Toni Stricker: Pannonische Messe/Pannonian Mass

"Reflections about lost values, about humbleness in the face of nature, creation and the Creator have brought me to finally fulfill a promise I gave many years ago to the late Bishop of the Burgenland, Stephan László. The intention was to compose a simple Low Mass continuing the tradition of our Masses such as, for example, Schubert's "Wohin soll ich mich wenden..." in a modern version and to let my Pannonian habitat chime through in the music.
For festive performances I have written an arrangement for mixed choir, organ and solo violin. I very much wanted to play the small parts of the solo violin myself in order to set a counterpoint to the more classically conceived choir by adapting a very narrative and partly improvised style of playing. Thus I wanted to indicate my very own personal musical translation of Pannonia (i.e. the Burgenland) within this Mass."
Toni Stricker