Track Listing

1. L'Homme Arme
2. Call to prayers
3. Kyrie
4. Save me from bloody men
5. Sanctus
6. Hymn before action
7. Charge
8. Angry flames
9. Torches
10. Agnus dei
11. Now the guns have stopped
12. Benedictus
13. Better is peace

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #711 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 67 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace is a departure from his Adiemus recordings into the more conventional territory of large-scale choral and orchestral writing, though his customary passion for mixing languages remains in full force with texts in English, Latin and French. Jenkins has said that The Armed Man was inspired by the "L'Homme armé" masses which were popular in the 16th century, and he makes this debt clear with passages written in a neat pastiche of Palestrina-style renaissance polyphony. There are also echoes of earlier and later styles, including plainchant, medieval ballads, James Barry-style horn writing (think Goldfinger) and even a direct quote from Rigoletto (the choir imitates wind sounds at one point as in Act 3 of Verdi's opera). The smorgasbord manages to hold together, probably because Jenkins' obvious sincerity shines through every note. The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays beautifully, and treble Tristan Hambleton performs his solo with ethereal clarity. The National Youth Choir sings with vigour and accuracy, even if the young sopranos sound a little thin at the top of their range. If you liked the soundtrack to The Mission, this should press all the right buttons. --Warwick Thompson

Customer Reviews

Bleakly beautiful with gorgeous moments.
Full of extraodinary swirls and stabs of orchestral music and beautiful, melodic choirs. This CD takes you on a joruney from the start of war(The Armed Man, with trudging, marching feet, drums and fifes and the poignant - given the current situation - Call To Prayers which is simply the unearthly solo voice of a meuzzin singing the Islamic call to prayer in Arabic), through to sadness and fear at start of battle(Kyrie, Save Me From Bloody Men), heroism and passion(Sanctus, the extraordinary and stirring Hymn Before Action, wonderful words by Rudyard Kipling) and of course, tumbles down into the real tragedy and pain of war(Angry Flames and Torches) and ends with the bitter sorrow of Agnus Dei and Now The Guns Have Stopped. The final, serene and lovely Benedictus(the one track I had heard and fallen in love with before buying the CD which contains the sweetest and most haunting cello I've ever heard) and Better is Peace(medieval, dancey and joyous), is a fitting end. Not for those who are easily depressed, but well worth it for the emotional journey and the beautiful voices.

Mass for Peace at a time of Conflict
I first became aware of the sound as I was driving to work. Slow, beautiful and reminiscent of... Of what? I did not know. I had missed the introduction. But I knew there and then I had to have it. As the music reached a crescendo, I knew I was listening to something special and fervently hoped the announcer would tell me what it was. She obliged: I had been listening to the National Youth Choir performing the Benedictus from Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. I ordered it that evening and less than 48 hours later I was able to listen to the entire CD.

From the first track to the last, I was struck by the quality of the recording and the pure sound of the voices: young people creating a sound that many of their elders in better known choirs might aspire to.

As an Australian in the UK, I heard this just days after the Bali bomb explosion in which many of my young countrymen and women died, so this CD immediately took on a meaning and life of its own. I listened to it for hours on the day it arrived - and imagine it will continue to move me to tears for many years to come.

Simple, yet sublime
Jenkins was commissioned by The Royal Armouries to write this pieve for the Millenium celebration of 2000 so despite the assertions of another reviewer, this was not 'Jenkins attempt to climb on a bandwagon'.

Further, another reviewer seems to equate musical complexity with musical worth. This represents the very worst type of 'musical snobbery'. The fact that a piece is accessible does not mean that it has no worth or value.

And this piece is both accesible and enjoyable. Yes it may not be as comple as Bach or Palestrina, but I suspect that anyone who has a real heart would find themselves swept up by this music.

A very worthwhile additon to anyone's collection. In my humble opinion!