Description
Ross writes: When Graeme Morton offered me a commission to compose a Latin mass he expressed the hope that it would contain elements making it identifiably Australian. The commission was also intended to mark the 150th anniversaries of the state of Queensland and the Anglican and Catholic Dioceses of Brisbane, as well as the completion of the neo-Gothic St. John’s Cathedral.
I think the Dreaming (Alchera) of Aboriginal peoples is like our Eternity, where time is omnipresent rather than linear. It is also inextricably associated with the land – the Earth Mother – at the deepest creative level.
I had intended to make my mass as much a contemplation as a celebration. Composing it during a time of fire and flood, however, often provoked an emotional response to the drama inherent in the text, so that outbursts of intensity are apt to intrude on moments of serene detachment. Listeners may detect shapes and patterns that recall natural voices of the environment as well as various kinds of chant, both liturgical and Aboriginal. I think Missa Alchera may be said to be ecumenical in the broadest sense.
Mass of the Dreaming
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