Frank La Rocca: Mass of the Americas

$9.98$19.98

Album Details

EAN/UPC: 753459697405
Catalog No: CR-425
Release Date: September 23, 2022
Liner Notes

Cappella Records proudly announces the release of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas (Misa de las Américas), performed by Benedict XVI Choir and Orchestra, directed by renowned international conductor Richard Sparks.

The work extends the genre of the Missa solemnis: a sublime setting of a Traditional Latin Mass for choir and orchestra. Listeners will discover a new masterwork: a rich modern tapestry with serene Gregorian chants, folk melodies from 18th-century regions of México, and florid praises in Nahuatl, the language spoken by Our Lady of Guadalupe to San Juan Diego in 1531.

Benedict XVI Choir’s début recording is sung by some of America’s finest singers, many GRAMMY®-nominated. Sung in Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl.

William P. Mahrt, editor of the Sacred Music journal, ends his extensive essay with “Variety, ingenuity, sheer compositional skill, and liturgical suitability have made these compositions in The Mass of the Americas destined to be classics.”

Mass of the Americas is one of three planned releases on Cappella Records produced by multi-GRAMMY® Award winner Blanton Alspaugh and the engineering team at Soundmirror. Soundmirror’s outstanding orchestral, solo, opera, and chamber recordings have earned more than 100 GRAMMY® nominations and awards, with releases on every major classical label.

Mass of the Americas is released on a Hybrid SACD in 2.0 stereo and 5.0 surround sound (DSM192K/24bit), recorded in DSD and downloadable to audio servers and devices. The accompanying booklet provides an extensive essay on the work, the full texts used in the composition, composer notes, full translations, and beautiful photography.

Frank La Rocca: Mass of the Americas (Misa de las Américas)

  1. El Cantico del Alba
  2. Kyrie
  3. Gloria
  4. Offertory (Ave Maria
  5. Sanctus - Benedictus
  6. Agnus Dei
  7. Ave Verum Corpus
  8. Aue Maria (Nahuatl)
  9. Salve Regina
  10. Alma Redemptoris Mater
  11. Ave Regina Cælorum
  12. Regina Cæli

Pizzicato

“The music, in which the organ plays an important role, is quiet and contemplative throughout, and is atmospherically and reverently performed by the Ensemble Benedict XVI.” ” –Remy Franck

One Peter 5

“La Rocca has forged an individual and powerful style: emotionally compressed yet often quiet, restrained and then powerfully moving…look for it to become one of La Rocca’s most performed works…” ” –Dr. Mark Nowakowski

HRAudio.net

Its beauty is impressively powerful… Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas is as timeless as it is timely - thus succeeding with flying colours in the commission - and Richard Sparks and Company are its truly authentic interpreters. ” –Adrian Quanjer