An EMI executive suggested that two of their top artists should meet and perhaps consider collaboration on an album project. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and composer Karl Jenkins hit it off famously and this disc is the wonderful result. Jenkins began his career in jazz and fusion, moving to music for commercials, and his many recent choral works – including his Adiemus series – have become extremely popular. He arranged all 16 tracks here in his unmistakable style characterized by gorgeous and accessible harmonies and unexpected contrasts of instrumentation and voices. Several of them have nonsense lyrics or sounds as in some of the Adiemus tunes.
The two artists worked together closely on the selection of songs. Some are already-existing treatments by Jenkins – such as his conversion of the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony into Allegrettango. There are also excerpts from some of Jenkin’s big choral works such as his Requiem. Seven of the numbers were suggested by Te Kanawa and come from Argentina. This brings in an array of different South American percussion. The tribal-sounding Adiemus female choir from Finland is part of many of the arrangements, and other guest artists include jazz guitarist Martin Taylor, recorder player Pamela Thornby, and flutist Gareth Davies.
Another unique aspect of the album is that for the first time Dame Kiri has multi-tracked her silky voice on some of the tracks – in one case “nine versions of me,” as she put it. This is a truly classy and enthralling musical experience. And bear in mind this reviewer is not even especially atuned to vocal music of any sort.
Tracklist: Jardin Antiguo, Kyrie, Le Secret, Antema Africana, Cancion al Arbol del Olvido, The Mystics, Flores Argentinas (4 songs), In Paradisum, La Rosa y el Sauce, Capriccio D’Amore, Allegrettango, Mazurka, Paya Paya.
– John Sunier
