Dunedin RSA Choir presents Sir Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man — A Mass for Peace
Friday, November 11, Knox Church
Review by BRENDA HARWOOD
The massed forces of choirs, brass band, soloists, organ, piano, and percussion came together in a stirring, emotional performance of Sir Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man — A Mass for Peace.
Led by the Dunedin RSA Choir and performed under the baton of choir director Karen Knudson, the piece was the centrepiece of the choir’s delayed centenary performance, held at Knox Church to mark Armistice Day.
The concert began with a bracket of entertaining short pieces, including The Banks of Green Willow and The Royal Air Force March Past performed by St Kilda Brass ‘Saints’ under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth, with Dunedin RSA Choir singing Wakaaria Mai, with soprano soloist Emma McClean, and Gwahoddiad , conducted by Knudson.
After an interval, the stage area of Knox Church quickly became a tight fit, as the Dunedin RSA Choir were joined by Knox Church Choir and Junior Choristers, St Kilda Brass, soloists Calla Knudson, Lillian Gibbs, Kieran Kelly, and Jesse Hanan, organist David Burchell, bugler Ralph Miller, and percussionists Scott Ke, Rob Craigie, and Wigglesworth, for The Armed Man — A Mass for Peace.
Weilding the baton, Knudson was a calm and measured presence, marshalling these large and disparate forces with aplomb.
From its opening military-style drum-beat and the stirring L’Homme Arme, through the traditional mass elements of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, the intensity of Save Me from Bloody Men and Hymn Before Action, to the devastating Now the Guns Have Stopped, the solace of Better is Peace, and the finale God Shall Wipe Away All Tears, the mass for peace was a gripping emotional rollercoaster.
The choirs, brass band and soloists were all focused and responsive to the conductor, giving their all in a truly impressive performance.
The pause half way through the mass for The Ode to be recited in English and Te Reo, and for bugler Ralph Miller to play the Last Post and Reveille felt entirely appropriate and added to the heightened emotion of the peace.
The evening concluded with a stirring rendition of the New Zealand National Anthem by performers and audience members, rounding off a very special evening of music.
