The Mass and Interludes L’homme armé were written for the five-voice vocal ensemble Ars Antiqua Riga, accompanied by organ, sackbuts (ancient trombones), and electronic instruments, creating an atmospheric soundscape. The opus was born as a result of creative symbiosis between composer Uģis Prauliņš and conductor Pēteris Vaickovskis, who initially invited the composer to write musical comments (interludes) on Johannes Ockeghem’s (c. 1414–1497) Mass L’homme armé. The creative collaboration provided the opportunity and inspiration to expand the interludes into a mass. Prauliņš admits that it is a challenge to place the traditional means of expression and forms of sacred music into the modern surrounding landscapes.
[..] Stylistically, in this piece, Uģis Prauliņš continues to follow his own path - combining, sometimes also breaking the boundaries of genre, form, era, and style. Prauliņš is an explorer of musical styles, discovering the common in the dissimilar: the polyphonic order of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries organically blends with the rebellious free spirit of the 20th-century rock music. Similarly, the sacred and the secular do not carry opposite meanings for Prauliņš: walls and barriers are demolished, bridges of peace and love are built through the ages and various spiritual practices instead. The Mass and Interludes L’homme armé are about each individual struggles, which often grow into common struggles for all, with victories and defeats, moments of strength and weakness, yet always with an endless desire for peace.