The composer on resisting pigeon-holing and the critics in his 75th-birthday year
THE room is full of nearidentical youthful faces, which is most disconcerting. I blink, but the repetition remains. ‘There’s a casting agency downstairs,’ says Sir Karl Jenkins, by way of explanation, as we sit in his compact studio. ‘It can be a bit unsettling.’ So far, so Soho.
Sir Karl’s writing desk is state-of-the-art, in the heart of London’s creative hub, but the composer says he doesn’t need the hardware all that often—he works on a small, weighted keyboard and laptop, which he uses when working at home in Marylebone or back in his native Wales, which he visits regularly.
Sir Karl, who was born in Penclawdd on the Gower Peninsula, is one of the most frequently performed living composers. The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace, commissioned by the Royal Armouries and Classic FM for the millennium, has been in the UK classical charts for 15 years—not bad, considering many new classical works never even see a second performance.
‘I’m proud of The Armed Man,’ he says, quietly. ‘There are all sorts of silly statistics about my music.’ The most striking of these is that The Armed Man has been performed more than 2,500 times since its premiere in 1999. The work, which was dedicated to the victims of Kosovo, incorporates text from the Catholic Mass and the Islamic call to prayer, as well as secular writing from Kipling, Tennyson and Hiroshima surviver Sankichi Toge.
Denne historien er fra April 10, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 10, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
