Missa brevis for mixed choir a cappella, 1951.

Written in 1951, Missa brevis is another example, along with Requiem, of Palester’s interest in sacred music. It was quite a rare preoccupation in those times, both in Eastern European countries (which is obvious) and the avant-garde circles of the West. Ignoring fashionable trends and adhering to his own preferences, Palester created music that escaped easy classification into any of the known stylistic trends. Very ascetic in form, lucid in texture and drawing on pre-Baroque traditions, the composition makes a very concise work that lasts less than twenty minutes and is divided into the traditional six parts of the ordinarium missae. The climax falls during the Sanctus, while the quiet and strikingly beautiful Agnus Dei closes the work in an atmosphere of deep but trustful concentration.

The work was premiered in Paris in 1954 by the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française under Marcel Couraud.