - Stabat Mater, Op. 35
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach - Die Auferweckung Lazarus
Charles Villiers Stanford - The Three Holy Children, Op. 22

There we go. Much better

[DaveF]

I can probably do most of this without leaving Tudor England:

Browne: Stabat mater
Fayrfax: Eterne laudis lilium
Tallis: Spem, spem, spem, spem, onions and spem
Mundy: Vox patris cælestis
Byrd: The Great Service; Plorans plorabit
Gibbons: Almighty and everlasting God (small but perfect)
Monteverdi: Vespers
Bach: Singet dem Herrn
Berlioz: Te Deum
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms

I think that by stretching a point I can help you. Richard Strauss: Deutche Motette Op62. Not liturgical but bordering philosophy and belief. If you like Tallis 40 part motet, imagine it reworked using Strauss harmonics.

That's one of the most intriguingly-baited hooks I've come across recently.  I'll certainly have a listen.  And as far as the liturgy is concerned, hardly any of the works mentioned in this thread is liturgical.  Only three of mine are, for example (I don't imagine Berlioz intended the Te Deum for Mattins).

DF

[Fafner]

Okay, I do not listen to sacred works much, but these are my favourites:

Mozart - Requiem
Verdi - Requiem
Handel - Messiah
Janáček - Glagolitic Mass
Dvořák - Requiem
Dvořák - Biblical songs
Bach - Mass in B minor
Rossini - Stabat Mater
Beethoven - Missa solemnis
Britten - War Requiem
The Plastic People of the Universe - Passion Play

[TheGSMoeller]

I think that by stretching a point I can help you. Richard Strauss: Deutche Motette Op62. Not liturgical but bordering philosophy and belief. If you like Tallis 40 part motet, imagine it reworked using Strauss harmonics. It is probably the most complex piece of its kind. Terrifically beautiful and could even catch the ear of the career obscurists here.

Mike

20 years with Richard Strauss and still have new pieces to explore of his, I love classical music. Big thank you, Mike, for the suggestion, it will be in my possession before the day has ended, hopefully.

[knight66]

My pleasure for both of you who it may have hooked. Do let me know how you get along with it. heady stuff with a soprano soloist arcing across the top of it.....enjoy.

I am encouraged by the number of people who mention the Berlioz Te Deum. It really sweeps along. I have been lucky to sing in it several times, it feels like flying. Interesting that Berlioz in his Grande Messe and Verdi in his Requiem, (both unbelievers), provide the most awe inspiring Tuba Mirum movements, like musical Hieronymus Bosch.

Mike

[Karl Henning]

I think that by stretching a point I can help you. Richard Strauss: Deutche Motette Op62.

Thanks for mentioning this, Mike, heretofore it was completely off my radar.

[Karl Henning]

Yes, I noted the utter obscurity of a number of favoured works. I guess ennui sets in with the masterpieces.

It's complicated (in my case). I am happy to say that no ennui has set in with the Op.123. But I blush to say that I have seldom listened to it . . . .

Well, I guess that wasn't really all that complicated! Ain't-a that good news!?

[Cato]

One of my recent discoveries, mentioned several times in the past weeks: Franz von Suppe's Requiem.

And from my childhood: Cesar Franck's Psalm 150 and Panis Angelicus.

[Karl Henning]

One of my recent discoveries, mentioned several times in the past weeks: Franz von Suppe's Requiem.

Thanks for the reminder!

And also of the Franck Panis Angelicus, which I just hadn't thought of in a long while . . . .

[Brahmsian]

I enjoyed this exercise more than any of the other lists from GMG mainly because 1) sacred choral works have been among my favorite genres for a long times and 2) it caused me to really evaluate how much I loved a piece as opposed to respecting it. 

Very happy to hear that.  I'm also very pleased with the extensive amount of participation in this thread.  Now there are many, many sacred works to look forward to exploring in the future! 

[kyjo]

Very happy to hear that.  I'm also very pleased with the extensive amount of participation in this thread.  Now there are many, many sacred works to look forward to exploring in the future! 

Yes, definitely check out the lesser-known works on mine and others' lists when you have time, Ray, especially the Howells and Tobias works.

[knight66]

I really am keen to know how people find the Strauss.

Vivaldi Stabat Mater
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
Rossini Stabat Mater
Verdi Stabat Mater
Pendereski Stabat Mater
Part Stabat Mater
Szymanowski Stabat Mater

Actually, I would drop the Rossini, but the rest are special I feel and most have not had a mention.

Mike

[kyjo]

I really am keen to know how people find the Strauss.

As usual with Strauss: Zzzzzzzzzzzz.........

[Christo]

*runs for cover*

Who's Brahms, BTW?

[DavidW]

As usual with Strauss: Zzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Not to be rude, but he wasn't talking to you.  As is clear from the context, Knight wants to know how Dave and Greg respond to a specific work of Strauss that they have not heard before.  Please don't troll it's unbecoming.

[kyjo]

Not to be rude, but he wasn't talking to you.  As is clear from the context, Knight wants to know how Dave and Greg respond to a specific work of Strauss that they have not heard before.  Please don't troll it's unbecoming.

Can't decide whether to tell you to lighten up or to apologize for "trolling" (as you define it).........

[kyjo]

Who's Brahms, BTW?

A very fine composer but one I could do without.

[DavidW]

Can't decide whether to tell you to lighten up or to apologize for "trolling" (as you define it).........

The latter because the former implies that you were joking, but you were not.  You were trying to dominate the conversation even when it doesn't involve you, and you were frankly being rude.

[kyjo]

The latter because the former implies that you were joking, but you were not.  You were trying to dominate the conversation even when it doesn't involve you, and you were frankly being rude.

Well, of course the latter. You just don't want to accept the fact that you're making mountains out of molehills.

[DavidW]

Well, of course the latter. You just don't want to accept the fact that you're making mountains out of molehills.

You have 19 posts on this thread, this is just for a thread involving music you don't even care about.  On threads involving something like 20th century orchestral music it's hard for anyone to even get a word in.  I just think you need to slow down.  I enjoy your enthusiasm for modern music, but you are wearing out my page down key having to scroll through incessant posts about esoteric modern composers that few care about.  I like reading your thoughts on composers that I care about, but I'm getting to the point where I might have to add you to my ignore list just because I need to filter out your vast quantity of posts.

I think that insulting people just to get their attention is not cool.  But this is part of the bigger issue that by always trying to grab our attention, you inadvertently push some of us away.  Please don't be insulted, but it's not a molehill.