Concert Details
Jenkins: The Armed Man
2nd February 2008
7:30pm, Gloucester Cathedral
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- Orchestra: Regency Sinfonia
The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace was the result of a special millennium commission by the Royal Armouries. According to Guy Wilson, Master of the Royal Armouries, “The theme that ‘the armed man must be feared’ which is the message of the song seemed to me painfully relevant to the 20th century and so the idea was born to commission a modern ‘Armed Man Mass’. What better way both to look back and reflect as we leave behind the most war-torn and destructive century in human history, and to look ahead with hope and commit ourselves to a new and more peaceful millennium.”
Guy Wilson himself chose the texts for the work: the Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei from the mass together with words from many different sources. Karl Jenkins was moved and inspired by the selection of texts and matched it with musical styles from a wide range of countries and periods. He was writing the music at the time of the Kosovo crisis in 1999, and so dedicated it to the victims of the terror in Kosovo.
The Armed Man had its first performance on the 25th April, 2000, in the Albert Hall, sung by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. It was received with tremendous applause and left the audience profoundly moved, many of them in tears. It has since had over 300 performances in the UK. The CD of the work by the Youth Choir and the LPO won a Gold Disc. The recording was issued on the 10th September, 2001.
The following morning was 9/11.
