A large choir of 90-odd singers, and small orchestra of strings, trumpet, percussion and organ, performed the wonderful The Armed Man by the Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins to a full house in the enveloping acoustic of St Paul’s Cathedral. As the ABC’s Russell Torrance says, “Jenkins’s music is approachable, direct and refreshingly simple”, and the musical forces brought this to life under the baton of Mario Dobernig, conductor of both choir and orchestra.
This “Mass for Peace” was preceded by the well-known and well-loved Adagietto movement from Mahler’s 5th symphony. Mahler’s direction to play sehr langsam (very slowly) has been interpreted by conductors to mean anything from 7 to 15 minutes – on this occasion Dobernig allowed 8 minutes to give us a pensive and dream-like performance (whose mood was twice disrupted by the sirens of emergency vehicles in Swanston St), with calm and measured conducting. The orchestra had a few initial problems with intonation, but soon warmed up and played with good phrasing and dynamic range. Understandably with the Art of Sound Orchestra being so small, the piece was not as richly toned as we have heard before. The double bass pizzicato at the end reverberated nicely, and Dobernig finished with a brief silence for contemplation before releasing the orchestra.
The Armed Man was then performed with no interval, with an audio introduction from Sir Karl welcoming the audience and reminding us that its message of peace is still as relevant as it was when dedicated to the victims of Kosovo 25 years earlier. The piece comprises 13 movements, but only 12 were performed on this occasion as the Muslim call to prayer was omitted to avoid any perception of politicisation. The work develops from the threat of war, to its horrors, concluding with a call for peace. Jenkins’ score calls for a large orchestra with substantial wind, brass and percussion, but here the smaller forces worked well.
The first movement, L’Homme Armé, commenced with the stirring beat of a drum, starting at the rear of the cathedral and processing up the side aisle, to be joined by a flute playing the tune of the rousing 15th century French folk song – a very effective opening. The tune was then picked up a cappella by the choir, whose tuning unfortunately went somewhat awry making for something of a clash when the instruments joined the singers. Their intonation settled down as it went along, and the overall effect, with trumpets and the insistent rhythm in the strings echoing the drumbeat that continued throughout, was compelling.
The movement that followed, with low voices in the upper strings and remarkably deep notes from the basses, was perhaps the most ominous introduction to a Kyrie we have ever heard. This led into a lovely Kyrie Eleison from Sally-Anne Russell, whose wonderful rich mezzo was ideally suited to the music, with a nicely blended choral background softly supporting her, although there were some difficulties with high notes in the soprano line. In contrast, the Christe Eleison section, a choral setting à la Palestrina with strings and trumpets, was more urgent and forceful. Its effect, alas, was marred by some uncertain intonation from the men, and not all the choir was with the conductor at final cadences. The second Kyrie Eleison returned to the sombre mood of the first, with a good choral sound.
Save me from bloody men came next, with resonant plainsong from unison tenors and basses chanting verses from Psalms 56 and 59. Things got slightly messy in the melismatic bits but it was a brave effort with a well-blended sound. The percussion accompaniment was first rate, and the movement concluded with a truly terrifying thunderclap from the timpani.
The choral introduction in the Sanctus was much more successful, with some lovely soft singing before proceeding into a militaristic Hosanna, reminiscent of the L’Homme Armé, with trumpets, drums and timpani providing an unsettling sense of foreboding, before a return to the gentle Sanctus. Although the cathedral was a wonderful setting for the performance, we wondered whether the choir was best placed in the nave, basically in front of the crossing, as the acoustic could occasionally be a little muddy.
There was some stirring and exciting choral work with good clear diction in the Hymn Before Action that followed (except that the sopranos were perhaps too lyrical and soft for the raging called for in the text). Likewise, there was some fine singing in the next movement, Charge! with ample encouragement from the band, who were terrific to a person. In the gentler middle section (“How blest is he who for his country dies” – a sentiment decried by Wilfred Owen as “the old lie”), there was some soft and effective singing, although a few sopranos took fright at the highest notes. Then the call to war returned, finishing with dissonant screams of battle that were quite stunning. A compelling silence preceded the excellently played “Last Post”, with ominous strings bleakly joining the trumpet for the last calls – wonderful. An effect spoiled a tad by the rumbling of trams in the background.
Angry flames, in which the Japanese poet Toge Sankichi describes the horrors of the Hiroshima nuclear blast, was one of the most affecting movements. It began with the tolling of a bell leading into some nice string work then followed by the excellent trumpets. Choristers fully engaged with articulating the text as they supported Russell’s magnificent song of mourning, with some lovely interweaving of text between choir and soloist.
Torches, based on text from the Hindu Mahabharata describing the terrible fate of animals caught in the fires of war, was also moving, with a powerful introduction from trumpets, timpani and organ. The choir’s chanting of the aweful Hindu verse was very effective, despite some uncertain intonation again. However all was well in the following movement, the calmer Agnus Dei, with a lovely introduction from the sopranos and a satisfying finish from the choir, accompanied by high violins.
Now The Guns Have Stopped, Guy Wilson’s poem of a warrior survivor mourning for a slain friend, gave Russell the opportunity for some more superlative singing, supported by a most touching string accompaniment. Her almost whispered beginning became a mournful lament, finishing on a beautiful soft “alone”. Every word crystal clear, pitch-perfect, she delivered an outstanding performance. Five stars.
The Benedictus opened with a truly lovely cello opening from Nicholas Jensen led into an extended orchestral section, with some excellent soft playing beautifully melded with muted trumpet. The sopranos spoiled the choral entry a bit with an under-pitch note, but the choir’s slow and steady singing was convincing, and overall the effect was consoling after the gravity of the previous movement. The Hosanna was quite exciting with trumpets and timpani joining forces with the choir. The movement concluded with a return to the calm of the Benedictus.
The final movement, Better is peace, offers the prospect of a future free from war. Drums and flute recapped the L’Homme Armé tune but set to new words: “Better is peace than always war”. There was a fine orchestral and organ palette, and the antiphonal ringing of the bells was very well captured from a choir which entered thoroughly into the spirit. Contemporary rhythms, effective orchestration and the onomatopoeic “Ring! Ring!” from the singers provided an excellent setting of the Tennyson poem. The “Mass for Peace” concluded with an unaccompanied hymn-like setting of text from the Book of Revelation “God shall wipe away all tears …”. This was quite nicely done, but the Mass is a big sing and the voices seemed understandably tired and had difficulty sustaining the long phrases for which Dobernig gave excellent direction.
There was generous and very warm appreciation of the efforts of all performers from the audience. The Victoria Chorale has obviously gathered and maintained a great following and they are to be commended for mounting a performance of an important contemporary and relevant work that is rarely heard in its entirety. Notwithstanding our occasional reservations, overall it was a great success and well worth the hearing.
Image supplied.
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Kristina and Bruce Macrae reviewed “The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace”, presented by Victoria Chorale at St Paul’s Cathedral on May 18, 2024.
