Frank Martin - Mass for double choir

At the heart of this program is Frank Martin's double-choir mass for two mixed choirs - a work that, despite its impressive sonority, is characterized by deep restraint and inner spirituality. Martin wrote the mass between 1922 and 1926, but kept it under lock and key for decades - he felt that this work, which was composed without an external commission and was not intended for performance, was too personal.

In this concert, the mass movements are interspersed with appropriate propers from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. They refer to the second Sunday of Lent in the church year - in other words, precisely the weekend on which the concerts take place. This expands the structure of the mass not only musically, but also in terms of content and embeds it more strongly in its liturgical framework.