What is your favourite musical setting for the Mass?

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I don’t understand why the proponents of the New Mass seem to show so little pride in it that they don’t want the very best liturgical quality, including the music.
 
Miserere mei, Deus was sung extremely similar to that of below Tenebrae Choir. Our choir sung in the setting of Psalm 51 composed by Gregorio Allegri around the late 1630’s. It is such a heavenly song!

 
It is indeed one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed. Many years ago I heard a BBC radio commentator describe it as “something like a musical proof of the existence of God.”

In the Catholic numbering, following the Septuagint, it is in fact Psalm 50. It is a penitential Psalm which is acceptable to use as an Act of Contrition.

It contains the words of the Asperges, which sadly you hardly ever see except at Extraordinary Form Masses; the hyssop was used to sprinkle penitents with the sacrificial blood
 
Maximian said:
Can we know the name of the parish? Was a setting for the English or the Latin?

By the way excuse my ignorance but what is a “music minister?”
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I don’t remember the parish name :(. We were there in 2016.

Definitely English. My husband and I prefer the Mass in our own heart language.

The music minister is the person in the parish hired to plan and produce the music, including playing the organ and/or piano and also directing the parish choirs and volunteer musicians/orchestra for the Masses and other church life activities where music is needed.

In some parishes, this person is the organist, but in some parishes the organist is just an organist, not the one who actually plans the music. In my home parish, the organist is also the music minister.

And in my home parish, that person is called Music and Liturgy Director, because he also makes sure that the liturgy in the Masses is correct, trains the EMHCs and the altar servers (and also abides by the decision of the diocese that boys and girls are allowed to serve, and in some Maases like the daily Masses, adults serve as altar servers),

In many parishes, the Music Minister or Director of Music or Organist also teaches music in the parish school and teaches private lessons. This isn’t the case in our parish. I think it’s the ideal, because then there are always up-and-coming musicians.

Hope this is clear.
 
Maximian said:
Pity, so it could only be used in Anglo Saxon countries
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More than likely.

But in non-English-speaking countries, surely there are other composers who could create lovely musical Mass settings. I’m guessing that most parishes just select something that’s already done and in print. Easier, and no chance of hurt feelings if everyone in the parish hates the home-grown music. (Music is such a divisive thing in so many churches, Catholic and Protestant.)
 
I can’t understand why people cannot simply state their preference in Mass music without going on to claim that their own preference is the best/ most liturgically appropriate/ or whatever. One person’s “lovely” is often another person’s “meh” or even “dislike”.
 
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