Work: Mass

Woodwind and Brass from the Royal Conservatory of Scotland gave sparkling Stravinsky performances of his Octet, Symphonies of Winds and joined by RCS Voices for his Mass.

The two masses in this intriguing and very enjoyable programme made a thought-provoking contrast. Stravinsky was anxious that his mass be cold – indeed, as the bass singer Simon Scott Plummer’s useful programme notes told us, he wanted the music ‘very cold, absolutely cold, that will appeal directly to the spirit.