During the month of January, St. Albert Priory played host to the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, for their recording of some of the sacred music written by composer Dave Brubeck. The project is being funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of a series on the choral music of Brubeck. The Priory was chosen by the Pacific Mozart Ensemble for several reasons: the interior structure of the chapel provides an ideal environment for quality recording and the quiet of the Priory reduces ambient noise.
What also attracted the group was a previous connection between Brubeck and the Dominican friars of the Western Province. A few years back, our own Fr. Michael Sherwin, O.P. wrote an article on the music of Brubeck (available online) and was later important in negotiating the way for him to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Fribourg. When Brubeck heard of the connection between the Priory and the friars, he was delighted that the Pacific Mozart Ensemble had chosen our chapel.
Singers gathered in the chapel over a period of a week, sometimes for more than six hours of work. During these days, the music filled not only the chapel but the cloister as well and a few of the friars could even enjoy the music from the luxury of their own rooms. Upon completing the sessions, the recording engineers noted that the Priory chapel was truly one of the “jewels of Oakland.”
Now all that’s left to do is to edit the more than 270 “takes” that were recorded. We’ll be waiting…
