ARIEL RAMIREZ: Misa Criolla; Navidad en Verano; Navidad Nuestra – Jose Carreras, tenor/Navidad Nuestra – Philips/First Impression Music LIM K2HD 040 *****:
The Misa Criolla probably has become the biggest-selling “peoples’ mass” recording that has ever been released. Back when there were almost monthly new releases of both folk and jazz masses, this one – recorded in Spain in l987 – moved to the forefront with many listeners due to the powerful voice of Jose Carreras – later to become one of the Three Tenors. Audiophiles coveted the original LP for the amazing presence and soundstaging it displayed on their systems. Winston Ma at F.I.M. has now licensed the masters of this historical recording and reissued it using his recently-developed K2HD mastering process, which in this case raised the original digital master to 100K/24-bit and then with proprietary bit-mapping software squeezed them onto a standard format CD of 99.9999% silver metal. Thus no special decoding is required and the sonics have in fact been doubly enhanced over the rather opaque-sounding Philips original, justifying the approximate doubling of price. I must admit I’m not a fan of tenors, but Carreras’ voice is captivating now that it comes thru loud and clear. I also have another Philips CD which combined the Missa Criolla with the African Missa Luba and the Spanish Misa Flamenca. The tenor on that recording is very good too but he doesn’t quite match Carreras, and the Criolla sounds rather listless next to Carreras’ version.
The Creole Mass uses a Castilian text and is a combination of Ramirez’ own melodies and traditional folk music of Argentina and various other Hispano-American sources. The choir behind Carreras is at least 40 mixed voices, and the instrumental accompaniment includes the charango guitar, the quena flute, Bolivian panpipes known as the siku and a variety of traditional folk percussion instruments. The other two masses were composed in 1964 using poetry of Felix Luna. Navidad en Verano evokes a South American Christmas, and Navidad Nuestra is a series of six songs describing the Nativity story.
TrackList:
1. Misa Criolla: Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Agnus Dei
6. Navidad en Verano
7. Navidad Nuestra: La Anunciación (chamamé)
8. La Peregrinación (huella pampeana)
9. El Nacimiento (vidala catamarqueña)
10. Les Pastores
11. Los Reyes
12. Le Huida
— John Sunier
