Missa Brevis 2021 - Olivier dos Santos

"Why Missa brevis? I don't have a precise answer. I've written many works in my life as a musician, for piano, for orchestra, for various ensembles large and small, and even a symphony with choir, the first movement of which premiered at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 2009, conducted by Robert Janssens. Apart from a Duo pour la Nativité for soprano and baritone, no works from the so-called "sacred" repertoire. But I've always had the more or less precise idea of writing a mass. My fascination with the great organ repertoire and lyrical voices from my formative years probably played a role. The confinement made me think more seriously about this project. I brought together musical ideas from my own career as a musician, and the work was thus inspired by a musical form that had been well established for centuries, a form that allows for a structure that is both contrasting and varied. Baroque organs or, as can be found in the Roya Valley, Italian Romantic organs, may well be suitable. Vocalization in the original key is always preferable to a version transposed a tone lower, to be performed in a "Miles Davis" spirit.

Olivier dos Santos

Kyrie 3 (mezzo-soprano solo)

Agnus Dei

Duration: 32'