Kuchenmeister/ Praxmarer/ Keilhack - Missa Contemplatione

In the peace and quiet of contemplation, in the absence of all distraction, an 'explosion' of endless thoughts is set free that leads us to an 'inner implosion', to the core of our true selves. The inspiration for the Missa 'Contemmplatione' composition came from multipage 'stage directions' from Bernd Kuchenmeister's father. He gave them to him and requested that his son should write a mass for him. Astonished by this request, Bernd Kuchenmeister began working on a kyrie, but eventually gave up on the project entirely. After his father passed away, he started to go through his stage directions for a mass once more, thinking: 'I can't do it for you anymore because you're no longer in this world'. But he wanted to fulfil his obligation and sought constant dialogue with his father in his subsequent work. During the preparation of the mass that followed, he always had the feeling that he was connected to him in a special way. One of the central ideas of the Cistercian Order is that of contemplation, which can be traced back to the influential Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was therefore natural to record this mass in a Cistercian abbey: The album was recorded at the foot of the Ursula altar in the Marienstatt abbey where already Bernd Kuchenmeister's first album 'bach symphony' had been recorded.