{"id":40810,"date":"2024-03-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/0bd3e860-b0b5-4a22-a3e4-24f935b5b3ef"},"modified":"2024-03-25T10:40:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T09:40:08","slug":"karl-jenkins-on-the-commercial-that-made-him-a-global-hit-being-underestimated-by-the-music-industry-and-why-he-has-no-plans-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/karl-jenkins-on-the-commercial-that-made-him-a-global-hit-being-underestimated-by-the-music-industry-and-why-he-has-no-plans-to-retire\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Jenkins on the commercial that made him a global hit, being underestimated by the music industry and why he has no plans to retire"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Amanda Holloway\n <\/p>

Published: Monday, 25 March 2024 at 05:00 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The world\u2019s most performed classical composer stands on the huge Brucknerhaus stage, almost invisible among the sea of musicians. He is a small, black-suited figure with a mop of white hair and mutton-chop whiskers. Karl Jenkins is conducting his latest epic, One World<\/em>, for the annual UNESCO Concert for Peace. There are at least 700 musicians from the World Orchestra and Choir for Peace on the stage and balconies, and hundreds more singers from the Stay At Home Choir visible on the huge bank of screens above the musicians. The audience in the hall numbers well over 1,000, and the number watching the live stream, still available on YouTube, is nearly 200,000.\u00a0<\/p>

We named Karl Jenkins as one of the best Welsh composers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>

The composer on call to respond to global conflicts and disaster <\/h2>
Karl Jenkins has become the international composer of choice to mark global events, particularly those involving conflicts and disasters. His millennium commission, The<\/em> Armed Man: A Mass for Peace,<\/em> was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict but could equally be applied to the war in Ukraine and the victims of the Gaza conflict. The texts include the Islamic Call to Prayer, as well as words and music from Western Christian and Hindu sources. <\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><p><em>One World<\/em> looks at the destructive effect of humans on the natural world. But it also offers a vision of a peaceful and egalitarian planet that treats nature with respect. It draws inspiration from texts such as the Bible and the Hindu Gayatri Mantra, as well as including poetry by Shelley, Khalil Gibran and Jenkins\u2019 wife, the composer and librettist Carol Barratt.\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Karl Jenkins with his wife, Lady Carol Barratt (credit: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Royal connections<\/h2><p>Karl Jenkins was knighted in 2015 for services to music, but this quietly spoken Welshman keeps a low profile \u2013 so much so that he caused excitement at the Coronation when the papers suggested he might be the Duchess of Sussex in disguise. A grammar school boy from Penclawdd, a Welsh cockle-picking village on the Gower Peninsula, he has a dry, self-deprecating sense of humour. On <em>Desert Island Discs<\/em> in 2006, he described himself as a \u2018morose Celt\u2019.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Karl Jenkins\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/7b0Mdp1pmnn0sJufZtJqoC?si=43af33380f624fd5&utm_source=oembed\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overlooked and underestimated by the classical music press<\/h2><p>A former jazz and session musician (on Elton John and George Harrison albums, among others), Jenkins is used to being underestimated by the press. \u2018Some people think I came straight from Soft Machine, or music for ads, to what I\u2019m doing now. From the rock group to orchestra,\u2019 he laughs. \u2018But I did a pretty comprehensive music degree at Cardiff University studying harmony, counterpoint, fugue and orchestration. I also did a post-grad year at the Royal Academy of Music. <em>Adiemus<\/em> and <em>The Armed Man<\/em> couldn\u2019t have been written by someone who hadn\u2019t had classical training.\u2019 <\/p><p>There are many in the classical music establishment who don\u2019t care for what they see as his pick-and-mix approach to world music\u00a0(Jenkins prefers \u2018multi-influenced approach to composition\u2019). These are vastly outnumbered by fans who are moved by his music, want to perform it and buy his records. <em>The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace<\/em> has now been in the classical charts for over 1,000 weeks. His online catalogue has had over one billion streams, with <em>Adiemus<\/em> alone being streamed 530 million times. Jenkins, who prides himself on establishing an emotional connection with his audience, is impressed. \u2018For a living composer, it\u2019s very gratifying!\u2019\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Adiemus\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/54CAG8n70kKVbFV6l1zF4G?si=b266461ad8d74ea4&utm_source=oembed\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prog-rock to commercials: Karl Jenkins’s diverse musical background<\/h2><p>Jenkins grew up in a close-knit community for whom music \u2013 chapel, congregational singing and brass bands \u2013 was important. His headteacher father was an organist and choirmaster in the local chapel, and taught him the piano. He fell in love with jazz at school, and once he moved to London, he played in bands including Ronnie Scott\u2019s Octet and\u00a0Centipede and co-founded Nucleus. <\/p><p>He then joined one of the most innovative prog-rock\/jazz-fusion bands of the late-60s-early 70s, Soft Machine, playing the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/saxophone-invention\">saxophone<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/oboe-vs-clarinet\">oboe<\/a><\/strong> and keyboards. Looking at black and white photos of five hirsute 20-somethings, it appears that Jenkins\u2019 style \u2013 droopy moustache and shaggy locks \u2013 has hardly changed. By 1981 Soft Machine had \u2018petered out\u2019, and he had formed a partnership with ex-Softs member Mike Ratledge, writing music for all occasions, including commercials.\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2126\" height=\"2026\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/03\/Soft-Machine-with-Karl-Jenkins.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Soft Machine sitting looking into the middle distance\" class=\"wp-image-203174\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Soft Machine (L-R Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper) (credit: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How scoring an airline commercial made Karl Jenkins a global phenomenon<\/h2><p>In 1995 he was asked to write something for a Delta Airlines ad that had a sort of \u2018global music\u2019 vibe, to be directed by <em>Chariots of Fire<\/em>\u2019s Hugh Hudson. \u2018They wanted \u201csomething ethnic\u201d (that was the word in usage nearly 30 years ago), so I thought of indigenous wind instruments, percussion, and so on. I wanted a vocal element but I was working to a deadline so I thought I\u2019d make up words, like the way <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/jazz-music-what-it-is-and-how-it-evolved\">jazz<\/a><\/strong> singers scat but more organised and notated. I sang syllables to myself over and over again, Adi-adi-emus, a Latin-sounding word that could mean anything. Luckily it approximates to \u201cwe shall draw near\u201d.\u2019 <\/p><blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>I found an area I was good at \u2013 writing accessible classical music that was universal<\/p><\/blockquote><p>He hired a South African singer, Miriam Stockley, \u2018a voice of rare beauty\u2019, to sing the gentler sections. The more strident choruses were sung by the versatile Mary Carewe. The vocal lines were overlayed to create a full choral effect and an ethereal Andean <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-pieces-flute-our-top-picks\">flute<\/a><\/strong>, the quena, completed the \u2018Adiemus\u2019 sound.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Delta Airlines Commercial\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XxQ4hBwp4Q4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p>Once the Delta ad came out, everyone wanted to get hold of the music. \u2018Record companies came after us wanting to release it as a single,\u2019 says Jenkins. \u2018But I said I wanted to release a whole album\u2019s worth.\u2019 <em>Adiemus<\/em> became a global phenomenon and Virgin Records signed the project to their Venture label. After three decades of performing and composing for commercials, he had struck gold. \u2018I found an area I was good at \u2013 writing accessible classical music that was universal, in that it was drawn from different cultures.\u2019 \u2018Spiritual music for secular people,\u2019 as a fan described <em>Adiemus<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The broad range of cultural influences in Jenkins’s music<\/h2><p>The broad range of bespoke music he\u2019d had to create in his advertising years contributed to Jenkins\u2019s signature style. Access to world music, instruments and practitioners was easy in London. \u2018If someone asked for something African, or Indian, I knew people who specialised, particularly in percussion instruments,\u2019 he says. Goblet-shaped drums such as the <em>darbuka<\/em> of the Middle East, or the <em>daiko<\/em> in Japan, became part of his toolbox, as well as wooden flutes from several cultures. \u2018With the <em>bansuri<\/em>, you are immediately in India. The Japanese flute, <em>shakuhachi<\/em>, is the perfect instrument for the five haikus in my Requiem.\u2019 He stresses that he is always respectful of the source of instruments from diverse cultures.<\/p><p>In the years that followed he wrote another five iterations of <em>Adiemus<\/em>\u2026. <em>Cantata Mundi<\/em>, <em>Dances of Time<\/em>, <em>The Eternal Knot<\/em>, <em>Vocalise<\/em> and finally, in 2013, <em>Colores<\/em>. He has taken classical forms such as the mass, the requiem and the stabat mater and given them unconventional treatments. Listen out for the hip-hop setting of Dies irae in Requiem, which appeared in a Lynx advert.\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Jenkins: Adiemus Colores\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/5a9KaXwiayktb5R1DGQtLV?si=lI5f4xBxQ8i0VPO9rG0GKQ&utm_source=oembed\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Writing for the stage and screen<\/h2><p>For such a reticent man, Karl Jenkins certainly goes in for big occasions. His works are staged in the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Brucknerhaus, Linz. \u2018Yes, I like the impact, the physical effect, of big sounds,\u2019 he says. \u2018But it\u2019s not all crash bang wallop. My <em>Motets<\/em> album with Stephen Layton and Polyphony is <em>a cappella<\/em> voices recorded in a church in North London.\u2019 He has written scores for TV series, including <em>The Story of Wales <\/em>and<em> The Celts<\/em>, and a film, <em>River Queen<\/em>, starring Kiefer Sutherland. <\/p><p>There can\u2019t be many genres he hasn\u2019t tackled. \u2018I sometimes regret that I haven\u2019t written for theatre or opera \u2013 apart from <em>Eloise<\/em>, the one-hour children\u2019s opera Carol and I wrote for W11 Opera, which I gather is still big in Germany!\u2019 The right offer has never come up, he says, and writing two hours of music \u2013 \u2018which is two years in my life\u2019 \u2013 is a massive speculation. Barratt has written many of the texts in Jenkins\u2019s work, but she is a composer in her own right. She was a student of Elisabeth Lutyens, and has since devised the popular Chester Classic Piano Course. Their children and grandchildren are also musicians.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-purple-m101-price-comparsion\"><div class=\"m101\" data-type=\"price-comparison\" data-template=\"default\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Classic-Piano-Course-Book-Starting\/dp\/0711943117\/\" data-title=\"\" data-config=\"{"searchKeywords":"The Classic Piano Course, Book 1: Starting to Play ","excludeKeywords":"","price":"10.99","delta":"50","limit":"4"}\"\/><\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will he retire from composing?<\/h2><p>Asking a composer if they\u2019re going to retire is like \u2018proposing that someone stops breathing\u2019, Jenkins wrote in his 2015 autobiography <em>Still With The Music<\/em>. But once this anniversary year is over, might he consider scaling back just a little? \u2018Well, Decca has extended our association with a Lifetime Signing. Composing is just something I do, like a hobby, really, or an addiction. As they say, if you like what you do as a job, you don\u2019t ever have to work again!\u2019 We\u2019ll take\u00a0that\u00a0as\u00a0a no.\u00a0<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The artists who have collaborated with Karl Jenkins <\/h2><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Harpist Catrin Finch<\/h3><p>Prince Charles commissioned a double harp concerto, <em>Crossing the Stone<\/em>, for Royal Harpist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-catrin-finch-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-welsh-harpist\">Catrin Finch<\/a><\/strong> and her teacher Elinor Bennett in 2001.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Percussionist Evelyn Glennie<\/h3><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/evelyn-glennie-best-recordings\">Evelyn Glennie<\/a><\/strong> (who we named as one of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-are-the-best-percussionists-today\">best percussionists in the world<\/a><\/strong>) gave the premiere of Jenkins\u2019s arrangement of <em>La Folia<\/em> (The leaf) for marimba and strings, based on a Corelli <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/violin-history\">violin<\/a><\/strong> sonata, in 2004.\u00a0<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel<\/h3><p>After singing Jenkins\u2019s <em>In These Stones Horizons Sing<\/em> at the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre, bass-baritone <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-is-bryn-terfel\">Bryn Terfel<\/a><\/strong> asked him to write something for his 2005 album<em> Simple Gifts. <\/em>\u2018Ave verum corpus\u2019 featured Terfel and baritone Simon Keenlyside.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">London Symphony Orchestra<\/h3><p>The LSO commissioned a work to celebrate its centenary year in 2005. <em>Quirk<\/em>, the suitably quirky three-movement piece was conducted by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/sir-colin-davis-1927-2013\">Colin Davis<\/a><\/strong>. One movement, \u2018Chasing the Goose\u2019, was inspired by Jenkins\u2019s own disobedient geese.\u00a0<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Saxophonist Jess Gillam<\/h3><p><em>Stravaganza<\/em> was written for star saxophonist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/who-is-jess-gillam\">Jess Gillam<\/a><\/strong>, a commission by BBC Radio 3 and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa<\/h3><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-soprano-kiri-te-kanawa\">Kiri Te Kanawa<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s 2006 album <em>Kiri Sings Karl: Songs of Mystery & Enchantment <\/em>features a collection of songs written, arranged and conducted\u00a0by Karl Jenkins.\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1654\" height=\"1800\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/03\/Karl-Jenkins-with-Kiri-Te-Kanawa-at-the-Classical-Brits-2006.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Karl Jenkins and Kiri Te Kanawa at the Classical Brits, both wearing black and standing against a photo board\" class=\"wp-image-203172\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Karl Jenkins And Kiri Te Kanawa at the 2006 Classical Brit Awards (credit: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Amanda Holloway Published: Monday, 25 March 2024 at 05:00 AM The world\u2019s most performed classical composer stands on the huge Brucknerhaus stage, almost invisible among the sea of musicians. 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He is a small, black-suited figure with a mop of white hair and mutton-chop whiskers. 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