The Music of Karl Jenkins 70Th Birthday Celebration
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
1-20 DCINY_Jenkins_CH Rental 1/10/14 9:09 AM Page 1 Monday Evening, January 20, 2014, at 7:00 Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage / Carnegie Hall Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Iris Derke, Co-Founder and General Director Jonathan Griffith, Co-Founder and Artistic Director presents The Music of Karl Jenkins 70th Birthday Celebration Distinguished Concerts Orchestra Distinguished Concerts Singers International JONATHAN GRIFFITH , Conductor RHYS MEIRION , Tenor, King DARIK KNUTSEN , Baritone, Minstrel and Bard 3 SAMUEL SMITH , Bass-baritone, Bard 1 CHARLOTTE DAW PAULSEN , Mezzo-soprano, Bard 2 KARL JENKINS , Composer-in-Residence KARL JENKINS The Bards of Wales (United States Premiere) 1. King Edward scales the hills of Wales 2. He comes to high Montgomery 3. An ancient bard to rise 4. You are the guilty one! 5. A breeze so soft 6. King beware! 7. His men went forth 8. The King can’t fall asleep 9. Those martyred bards of Wales KARL JENKINS , Composer/Conductor KARL JENKINS “Benedictus” from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace Intermission PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES. 1-20 DCINY_Jenkins_CH Rental 1/10/14 9:09 AM Page 2 JONATHAN GRIFFITH , Conductor BELINDA SYKES , Ethnic Vocals and Mey CHARLOTTE DAW PAULSEN , Mezzo-soprano KARL JENKINS Stabat Mater 1. Cantus lacrimosus 2. Incantation (Arabic) 3. Vidit Jesum in tormentis 4. Lament (Carol Barratt) 5. Sancta Mater 6. Now my life is only weeping 7. And the Mother did weep 8. Virgo virginum 9. Are you lost out in darkness? 10. Ave Verum 11. Fac, ut portem Christi mortem 12. Paradisi gloria Please hold your applause until after the final movement. We Want To Hear From You! Upload your intermission photos and post-show feedback to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook! #karljenkins70 | @DCINY For information about performing on DCINY’s series or about purchasing tickets, e-mail [email protected], call 212–707–8566 or visit our Website at www.DCINY.org. 1-20 DCINY_Jenkins_CH Rental 1/10/14 9:09 AM Page 3 Notes ON THE PROGRAM KARL JENKINS The Bards of Wales (Hungarian: A walesi bárdok , Welsh: Beirdd Cymru ) (United States Premiere) Music Text: János Arany, English translation by Peter Zollman, Welsh translation by Twm Morys The Bards of Wales cantata is an allegoric just 8 years after the brutal defeat of tale which sheds light on the astonishing Hungarian resistance, Hungarian poet similarity between the history of 19th- János Arany (1817 –82) was urged to century Hungary, and that of 13th- write a welcoming poem in praise of century Wales, the composer's homeland. the visiting oppressor. Instead, Arany In both cases a bitter struggle for inde - wrote The Bards of Wales ballad, pendence was waged by peoples whose retelling an ancient Welsh legend that unique cultures were threatened by hos - describes how, during his conquest of tile and powerful neighbors. In 1848 the Wales in 1277, Edward I of England Hungarians tried to end long years of executed 500 Welsh bards for failing to foreign rule by Austria by launching a praise his deeds at a banquet in War of Independence against the Montgomery Castle. Hapsburg Empire. Although the struggle was heroic, it was doomed to fail, espe - The message Arany bequeaths to all of cially when the Austrians were aided by us is both timeless and universal: as the Russians. What followed was a dark long as there is oppression of any kind and mournful era of torture and oppres - in our world, we will always need sion, with Hungary’s leaders executed, someone brave enough to tell the truth imprisoned or driven into exile. on our behalf, at whatever sacrifice. On the occasion of Austrian Emperor —Note by László Irinyi & John Asquith Franz Joseph's first visit to Budapest, KARL JENKINS Stabat Mater Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Roman In addition, I have set six texts that lie out - Catholic poem attributed to Jacopone da side the original poem. These comprise a Todi. Its title is an abbreviation of the choral arrangement of the Ave Verum that first line, Stabat Mater dolorosa (“the I originally composed for Bryn Terfel; sorrowful mother was standing”). This And the Mother did weep , comprising a text, one of the most powerful and single line of mine sung in English, immediate of medieval poems, meditates Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Aramaic (the on the suffering of Mary, Jesus Christ’s common language of the period in the mother, during his crucifixion. Middle East); Lament by Carol Barratt, written especially for this work; It has been set to music by many com - Incantation , semi-improvised in nature posers, among them Haydn, Dvo rˇák, and sung partly in early Arabic; then two Vivaldi, Rossini, Pergolesi, Gounod, settings of ancient texts, revised into the Penderecki, Poulenc, Szymanowski, original Stabat Mater rhyming scheme by Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, the poet Grahame Davies, sung in both and Verdi. English and Aramaic. 1-20 DCINY_Jenkins_CH Rental 1/10/14 9:09 AM Page 4 Of the two ancient texts, Are you lost Now my life is only weeping is by Jalal out in darkness? comes from the Epic of al-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian Gilgamesh , which is the world’s oldest mystic poet, for whom grief was a cen - written story, recorded on clay tablets in tral fact of his personal history. He had the 7th century BCE, and based on mate - an intense relationship with a spiritual rial from the third millennium BCE. It is mentor called Shams al-Din Tabrizi from the ancient Babylonian civilization, whose apparent murder turned Rumi which means, of course, that it has come into a poet and mystic who sought con - from what is now Iraq, so it has real res - solation in the Divine. onance for our current time. It tells the story of the hero Gilgamesh and his The scoring of Stabat Mater features exploits. The central point is the cursing ancient instruments and modes from and subsequent death of Gilgamesh’s the Middle East/Holy Land: percussion friend and companion, Enkidu. Gilga- such as the darabuca, def, doholla and mesh laments him bitterly and, stricken riq ; the double-reed woodwind instru - with the fear of death, goes in search of ment the mey ; and, alongside western immortality, ultimately without success. harmony, scales or modes ( maqams ) The extract set is where Gilgamesh such as Hijaz and Bayati . laments his friend. —Note by Karl Jenkins Texts The Bards of Wales Text by János Arany King Edward scales the hills of Wales “And Sire, the Welsh, God’s gift, Upon his stallion. the Welsh, “Hear my decree! I want to see, So pleased they all behave! My new dominion. Dark every hut, fearfully shut And silent as the grave.” “Show me the yield of every field, King Edward scales the hills of Wales The grain, the grass, the wood! Upon his stallion. Is all the land now moist and rich And where he rides dead silence hides With red rebellious blood? In his dominion. “And are the Welsh, the wretched Welsh, He comes to high Montgomery A peaceful, happy folk? To banquet and to rest; I want them pleased, just like the beast It falls on Lord Montgomery They harness in the yoke.” To entertain the guest: “Sire, this jewel in your crown, With fish and meat and fruit so sweet, Your Wales is fair and good: To tease the tongue, the eyes, Rich is the yield of every field A splendid spread for a king to be fed, The grassland and the wood. A lordly enterprise. 1-20 DCINY_Jenkins_CH Rental 1/10/14 9:09 AM Page 5 The servers file with the best this Isle “A breeze, so soft, does sweetly waft Can grow in drink and food, Where Milford Haven lies, And pour the fine Bordeaux and Rhine With wailing woes of doomed widows In gracious plentitude. And mournful maidens’ cries. “Now drink my health, you gentle sirs, “Maiden, don’t bear a slave! Mother, And you, my noble host. Your babe must not be nursed!...” You sirs, Welsh sirs… you filthy curs, A royal nod. He reached the stake I want the loyal toast! Together with the first. “The fish, the meat you served to eat But boldly and without a call Was fine and ably done. A third one takes the floor; But deep inside it’s hate you hide: Without salute he strikes the lute, You loathe me, every one. His song begins to soar: “Well then, you sirs, you filthy curs, The brave were killed, just as you willed, Who will now toast the king? Or languish in your gaols: I want a bard to praise my deeds, To hail your name or sing your fame A bard of Wales to sing!” You’ll find no bard in Wales. They look askance with a furtive glance, “He may be gone, but his songs live on- The noblemen of Wales; The toast is: King beware! Their cheeks turn white in deadly fright, You bear the curse and even worse As crimson anger pales. Of Welsh bards everywhere.” Deep silence falls upon the halls, “I’ll see to that!” —Thunders the king- And lo, before their eyes “You spiteful Welsh peasants! They see an old man, white as snow, The stake will toast you, every bard An ancient bard to rise. Who spurns my ordinance!” “I shall recite your glorious deeds His men went forth to search the North, Just as you bid me, Sire;” The West, the South, the East, And death rattles in grim battles And so befell, the truth to tell, As he touches the lyre.