Sine tones crawl along the nave, round the apse and ascend to meet Lercher midair, at the pipe organ.
A “short mass” commissioned by Austrian public radio, composed and performed by Daniel Lercher and recorded over two days in early October, 2012, at the Heilandskirche in Graz.
Order is called and the holy air cleared with the single chime of a tiny bell before two gongs are gently “excited” in the thick air of tape hiss and audience mumble and shuffle. An almost too-high pitch, like a single violin string, cuts through it. A field recording from an African mass, preacher also getting excited, echoes in overleaf. Sine tones crawl along the nave, round the apse and ascend to meet Lercher midair, at the pipe organ. Midway through his Missa Brevis, Lercher leans long, dark notes out of the organ and screws up its pitch until it buzzes with holy spirit, then calms with holy certainty. In the final movement, four, separately recorded voices sing out of the corners of the church, accompanied by a more animated, though dignified organ, combining to muscle up like cloud accumulation. The church bells ring, but they seem far away as heaven.
Missa Brevis is available on Chmafu Nocords.
