'Yankee Doodle' with variations is the most concise way to describe the piece commissioned by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra to commemorate Conneticut's participation in The United States Bicentennial. 'Yankee Doodle' a tune dating back to the Middle Ages in Holland and England (and used by the British as early as 1755 to poke fun at untrained American troops in the French and Indian war) is interwoven with other folk and national melodies to stitch a patchwork or a musical collage. It is a personal view of American history.'To explain my approach to They All Sang Yankee Doodle I must explain my own background because the piece is made up ofmusical memories imprinted from early childhood.My earliest musical memories are a juxtaposition of sounds - hymns and Bach chorales from the church next door where my mother was choir director; early twenties jazz from my oldest brother's dance band; classical piano from my middle brother and my mother's piano studio; and cowboy songs and turn-of-the-century ballads that I have always identified with my father. Concord California where I was born was once part of a land grant from the Mexican government and the Spanish-Mexican influence remained strong even as the town expanded from a sleepy settlement into an American microcosmos with a wide variety of ethnic groups. Over fifty years ago most of us who sang 'Yankee Doodle' in Concord could not trace our ancestry to the founding fathers. Those of us with Anglo-Saxon names were at the end of the Westward push our forefathers having left behind the Eastern cities a few generations before settling for a time mid-continent then restlessly pushing further West. Little is known of my paternal grandfather for instance except that he had come to California from Indiana walking across Nevada desert to become one of the first settlers in Mordoc Indian territory.Of course the native American the Indian was there to greet each new migration and it is his

Par JENKINS KARL. One World deals with a fractured world (populist governments, plagues, climate change, human trafficking, disrespect for basic human rights, terrorism, war) and heralds a vision of a peaceful and egalitarian planet. The work is best encapsulated by one of the texts set: ‘Tikkun Olam’, Hebrew for ‘repair the world’, a Jewish concept of stewardship over God’s creation. Scored for soloists, chorus and orchestra in Jenkins’s inimitable style familiar from such works as Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Requiem and The Peacemakers. His vision for One World takes inspiration from diverse texts including the Bible, the Hindu Gayatri Mantra, the poetry of the English Romantic Percy Bysshe Shelley, African-American abolitionist Frances Harper (c1850) and Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran. As in many of Jenkins’s works, Carol Barratt contributes impactful text and adaptations. Recorded on Decca by Lucy Crowe soprano, Kathryn Rudge mezzo-soprano, Roderick Williams baritone, the World Choir for Peace, The Stay At Home Choir and the World Orchestra for Peace, conducted by Karl Jenkins. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / SMezBar, Choir et Orchestre