How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

Freebie tickets and two buses!

The Music of Karl Jenkins. Two U.S. premieres, one Carnegie Hall premiere, and one world premiere.

The Wooing of Étain; Sarikiz (violin concerto); Fantasy Preludes, by Carol Barratt (Mrs. Karl Jenkins); and The Peacemakers.

Mr. Jenkins is (self-touted) the world’s most-performed living composer. Maybe so, but his compositions almost entered the *easy listening* category. Yes, there were good compositional techniques; yes, they were accessible; yes, they work with broad strokes à la Andrew Lloyd Webber. And they were almost fulfilling.

Interestingly, the first works on the program were teaching devices leading up to the second half of the program. There’s nothing wrong with that—I liked that—I just thought I’d point it out. The Wooing of Étain had jazz instruments set against a chamber orchestra; Uilleann pipes (which would be featured later), soprano saxophone (a bit overbearing to these ears) and electric bass (sorry, the moment you introduce electric instruments, you have a major imbalance, IMHO).

Sarikiz featured the violinist (and concertmaster) Jorge Ávila, who would feature again in The Peacemakers. He played very well, as did the orchestra.

Carol Barratt’s nine-movement piano Fantasy Preludes were played sweetly by Danny Evans. Any one of the movements could be a stand-alone piece/encore, but they all worked well as one through-composed piece.

In the second half, the main work, The Peacemakers (70 minutes), featured texts by Nobel Peace Prize–winners the 14th Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Along the way, we heard texts from the Bible, Shelley, Terry Waite, Mahatma Gandhi, the ever-present Anon., St. Francis (attrib.), Ms. Barratt/Mr. Jenkins, Anne Frank, and St. Seraphim of Sarov. I kid you not.

Mr. Jenkins’ settings of all texts were very clear—usually totally linear with harmonies introduced but through-composed as if spoken, in the English-choir-school-tradition style. {Logistics alert} The *choir* was assembled from various small groups from (take a big breath) SC, MD, AZ, NY, MA, MD, UK, HI, NY, MI, Australia, UK, NC, and OH. I can only think that the conductor sent out rehearsal tapes galore, maybe had one or two rehearsals with each group, and then assembled everyone in NYC. It must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a lot of those choristers. And that’s a good thing. (I’ve appeared on the stage of Carnegie, once, in a huge-chorus-orchestra extravaganza.)

The Peacemakers incorporated orchestra, choir, soprano (Antoni Mendezona (who could have chosen less noisy shoes, though her singing was very clear and precise)), Mr. Ávila, and various percussion instruments, along with the Uilleann pipes and the afore-mentioned electric bass. And tin whistles.

Overall, a great performance in a great hall. I’m very glad I was there. Thanks, Meet-Up Group!

ConcertMeister