Published settings 2

[Dom Perignon]

The previous topic got out of hand. I have locked it and started this new topic - for comment on new published settings and how they are working/being used in practice - and for nothing else.

[musicus]

Further to Dom Perignon's post, I have moved the Published Settings 1 topic to Another Place until the moderators have had time to analyse it carefully and to decide what action is to be taken. In the meantime, trolling and the feeding of trolls will be removed without further comment, whether on this thread or on any other.

{I have now moderated that topic and returned it to the forum]

[Southern Comfort]

Signed on too late to see what the problem was.

May I just say that the number of published settings on the Liturgy Office website has been far lower than it ought to have been, and this is entirely because of the narrow funnel created by the approval process. There is a large corpus of settings sitting out there which have not emerged from the panel process, or which indeed have not even been inserted into it. I personally don't think that anyone in a parish ought to be selecting any kind of definitive setting until Autumn 2013 at the earliest, by which time not only will there be a truly wide spectrum of material available but also it will be clear how the panel's remit is supposed to work (if indeed there is still a panel by that time). In other words, a significant number of composers are refusing to play the approval process's games and are waiting to see how things pan out.

The fact that Mr Baty and others may think (and say) that everything in the garden is lovely does not detract from the fact that others disagree and do not yet trust the process to do what it ought to be doing. And there is also the fact that the way the England and Wales panel is operating is noticeably at variance with the way that panels in other English-speaking countries are operating. Until there is equitable treatment, things are not going to improve.

We can only hope that the widely-trumpeted September meeting when the E&W panel's remit is, we are told, going to come under close scrutiny, will do the trick.

In the meantime, I know of a large number of parishes that say they are going to start off by using the Psallite Mass and the Walker Belmont Mass. That strikes me as being a very sensible way to begin, while waiting to see exactly what may become available in the next year or so.

[Nick Baty]

In the meantime, I know of a large number of parishes that say they are going to start off by using the Psallite Mass and the Walker Belmont Mass. That strikes me as being a very sensible way to begin, while waiting to see exactly what may become available in the next year or so.

Yes, those two are certainly proving popular here in the north west. And, of course, one must wait, suck and see. But don't be too quick to knock the selection which is already out there. There is quite a lot in the Laudate Supplement, including Dean, Jones, Farrell, Haugen, Inwood, Proulx, Smith and Walker.

One of the thoughts on the earlier thread was how some parishes might find revised settings more difficult than new ones – provided they knew the original ones in the first place. That's certainly been our experience in Everton – the assembly has taken to two new settings like the proverbial ducks but is struggling with a revised version of a well-known setting even after seven weeks of trying – in fact, we really might have to ditch it.

I'm sure that it will take time and patience to see what floats to the top.

[mcb]

some parishes might find revised settings more difficult than new ones

That hasn't been our experience. We've tried out the revised versions of the Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen) and the Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood), and both seem to have worked, from the word go. A run-through before Mass, and the choir giving a strong lead, probably both help.

(We did stumble over the revised Gathering Mass at an ordination service - I'd drilled the huge assembly in the revised version, but the very large number of clergy weren't present for that, and they all belted out the old version without looking in their service booklets. Small steps.)

[Nick Baty]

That hasn't been our experience.

I suspect it depends on the setting. I can see Walker's New Celtic Liturgy working quite well, provided the assembly has the words handy – in fact, only the Holy and Per Ipsum is revised – everything else is new, with echoes of the old "Christ has died" in the new acclamations.

[Hare]

I feel that it is useful to have a set of responsorial acclamations in the repertoire. Two questions arise from this thought:

1) We used to use the Inwood G Minor(ish) Eucharistic acclamations (Music For The Mass 34A & 34B) - Have these been revised at all, and if so, where can the revised setting be obtained?

2) I had thought of introducing the new Chris Walker "In Pace" Acclamations (responsorial) which appear in "Glory To God". however, I see from the Decani website that they are being published separately, and that they are primarily intended for funerals. There does not sem to be anything unduly funereal about them - unless I am missing something? I would use them for funerals but would want the regular assembly to get used to them on Sundays as well. any thoughts please?

[Peter Jones]

..........and that they are primarily intended for funerals.........

CW wrote them with participation of everyone in mind at funerals but they will serve equally well at weddings and indeed, any at Mass. I have used them in the parish and in the school to good effect.

[musicus]

I, too, have used them regularly on Sundays, and they have gone really well (along with the in Pace Lamb of God).

[nazard]

I have just spent an hour with my pp going through the settings in "Glory to God" and his comment on them was

"They all sound like sight reading tests from music exams."

We decided not to introduce another mass for a few months.

[HallamPhil]

OCP are expecting to publish a revised version of Christopher Walker's Glastonbury Acclamations. If you have not come across these in their earlier life (Out of Darkness) then I can recommend these for those more jubilant times of the year and particularly for weddings when you cannot expect folk to know a particular setting. I would reserve the 'in pace ' set for funerals.

Regarding Glorias the 'New Celtic Liturgy' Gloria of Walker is a refrain-based setting. I would prefer through-composed settings but this does work. However the setting of verse three might contain an error. Surely the phrase beginning 'You alone are the Most High' should more properly continue and end with 'Jesus Christ', the next musical phrase starting with 'with the Holy Spirit'?

[Southern Comfort]

OCP are expecting to publish a revised version of Christopher Walker's Glastonbury Acclamations. If you have not come across these in their earlier life (Out of Darkness)

Before that, in Music for the Mass (volume 1), the red volume, and before that from Clifton Music.

[Hare]

I feel that it is useful to have a set of responsorial acclamations in the repertoire. Two questions arise from this thought:

1) We used to use the Inwood G Minor(ish) Eucharistic acclamations (Music For The Mass 34A & 34B) - Have these been revised at all, and if so, where can the revised setting be obtained?

2) I had thought of introducing the new Chris Walker "In Pace" Acclamations (responsorial) which appear in "Glory To God". however, I see from the Decani website that they are being published separately, and that they are primarily intended for funerals. There does not sem to be anything unduly funereal about them - unless I am missing something? I would use them for funerals but would want the regular assembly to get used to them on Sundays as well. any thoughts please?

Could I just "bump" this to the top again please? I am still looking for an answer to question 1...... (A parishioner has asked for this setting at a mass for her late husband, as we used it in its original form at his requiem several years ago.)

[Peter Jones]

OCP are expecting to publish a revised version of Christopher Walker's Glastonbury Acclamations.....

These are published now and I have them on order for a diocesan celebration on the horizon, at which an instrumental group will be present.

I hope the Inwood G minor responsorial acclamations will indeed be recast but I have neither sight nor sound of any such reworking in the pipeline. Does Mr Inwood read this forum?

[Hare]

OCP are expecting to publish a revised version of Christopher Walker's Glastonbury Acclamations.....

These are published now and I have them on order for a diocesan celebration on the horizon, at which an instrumental group will be present.

I hope the Inwood G minor responsorial acclamations will indeed be recast but I have neither sight nor sound of any such reworking in the pipeline. Does Mr Inwood read this forum?

If he does, he didn't see my question first time round!