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Christmas concert program notes
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The Armed Man |
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Jenkins was born and raised in Wales. For the
bulk of his early career, he was known as a jazz and jazz-rock musician,
playing baritone and soprano saxophones, keyboards and oboe. As a composer,
his breakthrough came with the crossover project Adiemus. The Armed Man
(subtitled A Mass for Peace) was commissioned by the Royal Armouries in
London to commemorate the millenium, would reflect Christian traditions, and
would be a declaration of peace after the most war-torn century in human
history. It was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis. It takes its
name from a 15th century French song with the first line "The armed man must
be feared" whose origins are debated. |
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The Armed man is based on the traditional
Catholic mass, but also adopts texts from other sources which reflect the
pain and waste of war. These texts include extracts from the ancient
Mahabharata, poems dedicated to the bombing of Hiroshima, the Vietnamese
war, poems by Dryden and Kipling, the Bible and the Muslim call to prayer -
reflecting the diverse culture we live in. The music is beautiful, yet
exciting with a constant military undertone. The piece ends with a prayer
for eternal peace. The performance
will include a simultaneous film of related war events, adding greatly to
the anti-war mood.
Film extracts from King
Henry V |
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During the 20s and 30s, William Walton
(1902–1983) was considered the most important English composer of his
generation, with a unique style built on Romantic passion, jazz-infused
rhythmic vitality, and brilliant orchestration. In addition to his classical
works, he is considered among the greatest of English film composers,
including a noteworthy score to King Henry V. Two of the pieces,
'Passacaglia Death of Falstaff' and 'Touch her soft lips and part' from that score
will be performed by the Central Coast Symphony Orchestra. |
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A Shropshire Lad |
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George Butterworth, MC (1885 – 1916) was an
English composer best known for the orchestral idyll The Banks of Green
Willow and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems, some of which are
powerful statements about the loss of young life in war. Butterworth's
rhapsody
A Shropshire Lad sets two of Houseman's poems to music, It is
bitterly ironic that, four years after writing this music, he too became one
of the young fallen on the Somme, at the age of 32. |
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