Part of Jesmond Community Festival 2023 – THE ARMED MAN, A Mass for Peace
One of the most stunning concerts to take place at Jesmond URC in May (16th) was “The Armed Man. A Mass for Peace”.
The work by Karl Jenkins was performed by the combined forces of Jesmond Choral Group and The Priory Singers from North Shields.
They were conducted by Musical Director Jonathan Scott, and accompanied by the subtle piano playing of Julia Kennard.
It was an extraordinary concert in a truly appropriate setting, bearing in mind the church’s association with the Tyneside Scottish, with their refurbished regimental banner…… which saw action in many of the worst battles on the Western Front during the Great War….at the back of nave, with alongside it the black altarpeice memorial to the fallen.
Charting the horror of World War One the music soared and swept over the audience. The ‘mass for peace’ was introduced by a marching drumbeat by the conductor, Jonathan Scott and the tune of a French folk song.The choir sing the folk song which celebrates the man of arms: the armed man to be feared, let every man arm himself with a coat of steel.
The changing mood of the musical is made clear by the order of song – with a Call to Prayer, the Kyrie eleison (Greek for ‘Lord have mercy on us’), Save Me from Bloody Men, to the Sanctus and Hymn Before Action.
After the short interval Charge! with the effect of Trumpets and drums stirring up martial feelings, a peice interrupted by words “How blest is he who for his country dies.” These words became a sort of motto , referred to by the poet Wilfred Own as “the old lie.”
So to Angry Flames, a setting of words by a Japanese poet, reflecting the effects of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945
This is followed by Torches, part of a Hindu epic in which the fate of animals caught in war is described.
Then Agnus Dei and the hope of peace , while Now the Guns have Stopped has a lonely survivor mourning the death of a friend in battle.
Benedictus has a tune taken up by the choir to words taken up from the Latin Mass : “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord” and after an explosive Hosanna the mood of serenity returns.
The final movement, Better is Peace, returns. to the music from the beginning adjusted for the workds taken from Malory, “Better is peace then always war. The choir then returns to the words. The Armed man presented as a short fugue before offering “Bettter is peace” in a slightly different form.
Overall , a splendid display of fine controlled singing. There is more to look forward to. on July 8th as well: a performance at Jesmond URC of Karl Orff’s Carmina Burana. If. you would like to take part in this, then please contact: [email protected]
Christopher Hodder,
Elder,
Jesmond URC