Description

Dove's 'Missa Brevis' was commissioned by the Cathedral Organists' Association for performance during their conference in Wells on 13 May 2009 and first performed by the choir of Wells Cathedral, directed by Matthew Owens. It has become a modern classic for choirs in a liturgical setting.

Dove's vocal music seems to have a near-magical capacity to combine sensuous delight with great depth and clarity of expression, all without a hint of sentimentality"

(Kate Wakeling, BBC Music Magazine January 2022)

"Jonathan Dove's Missa Brevis, also of 2009 and for SATB voices and organ, is an altogether more extrovert affair. Dove is a highly accomplished writer in just about every genre, including his first love: opera. If a quiet, sombre atmosphere, underpinned by organ pedal drones, pervades the Kyrie and Agnus movements, Dove's theatrical sense of good timing is put to good use in the Gloria and Sanctus; both full of colour and sparkling organ writing (penned for performance at an annual convention of cathedral organists, Dove clearly knows his market!). This is immediate, vibrant music that simply jumps off the page demanding to be sung and played."

(Matthew Greenall, The Singer 31 July 2010)