Late report of 22nd Sep concert. The performance was the international premiere of Karl Jenkins' new work called The Universe performed by the Symphony Orchestra of India and Living Voice choral group of Mumbai, conducted by the composer himself.
The opening movement "Infinity" was, I guess, trying to convey the Big Bang, which is very much in keeping with the theme of The Universe.
The first few notes of the first movement were totally chaotic, with all the musicians standing up and playing in the dark with just spotlights on. Thankfully this cacophony was short. This is probably a portrayal of the chaotic beginning that we know as the Big Bang, which the mainstream scientific community would have us know is where everything in this universe began. Reminds one of the sudden and impactful beginning of the Dies Irae movement in Verdi's Requiem. I'm highly inclined to believe that that's the inspiration to the beginning of the first movement (which isn't a bad thing at all when one wants scale and impact). Startling, and sure brought in lots of excitement and anticipation for what was to follow in the remaining 13 movements. But the first "dissonant" note was felt when the trombones made their presence felt right after the surprise intro. Trombones are never known to be subtle and together with the bass drum and tympani, and sonically they literally overwhelmed everything else on the stage. This portended the many raucous movements that followed.
I can't remember the names of all the 14 movements but they had names like Infinity, Flying Stars, Sky Dancing, Earth, Baikonour, Moon Walk, via lactea (the Milky Way), Song of Tears, Dies Irae, The Universe, etc.
A few of the movements had very sophisticated and tuneful melodies. Maestro Jenkins surely understands playing around with scales. I thought some of them were fanciful, wild rides discovering what chord combinations could possibly work without venturing into the discordant territory (
a la Prokofiev).
In trying to be too impactful to convey a sense of scale, the big bass drum and the tympani were given too much importance and prominence.
Today in our seat (row 9, bang in the sweet spot) the big drums completely drowned the string section and pretty much everything else except the three trombones which were equally and obnoxiously loud; and to make things worse the trombones had lots of parts. I strained to hear the strings, the cellos and even the upright bass sections. The lone harpist might as well have been granted a leave of absence - she was so not heard! The only instruments that could be heard over the din were the bamboo flute (yes, you heard that right), the percussionists with their cymbals, triangles, etc. Almost equally jarring to my ears as the bass drum and tympani was the drum kit. I agree that it had a place in anchoring the waltzy cadence of a movement like Sky Dance but in most other movements it stood out as being out of place.
Living Voice the choral group from Mumbai was very good. The two vocal soloists didn't really solo. I wish they did. I've never heard an Indian soprano or a mezzo.
Maestro Karl Jenkins looked like he was suffering from early onset of rigor mortis. He could surely have displayed a bit more enthusiasm
Now, what if Living Voice were to perform the Verdi Requiem with the SOI? Considering their performance last night, it's not such a fanciful idea!