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Robert John Read: Pilgrim Mass - The Open College of the Arts

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Robert John Read: Pilgrim Mass

Following on from my recent blog about getting your compositions played, it was an absolute pleasure to have been invited to Gloucestershire late last year to record a concert featuring the culmination of a student’s Level 3 Advanced Composition coursework. In the beautiful setting of St. Mary’s Church, Fairford, we were to hear the premiere of John Read’s Pilgrim Mass, the result of a considerable amount of work and study.
John also took on the task of rehearsing and conducting the piece, not for the faint-hearted composer, but he managed to assemble a considerable group of talented people around him with which to realise the work. I thoroughly recommend students becoming more involved in such matters, even once, as it gives you a significant insight into all the additional matters required to bring about a performance: producing appropriate scores and parts, finding performers/soloists/musicians, rehearsing, promoting the event, finding supporting staff, health and safety…the list goes on, but always beneficial!
John was good enough to answer some questions to give an insight into his work and experiences: 
 

Can you tell us about the Pilgrim Mass – what is the background to the piece and why did you choose to write this for your level 3 studies? 

 
I very much enjoyed the exercises in Patric’s modules for the first two years of OCA composition as it allowed me to work in areas which I had never thought of doing before in music, such as writing background music for films and theme tunes.  But for the third year I thought I would return to the area I know best – SATB choral singing with an organ accompaniment: I was a parish church organist for 27 years, have sung in church choirs since I was eight years old and now sing in two large local choirs, a chamber choir and I conduct my own small local choral society.
I then had to decide what to write.  I spent some time looking at the Beatitudes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount – Blessed are the Peacemakers etc- which I had hoped to interweave with parallel texts from other major religions.  I failed to find the texts I needed however and was also concerned about the fact that the piece would all be on the same emotional plane and whilst this didn’t trouble Arvo Pärt (whose Beatitudes my church choir sang for a wedding) I didn’t think I could provide enough musical contrast to make the piece work.  I was also thinking that I might be tempted into using foreign scales of which I had little knowledge.
I then decided that a Mass would be a suitable vehicle.  The words of the Mass are familiar to any choral singer and I decided on a Mass sung in Latin.  There were several reasons for this. Firstly choral groups in the classical tradition will be familiar with the words. Secondly the use of Latin somewhat distances one from the theology, and for the same reason I made this a Missa Brevis omitting the Creed, the Christian statement of belief which I find after many years as an Anglican that I can no longer subscribe to. The third reason was that my experience as a Pilgrim to Santiago in 2000 had brought me into contact with the Confraternity of St James – the British pilgrim society – and they had already performed my Pilgrim Cantata three times.  This also meant that I could use material from the cantata in the Mass which Confraternity singers would find familiar and helpful.  Perhaps the final reason is that the Mass contains a gamut of emotions – praise, supplication, awe, joy, reverence and so on and, as my approach to music is primarily an emotional rather than an intellectual one, I felt at home with this.
Finalising the text was not the easy task I had imagined.  The unchanging parts of the Mass – the Ordinary – followed the usual Tridentine Mass text of Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei (it was also helpful in this context to remember that the Tridentine Mass in Latin was now more accepted within the Catholic Church rather than words in the vernacular which had predominated since Vatican II). The Propers – those parts of the mass particular to a saint or an event – in this case St James, the Pilgrim Saint – were however another matter.  Patric pointed me to Dufay’s Missa Sancti Jacobi which contained quite lengthy Propers which specifically mentioned St James and Santiago (the place of pilgrimage in North Western Spain). However it emerged that these Propers were no longer part of the Catholic rite, so rather reluctantly I fell back on the Roman Missal, which has generic Propers for disciples and apostles, because I wanted to ensure that the music could be used as part of an ecumenical celebration of the Mass or Holy Communion.
The music uses material from my Pilgrimage cantata, particularly the plainchant Tonus Peregrinus, the Taizé chant Ubi caritas and other fragments.  In the organ postlude the Tonus peregrinus is combined with folk tunes used in the cantata.
 

How did you find the extra freedom in the Level 3 course compared to Level 2?

 
Curiously the freedom creates its own problems because one has to fix one’s own boundaries rather than those dictated by the course material and, of course, writing a piece lasting over 20 minutes which makes musical sense is a lot more demanding than a 2 minute theme tune. There is also a tendency to stay within one’s comfort zone in writing an extended piece which I tried to avoid, gently urged on by Patric, but trying to make sure that the piece was capable of performance by my small non-audition choir.
 

It’s great to see a composer conducting and rehearsing their own pieces and ‘getting out there’ finding opportunities to have their music heard. How did you find the process of finding soloists, performers, musicians and then, of course, the rehearsal process?

 
In running my small choir I always aim to support our performances by engaging professional soloists, accompanists and instrumentalists which raises the standard of our singing a great deal and makes a concert a more engaging experience for our audience. Over the years I have developed good working relationships with a number of professional musicians of the highest quality with whom it is a delight to work.  This needs money so we have to work hard at publicity to attract capacity audiences and price our subscriptions and tickets at the right level to ensure an adequate level of income. Finding choral singers is a more difficult problem. We are in a catchment area of about 7500 people and we probably have a significant proportion of the people in our area who can sing in tune, and on time, and who can sightread and like classical music.
Rehearsing my Mass proved a torrid experience.  We had performed the Bach St John Passion the previous term and a number of people had joined specifically for this who then fell away when faced with the prospect of a Haydn mass, my piece and some WW1 songs. In consequence we had a lot of music, less than 40 singers and a lack of rehearsal time. The choir grappled with my Mass, which was in a genre totally unfamiliar to them, largely because of the constant change of time signature (because I was writing in speech rhythm). I found conducting the Bach much easier!
Also, rehearsing what I had thought was a relatively simple piece proved unexpectedly difficult. The choir had to wrestle with what were, for them, unusual harmonies and changes of tempo and time signature, not helped by my conscious decision not to distinguish between 3/2 and 6/4 time signatures so that the voices were uncertain whether I was about to beat 2 or 3 beats in the bar. This, coupled with a long and quite demanding Haydn Mass and low choir numbers, made for some uncertainties.  But this is the way to learn.

Left –John Read   Right – Organist Robin Baggs
Left – John Read Right – Organist Robin Baggs

 

Have you got any tips for composition students on getting their pieces played?

 
The quick answer is to go with what you know and who you know. My links with my own choral society, the church choirs locally (for whom I still act as a relief organist and singer) and the Confraternity of St James mean that I have been able to premier all my compositions locally. Via the Confraternity, I have had the Cantata performed seven times in places as varied as St Neot, Cornwall, Worcester Cathedral, a Surrey school and churches in Reading and London. I count myself as being extraordinarily lucky because I have been told by a very successful composer that 60% of all published music only gets performed once. If a little Communion Service I have written for the local churches gets adopted by them it will be performed several times a year.
I would add that whilst still remaining true to oneself, one should try to write music which is enjoyable for one’s audience and performers. What I would write for the church choir, my choral society and the chamber choir I sing with would all be different.
 

Have you got any advice for composition students on writing for choir, voices or organ?

 
Once again this depends on the nature of the audience and the abilities of the performers.  I generally write simple organ accompaniments which require no more that Grade 6 ability, remembering that the more complex the material, the less chance you have of it being performed. The same is true of voices.  I wrote simple melodies, rhythms and, for the most part, harmonies in both my Cantata and Mass and made sure that the tessitura for the voices fell well within their normal ranges – particularly the sopranos. 100 Carols for Choirs is a model for this as it only occasionally has challenging pieces. John Rutter often gets derided by professional musicians but he knows who he is writing for.
 

How have you found the OCA composition courses?

 
The OCA course was a wholly positive experience.  I learned a huge amount in a very enjoyable way about very varied types of music.  Patric’s modules were thought provoking models of conciseness and advice.  My tutors were always available and helpful and were able to provide support in the essentially lonely experience of composing. The changes in the systems weren’t always life enhancing but, when I did have troubles, the IT department were quick to help and all the admin staff at OCA are excellent. Though essential I loathe Sibelius with a passion!
One important thing needs to be borne in mind.  You need lots of time for study, listening and composition so if you are partnered you have to have an understanding person alongside you.  I was fortunate in my choice of wife!
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Many thanks to John for sharing his thoughts and his music. You can find a selection of audio excerpts below from his Pilgrim Mass recorded at St. Mary’s Church, Fairford on November 15th 2014. Performers on the evening were from Fairford & District Choral Society and also included the excellent singing talents of soloists Charlotte Newstead, Alison Bell, Christopher Palmer and Martin Le Poidevin. Accompanying the choir was organist Robin Baggs.
Congratulations to John and the team from all at OCA Music. We’re looking forward to hearing more from you in the future!
 
Pilgrim Mass – Mihi Autem
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Pilgrim Mass – Qui Tollis
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Pilgrim Mass – Gloria
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Pilgrim Mass – Laudamus
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Pilgrim Mass – Gloria Dei Patris
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Pilgrim Mass – Agnes Dei (1)
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Pilgrim Mass – Agnes Dei (End)
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Posted by author: ChrisLawry

5 thoughts on “Robert John Read: Pilgrim Mass

  • What a great article. There is some very valuable advice here from John.
    He mentions the use of folksong in a Mass setting and it reminded me of the Folk Mass by the wondeful, and sadly missed, Irish composer Sean O’Riada (He of “Mise Eire” fame). here is just a snippet from the original recording that was made in the 1960’s of the Pater Noster.
    http://youtu.be/SFqBo986nRQ
    Good luck to John with his future endeavors.

  • I really enjoyed this article. I found John’s comments on the words and ecumenical considerations as fascinating as the comments on the composing process and practical performance issues. I’m sure Patric would have been delighted with your achievement.
    Oh yes, and I particularly liked the Agnus Dei!

  • How interesting Andy. The use of folk song or folk song like melodies was making itself felt in the Anglican church at around the same time (vide Martin Shaw – An Anglican Folk Mass) and I warmed to this because I was part of the folk movement of the 60s (when we took ourselves terribly seriously) and which got blown away by rock around the same time but found a home in the Catholic Church because of Vatican 2 recommending the use of vernacular language and simple accessible non plainchant Mass settings. This did a great deal of harm to the music of the Catholic church from which they are only starting to recover. It may be a localised thing but I was shocked to find that when I sang with a visiting English choir in Notre Dame (as one does!) that they had no choir of their own: the Mass was sung by a lady cantor accompanied on the choir organ by the organist using his left hand and pedals only whilst texting a message with his mobile!
    Whilst I still have fond memories of my folk singing days I took a different path after joining Llandaff Choral Society: the first piece we sang was the B Minor Mass. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on the singing of that first page with the rising second sop phrase and now towards the end of my singing career I am about to sing it again with a small Oxford chamber choir – vOx – under David Crown. Bliss.
    Incidentally I assume Sean O’Raida is using a relatively recent ‘folk song’ as the melody seem to be in a major rather than a modal key.
    John Read

    • Hi Robert
      O’Riada was so influenced musically by his native folk music that it seems many of the tunes he used were either originals of his own or based on traditional music hence the major minor rather than the modal.
      Much of the traditional Irish music was so affected by the English dominance that most were changed by it. Having played much of the Irish cannon of traditional tunes I always find I am attracted to the pieces that end modally. Strange how modality has never really died out, – thankfully.
      I will probably do a blog on O’Riada soon so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
      Andy

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