Rorate disclaimer: as it has happened in such occasions in the past, our readers know that we post information we consider useful even if we deeply disagree, in fundamental and non-negotiable principles, with their authors. That is the case, for instance, when we post encouraging news from the Eastern Orthodox. Or Sedevacantists.
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By Rev. Anthony Cekada
In an August 31, 2017 article on Rorate, I told the rather amazing story of how at age 15 our young organist, Andrew Richesson, had composed an impressive and stirring musical setting of the Ordinary of Mass.
At the time the article appeared, only two sections of the Mass, the Kyrie and the Sanctus, had been recorded by a choir. For the rest of the work, Rorate readers were provided with a computer-generated audio of the score on Andrew’s YouTube channel.
I am happy to report that our choir at St. Gertrude the Great Church in West Chester, Ohio, has now recorded the entire work. We premiered it at Midnight Mass on Christmas 2017, and sang it again the following Sunday, December 31.
For the latter occasion, we were honored to have in the congregation Dr. Miguel Ruig-Francoli, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, who had privately tutored Andrew in composition and helped him polish the final version of the Mass.
Since Rorate was kind enough to publish my original article, I thought it was only fair to post the recording here for the first time (click here).
If you like the Mass, please send the link to this article to your local choir director so he can listen to it, and let him know can download the score for free from Andrew’s page on CPDL.
