March 2005
Dear
Guildford Philharmonic Choir Concert: New Contemporary Choral Classics series. War and
Peace in our time. Guildford Cathedral, Saturday 14” May 2005 at 7.30 p.m.
Our last concert of the 2004/5 season will be the first in a new series to be called
Contemporary Choral Classics. These concerts are to be given about once a year, and will
combine an existing choral classic with a new work which looks destined to becomea classic
of the future. We have found that our most popular concerts are those which include works like
these. It is clear that the musical public is looking for good and approachable new music and
we are proud to give you the opportunity of hearing them.
This concert is themed to present music about war and peace. The hope is that humanity and
particularly the many competing religions will manage to achieve peace and harmony during
the 21 century.
The concert opens with Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets suite, a dramatic reminder of
what war involves. This is followed by Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, a cry for
peace, in which he has set some of Walt Whitman’s poems in juxtaposition with the Agnus Dei
of the Mass and various well known biblical texts. This is a most beautiful work, not often
performed and deserving to be heard more.
Finally we hear Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man, a Mass for Peace. This new work was
commissioned for the millenium by Britain’s Royal Armouries and dedicated to the victims of
the Kosovo crisis. Jenkins is best known for Adiemus, and you can hear that The Armed Man
is from the same composer, but it is very different in style and creates an extremely dramatic
atmosphere.
Jenkins uses the medieval French song L’Homme Armé, set within the framework of the
Christian Mass. There are many movements in the piece, each looking at war and peace from a
different angle. For example one complete movement is the Muezzin, the Muslim Call to
Prayers. The whole work is a heartfelt cry for the religions and the armies of the world to come
together in the cause of peace not war, something greatly relevant to our time. The Armed Man
has been a huge success and is being widely performed by many choirs across the UK. We are
sure that Guildford audiences will find it most moving.
The orchestra will be the Forest Philharmonic, and the conductor will be Jeremy Backhouse.
Please bin this information if you are not interested or not available, and please do not feel in
any way required to reply. However I would very much like to get tickets for you if you want
to come. Ticket prices are £20 and £15. Student concessions £5. Alternatively you can obtain
them from Guildford Tourist Office 01483 444334, the Cathedral Booking Office 01483
547870 or Michael Taylor on 07958 519741 or tickets@GuildfordPhilharmonicChoir.org.uk.
GPCPublicityMay2005