Adiemus V – Vocalise

Description

On Vocalise, the fifth instalment in his Adiemus series, composer Karl Jenkins presents his first discernable lyrics (an invocation sung in English on “The Protector”) and his first arrangements, quite eclectic, of classical repertoire (imagine a movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony recast as a tango). We also experience brief encounters with jazz guitar (from Martin Taylor), improvisational saxophone Nigel Hitchcock), Middle East incantations, and even backwater harmonica.
It is indeed a jumble, and at times Vocalise (i.e., “wordless song”) evokes impressions of intermingled jigsaw puzzles where an abundance of pieces never quite coalesce into a whole. Jenkins’ most distinctive audio element, his exuberant African choir singing in a non-literal phonetic language, is again on display and is best appreciated in small doses (vocalist Miriam Stockley, a centrepiece of early Adiemus works, does not take part). Jenkins’ most affecting pieces on this CD are among its quietest: the slow-building “Bendigedig” (“blessed” in Welsh, Jenkins’ native tongue) and the title track, a reverent reworking of a Rachmaninov composition of the same name. Even with all its stylistic side trips, at 68 minutes fans should be able to cherry-pick enough highlights (such as the breezy frolic of “Schubert’s Dance”) to find contentment with this disc. –Terry Wood, store