Sunrise Mass - I Spheres - Ola Gjeilo

This is the First movement of the Sunrise Mass by Ola Gjeilo as performed by Exultate, under the direction of Thomas Rossin in concert in May, 2015. Ola Gjeilo (YAY-lo) is a Norwegian composer living in New York City. He began writing music at age five and has earned a Masters Degree in composition from Juilliard School of Music. Made famous by his Sunrise Mass, which was recorded by the Phoenix Chorale in 2009, Gjeilo has enjoyed notoriety and success with his several other choral and instrumental works. The Sunrise Mass is a setting of the traditional Latin Mass text but, with a different emphasis. The heart of this work lies not so much in the text, but rather the evocative “feelings” derived from the expressive music. Gjeilo is influenced by film music and also loves dissonance followed by sounds which move the listener from tension to peaceful resolution. The first movement, The Spheres, gives the visual impression of planets slowly passing each other as the cosmos is formed. The au