Jenkins, Karl

[Richard Barrett]

a trajectory from pushing the boundaries in all these fields to increasing self-imposed creative limitation. I guess he's managed to square this with his aesthetic conscience...

No doubt his bank balance has been of assistance in that regard.

I would be hard put to name or even to imagine a composer whose work would strike me as more insipid than KJ's choral/orchestral output. That's not because it's "rather simply composed". The songs of ("non-classically-trained") Lennon and McCartney, say, are "rather simply composed" and as far as I'm concerned are in every way a more enlightening way to spend one's listening time than Jenkins' sad and tired offerings.

[ahinton]

No doubt his bank balance has been of assistance in that regard.

I would be hard put to name or even to imagine a composer whose work would strike me as more insipid than KJ's choral/orchestral output. That's not because it's "rather simply composed". The songs of ("non-classically-trained") Lennon and McCartney, say, are "rather simply composed" and as far as I'm concerned are in every way a more enlightening way to spend one's listening time than Jenkins' sad and tired offerings.

...saith one composer from Swansea about another - and I could not agree more; it seems to me to be rather more than a mere pity that said bank balance will have been so handsomely swelled as a direct consequence of such offerings, which one might suppose says at least as much about his fans as it does about him...

[Barbirollians]

I listened to The Armed Man once - it just struck me as very bland .

[ahinton]

I listened to The Armed Man once - it just struck me as very bland .

But then blandness seems to be one of KJ's watchwords, to my ears...

[edashtav]

But then blandness seems to be one of KJ's watchwords, to my ears...

No doubt, The Armed Man once played in a bland.

[Serial_Apologist]

No doubt, The Armed Man once played in a bland.

A pigling bland?

[edashtav]

A pigling bland?

Yes!

I believe that KJ thought Blandings had been designed by that master of architectural harmony:Antonio Palladio, hence his subsequent work "Palladio" that is believed to have earned its composer a diamond forever.

[Ian]

In the late 1960s/early 70s Karl Jenkins used to be a composer of jazz tunes, and played keyboards, oboe and saxophones in Graham Collier Music, Ian Carr's Nucleus and Soft Machine, demonstrating a trajectory from pushing the boundaries in all these fields to increasing self-imposed creative limitation. I guess he's managed to square this with his aesthetic conscience...

Just had a listen to my old Elastic Rock LP - don’t hear much difference between the Jenkins then and the Jenkins now. In fact it is quite easy to image some of his recent stuff done in a Nucleus sort of of way - that would be more acceptable?

[Serial_Apologist]

Just had a listen to my old Elastic Rock LP - don’t hear much difference between the Jenkins then and the Jenkins now. In fact it is quite easy to image some of his recent stuff done in a Nucleus sort of of way - that would be more acceptable?

I have to say KJ's work with Graham Collier, Nucleus and Soft Machine in the early 70s was more interesting in every way than what he has done since, both in terms of memorable compositions but as an instrumentalist and improviser to all three groups.

I note with irony that KJ is this week's Composer of the Week - how long do we have to wait for it to be Mantovani? - also that tomorrow's episode rather than today's is devoted to his contributions to British jazz-rock Fusion. Surely this should have been the other way around, charting a journey from promising beginnings to a graduated slide into mediocrity and banal religiosity?

[Ein Heldenleben]

I have to say KJ's work with Graham Collier, Nucleus and Soft Machine in the early 70s was more interesting in every way than what he has done since, both in terms of memorable compositions but as an instrumentalist and improviser to all three groups.

I note with irony that KJ is this week's Composer of the Week - how long do we have to wait for it to be Mantovani? - also that tomorrow's episode rather than today's is devoted to his contributions to British jazz-rock Fusion. Surely this should have been the other way around, charting a journey from promising beginnings to a graduated slide into mediocrity and banal religiosity?

He may be the worlds most successful classical composer but the One World Tower Of Babel thing they’ve just played was grim stuff. Descending 4 chord minor scale riff with shouty very English sounding chorus. But what do I know? he’s a multi millionaire and I’m not.
Come on Karl give us a decent uncliched chord sequence….

I think I’d rather have Mantovani.

[LMcD]

He may be the worlds most successful classical composer but the One World Tower Of Babel thing they’ve just played was grim stuff. Descending 4 chord minor scale riff with shouty very English sounding chorus. But what do I know? he’s a multi millionaire and I’m not.
Come on Karl give us a decent uncliched chord sequence….

I think I’d rather have Mantovani.

... with Arvo Pärt a close second?

[smittims]

The danger, of course, is that BBC management go by popularity, so for them this IS classical music. We may get more (and more) of it.

[Serial_Apologist]

... with Arvo Pärt a close second?

For me religious music is now a separate issue from the classical mainstream, given the proportion of today's religious services in so many mainstream outlets, irrespective of denomination, now devoted to what passes for the simpering standardised product we used to think of, and love in its own way, as Gospel music. Not being religious I don't feel qualified to comment on this as a contemporary phenomenon, but devotional music of the past did seem to be more grown up and genuinely sought to reflect times when religion was thought to inform personal morals and reflect (on) social needs.

[Suffolkcoastal]

The danger, of course, is that BBC management go by popularity, so for them this IS classical music. We may get more (and more) of it.

You will, as I believe that KJ is COTW sometime in March.

[vinteuil]

I think I’d rather have Mantovani.

... yes. But now the door is opened - Einaudi, Górecki, Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, 'Sir' James Macmillan, Ola Gjeilo...

Bring back Semprini Serenade and have done with it...




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