Missa Gaia/Earth Mass

Missa Gaia/Earth Mass
Studio album by Paul Winter
Released	1982
Genre	New Age, Jazz, Liturgical
Length	63:58
Label	Living Music
Producer	Paul Winter, Oscar Castro-Neves
Paul Winter chronology
Callings (1980) Missa Gaia/Earth Mass (1982) Sun Singer (1983)

Missa Gaia/Earth Mass is an album released by Paul Winter in 1982 for Living Music. The title stems from two languages, latin (missa = mass) and greek (gaia = mother nature). The Earth Mass was one of the first contributions made by Paul Winter when he and his Paul Winter Consort became the artists in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The mass includes the usual text, such as the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei, and also other text, hymns, and instrumental pieces. The mass is an environmental liturgy of contemporary music. It features the instrumentation of the Paul Winter Consort along with a choir, vocal soloists, and the calls of wolves, whales, and many other animals that are woven into the pieces, sometimes used as the melody.

Since it was first written, the mass is performed annually at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at The Feast of St. Francis which is the blessing of the animals.

Track listing

1. "Canticle of Brother Sun"
2. "Kyrie"
3. "Beatitudes"
4. "Mystery"
5. "Return To Gaia"
6. "For The Beauty Of The Earth"
7. "Adoro Te Devote"
8. "For The Beauty Of The Earth"
9. "Sanctus and Benedictus"
10. "Stained-Glass Morning"
11. "Sun Psalm"
12. "The Promise Of A Fisherman"
13. "The Blue Green Hills Of Earth"
14. "Let Us Go Forth In Peace"

Personnel

• Paul Winter - soprano sax
• Nancy Rumbel - oboe and english horn
• Eugene Friesen - cello
• Jim Scott - classical and 12-string guitar
• Paul Halley - organ and piano
• Gordon Johnson - bass
• Ted Moore - percussion
• Susan Osborn - voice
• Jim Saporito - percussion
• Guillerme Franco - percussion
• Phil Markowitz - piano on Beatitudes
• Cathedral Chorus and Singers, conducted by Gil Robbins and Paul Halley

References

• " Living Music.