There are many fine presentations of the Vierne Mass available, but this recording is the only one performed in Saint-Sulpice, the church in which Vierne played while the work was being composed. But we wanted to take things one step further, and present this Mass as it would have been heard at the time: not as a concert piece, each movement sung consecutively, but as part of the larger, more complex musical fabric that is the High Mass. Thus, we have taken the Ordinary that Vierne set to music, and programmed a Mass as it could have been heard between the years of its composition and the year of Vierne’s death (1899-1937). This means you will hear five different pieces of music that make up this Mass, interspersed with organ solos, improvisations, motets, Gregorian chant in all its forms (the Proper, blessings, the Canon), and even the bells that the altar boys would have rung.
