JENKINS’ THE ARMED MAN, A MASS FOR PEACE
Plus Barber’s Adagio for Strings
These lovely works have inspired and moved audiences all over the world. Their combination of haunting beauty and melodic power is truly music for the soul.
The Adagio for Strings was first written by American composer Samuel Barber in the 1930s. In its original, instrumental form, it is one of the most popular of all 20th-century orchestral works. He created the choral version 30 years later. Although less frequently performed, it is arguably even more expressive of the human condition. In movies as diverse as Platoon and Death in Venice, Barber’s Adagio has been used to evoke feelings of sublime melancholy, yearning and heart-wrenching beauty. It is a rare treat to experience the choral version, sung live.
Karl Jenkins began composing his Mass for Peace - The Armed Man at the other end of the 20th century, as the tragedy of war in Kosovo unfolded. He dedicated it to victims of that terrible conflict, offering musical visions of hope, peace and redemption as well as a powerful, dramatic sense of the force of war. Contemporary, yet delightfully harmonic, it calls upon a rich set of influences, from portions of the Latin Mass to the Islamic Call to Prayer, and includes poetry by Tennyson, Kipling, the Indian epic the Mahabharata, and Japanese poetry on the bombing of Hiroshima. Following its premiere in 2000, Jenkins’ Mass was recognized as an instant classic.
Originally performed Saturday, March 17, 2018 and Sunday, March 18, 2018 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Redwood City.