Customer Reviews

Stella Natalis

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I always enjoy Karl Jenkins's composition and arrangements, some more than others but I haven't come across one I didn't like yet. Stella Natalis is mostly typical Jenkins, with many jazz-inspired phrases, which is to be expected. The addition in this piece of two superb performers, the trumpet player and the coloratura, makes you sit up and often replay the tracks over and over. Again typically, there are a few recognisably derivative phrases, the most obvious - to me anyway - being a straight copy of the opening of Coleridge-Taylor's "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast". I won't name the track, it's more fun listening for it. Jenkins is not a plagiarist; his "borrowing" of bits and pieces from other music always fits perfectly, so he can be forgiven if he does it occasionally. This is thoroughly enjoyable, with the bonus of "Joy to the World" after Stella.

So Karl Jenkins has made a Christmas album. The collection of themes on this album consists of 21 songs, mostly originals composed by Mr. Jenkins and performed by the Adiemus Singers and the ensemble Tenebrae. I found the songs to be very pleasant, but nothing remarkable. There was nothing in this set that excited or inspired me the way the best Adiemus music did, or even the "Diamond Music" he made for a series of jewelry commercials a few years ago. The music is often rather beautiful and the musicians all do their jobs quite well (especially the trumpet soloist). The composer uses his trademark major-to-minor melody structure and familiar chorus harmonies throughout the set. Perhaps if I could see these songs performed live on a snowy Christmas Eve in an Old London theatre, with candles and all the decorations, and the singers decked out in traditional garb, the music might stand out for me. But just listening to them, it never really came to life.