Flamenco embodies a perpetual paradox in its having arisen through the meetingof two distinct, contradictory cultures; the Mediterranean and the Castillian. InAndalucía both cultures remain polarised: the natural environment isMediterranean; the Castillian is imposed. Through that very duality one comes tounderstand the love of freedom and yet the resigned acceptance of an oppressedexistence that flamenco expresses. "At full stretch flamenco is a 'tripod' whose legs are singing, playing and dancing; all three elements are present in this Mass, though the last is only audible ... in the recent performance in the Royal Festival Hall it was electrifyingly visible. This is often far-removed from the familiar, awed solemnity of the Mass, but who could doubt its validity and joy? Only the most desiccated, dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist could fail to be moved by it." John Duarte, Gramophone