Thou only art the most high, Jesus Christ. Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son. *These times are referring to the a cappella version. Then at 3:13, the voices (choral in the a cappella version, strings in the Mass version) start in unison and build to a harsh dissonance before resolving in the descending third line at 3:51. I think this is one of the reasons Gjeilo named this work The Spheres the voice parts circle around each other in a beautiful, circular dance.

This line of descending third intervals appears throughout the movement in all voices (for example, at the beginning the altos move from G# – E – F# – D# – E – C# and the tenors and basses move from C# – A – b – G# – A – F#). The soprano line follows an interesting melodic pattern: starting on E, they move down to C# – D# – B – C# – A. The piece flows in and out of C-sharp minor each new syllable adds to or subtly changes the harmony, which results in a constantly shifting mood. The music is a gorgeous layering of sound, each voice overlapping and slowly changing as the harmonies progress. The text is taken from the traditional Latin Kyrie Eleison: Latin text Most of my favorite composers are film composers working in America today, and this piece is partly influenced by movies and film scores from the past few years that I love dearly.” The Spheres I wanted the musical development of the work to evolve from the most transparent and spacey, to something completely earthy and grounded from nebulous and pristine to more emotional and dramatic, and eventually warm and solid – as a metaphor for human development from child to adult, or as a spiritual journey.

“The reason I used English titles, seemingly unrelated to the (mostly) Latin texts, for the movements in this setting of the Mass has mainly to do with the initial idea behind Sunrise Mass. 1978) created this 30-minute work for choir and strings with four sections: The Spheres (Kyrie), Sunrise (Gloria), The City (Credo), and Identity & The Ground (Sanctus/ Benedictus & Agnus Dei). Called Sunrise Mass, Norwegian composer Olja Gjeilo (b. Remember earlier this week when I posted about O Magnum Mysterium, a 16th century motet taken from Catholic Mass? Well, today I want to share another Mass with you – but this one is from the 21st century.

Ola gjeilo sheet music