The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, music by Karl Jenkins, transcribed for SATB chorus, organ and brass band by Duncan Gibbs & Andrew Wainwright. By arrangement with ORiGiN Theatrical. By permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers.
Please note there will be a pre-concert talk in the top foyer at 1pm
The Armed Man - a Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins was composed in 1999. The brass band in this concert adds intensity to all parts of the work. It reflects on the most war-torn century in human history and looks forward to a more peaceful future. The Catholic Mass provides its framework with the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Benedictus. The work is notable in that both the music and lyrics are taken from many religions and cultures. Beginning with a marching drumbeat and tune of a C15 folk song, the choir celebrates the man of arms. A call to Muslim prayer is sung in Arabic followed by the Kyrie, Christe Eleison and the chant from the Psalms, Save Me from Bloody Men. Percussion and brass emphasise the military theme in the Sanctus, with words from Rudyard Kipling’s Hymn Before Action and John Dryden’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day. Tolling bells introduce the Lachrimoso in a mournful setting with words by Japanese poet Toge Sankichi describing the horror of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A section of the Hindu Mahabharata then relates the plight of people and animals in the fires. With the Agnus Dei is a hope of peace, a lonely survivor mourning the death of a friend and the serene Benedictus leads to the final movement. The music returns to that of the beginning but is expressed quite differently: Better is peace than always war. The work ends with a hymn from the Book of Revelation: “God shall wipe away all tears, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, and there shall be no more pain.”