Search - George Lloyd, Laszlo Heltay, Bournemouth Sinfonietta :: George Lloyd: A Symphonic Mass

Knock your socks off!

Sean W. Oslin | Seattle, WA United States | 12/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a great piece! Big, bombastic, beautiful. If you miss the 19th century (musically that is), this is the mass for you. Buy it. Enjoy it. And convince your local orchestra to perform it. The audience will thank you."

A Great 20th Century Masterpiece

John Proffitt | Houston, Texas USA | 02/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I believe this work to be one of the very greatest of 20th Century symphonic choral masterworks. In other words, it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Leos Janacek's Slavonic Mass, Dmitri Shostakovich's Babi Yar, Franz Schmidt's Book with Seven Seals, Edward Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, Schönberg's Gurrelieder and so on.



Big, bold and full of hummable tunes that will stick in your mind for a long time. Also heartfelt, from a composer nearing the end of his life and attempting -- successfully, in my opinion -- to reflect his own existential hopes, doubts and fears through the most expressive medium possible, resulting in incredibly powerful music.



In many ways, this is Lloyd's "Symphony No. 13" -- no soloists, but full chorus throughout. Among his instrumental symphonies, No. 4 and No. 5 stand out for me, but the Symphonic Mass is the finest of all. Truly the crowning work of this man's life. Do not miss it."