The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace | Nicholas Merryweather, Philip Shakesby, ...

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace | Nicholas Merryweather, Philip Shakesby, ... | Is it Bach, is it Mozart or maybe it's Haydn; NO it's Jenkins!!!!

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The Armed Man: A M...

	The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace Nicholas Merryweather, Philip Shakesby, ... EMI Classics, 2005 average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Simply wonderful and moving

What a wonderful way to remember the last century! What a way to meditate on the prospect of peace or war in this one. This selects from the styles and melodies most primal and meaningful. At least it seems so while listening to them. I first became familiar with Karl Jenkins Mass when it was selected for Sacred Concert on Sunday morning and was so taken with it I almost stayed in the car to hear the end rather than go into church from the parking lot! I searched for it at our local libraries that afternoon and not finding it there took the plunge to order it from Amazon to add to my already overstuff Amazon furnished house. With the way this century is going so far this mass has good reason to be played over and over again.

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Is it Bach, is it Mozart or maybe it's Haydn; NO it's Jenkins!!!!

This is one of the most beautiful Masses I have every heard and will have the pleasure to perform! It is truly a work of art. The Orchestral parts are just as important as the Vocal score. In most movements the orchestra doubles the vocal parts. Jenkins has brilliantly crafted a masterpiece and the power of the words, taken from many sources including the Bible and Rudyard Kipling makes this one of the greatest works of our time.

You must hear this Mass!!!! A must to perform!!!! A must to own!!!!

Fantastic Choral

Once I heard a piece on the radio I had to have this CD. I was not disappointed at all.
There are a couple of songs on this CD that will blow you away!
I play this CD almost evry day. It is fantastic. I lend it to people and they want to keep it.
If you are into choral music, this is the CD to get.

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Jenkin's "The Armed Man" - old theme, new sound.

This a powerful, brilliant new musical plea for peace based on a very old, much used theme from centuries ago. The performance and recording are worthy of the music.While some passages are supremely beautiful, this is not elevator music - some juxtapositions of the sections are quite jarring (deliberatly so). However, it is a deeply satisfying work, well worth a careful listen.

Accessible summation many musical styles

Karl Jenkins is a contemporary British composer perhaps most famous for his music for the de Beers diamond commercial--the score that sounds like Vivaldi but isn't.

In this commissioned Mass Jenkins sets out to sum up War and Peace in the 20th Century (it was a millennial project) and he mimics if not just the music of the 20th C. at least the music that we listened to in the century, at times you'll think Faure, at other times Monteverdi (although the liner notes say "Palestrina.") The overall effect is like a score for a movie, but a good score at that. The broad selection of texts is itself derivative from Britten's War Requiem and in a tip to multiculturalism also includes a Muslim call to prayer (somewhat pretentious in a Christian Mass, I think).

The performances are strong with the National Youth Choir remarkably polished for their age and experience. Jenkins conducts and one could say "over conducts"--as others have noted, the emphases seem a bit forced and many numbers end with a sudden staccato, an odd effect. The recording is the result of multiple takes in many different studios and the resultant mastering reflects this: The CD in no way sounds like an actual performance of the work. As John Lennon said of one Beatles album, "Play loud" and it's impressive.

One man's pastiche is another man's familiar favorite and despite the lack of orginality this Mass is likely to have enduring popularity.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6

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