0:00:09 > 0:00:13Karl Jenkins is undoubtedly a worldwide success
0:00:13 > 0:00:16and he's written for our times.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18He's done some wonderful compositions
0:00:18 > 0:00:21and I think it just appeals to people.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25There is something about Karl's music that touches
0:00:25 > 0:00:26a lot of people's hearts.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30His music is powerful
0:00:30 > 0:00:36because he's able to convey deep emotions that lie within all of us,
0:00:36 > 0:00:42and somehow resonate and communicate with people across a wide spectrum.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47It's very easy to write a piece of music that 40 people think is fantastic.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51It's very difficult to write a piece of music that
0:00:51 > 0:00:55holds onto its integrity, and holds onto its meaning,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and millions of people admire.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11Karl Jenkins is Britain's most successful and best-selling classical composer,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15with his music dominating the contemporary classical scene.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18But his route to classical acclaim has not been a traditional path
0:01:18 > 0:01:20and, although classically trained,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25it was as a jazz rock pioneer in the '70s and then the heyday of the '80s advertising boom
0:01:25 > 0:01:27where he first made his name.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Karl is without doubt the composer of our time.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Karl was born on the Gower.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43His father was Welsh, his mother half-Swedish.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48It was a musical upbringing in the small coastal village of Penclawdd.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Penclawdd is quite unique, I think.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Language-wise, it's a split village -
0:01:53 > 0:01:55English and Welsh are equally spoken, I believe.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57My family weren't Welsh-speaking.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01This is a photograph of my father in his concert gear.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Schoolteacher by profession, but a musician at weekends.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07There was always music in the house,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10either him playing, or LP - as they were then - albums.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13My grandmother was a cockle picker
0:02:13 > 0:02:17who used to go to Newport every weekend to sell cockles.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20She met my grandfather there who was a Swedish sailor,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23of a Swedish ship.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25And he stayed and they got married.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28He settled in South Wales and my mother was born.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32A photograph of my mother taken some years before I was born.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37In fact, we went to live in Sweden when I was very young because she had tuberculosis.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42It was thought that the air would be better for her there.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47So, in fact, I actually learnt Swedish before I learnt English,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50insomuch at that age, whatever you can learn at that age
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and, sadly, she died when I was four or five.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56These are my two Welsh grandparents.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59When my mother died, my father and I moved in with her
0:02:59 > 0:03:01and my widowed aunt Evelyn.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04So they kind of raised me, with my father.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08So I had a lot of kind of love and family atmosphere,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10family love, around me,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14so it was a happy childhood, despite the loss of my mother.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Karl's musical upbringing through his early years at Gowerton Grammar,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22and in the youth orchestras, were to cement his career in music.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Well, it was always by a process of elimination, I suppose, I ended up being a musician.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27I never thought about it too much.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I did music for O level and then it was one of three for A level
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and then I had to decide.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36It wasn't a decision and so it was, er,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40kind of predestined in a way, without being precious about it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I just did it and applied to University of Wales Cardiff,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Cardiff University, and went there.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Then later, after postgraduate, to the Royal Academy in London.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Although Karl and his wife Carol travel
0:03:55 > 0:03:57the world for appearances and performances,
0:03:57 > 0:04:02they split their time between their flat in London and their home on the Gower.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05I was living in a flat in Westbourne Grove
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and there was a Welsh trombone player in the flat below.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11He kept talking about this Karl Jenkins,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and he'd been on the radio doing jazz.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18So the first time I actually met him was on the stairs.
0:04:18 > 0:04:24He was very thin and had a white scarf wrapped several times around him,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26and he was a chain smoker then.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And I thought he was decidedly odd.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38The first actual big date was in Highgate Cemetery
0:04:38 > 0:04:41cos Karl's really big on cemeteries!
0:04:41 > 0:04:44And I can remember he was wearing this white suit,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and we were just walking amongst the graves, as if that was the norm.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52He had nothing, really.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56He didn't have a car, his jacket had fallen off the back of a lorry, I suppose.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Erm, but he was always very passionate about music.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05We've been together 38 years this year,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09and I've watched him as his career has got bigger and bigger,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and I think it really is all down to respect,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17because I respect and admire what he does enormously,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and I'm very involved in it.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23And he, in my own little way, he admires what I do,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26in the mostly educational music world.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Karl's musical style is impossible to categorise,
0:05:32 > 0:05:33but one who knows him,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37who has worked with him over the years whilst at Classic FM and EMI,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41is current chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union Roger Lewis.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I suppose I first encountered Karl in the '70s,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48with bands such as Nucleus and Soft Machine.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52But it wasn't until later years that I discovered that Karl
0:05:52 > 0:05:55was this Welshman from Gowerton, from Penclawdd,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59with this great passion for Wales and things Welsh,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02that was that member of that particular group.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15When I first heard them, I thought they were amazing.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I mean, we both had a classical education, musically,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20but Karl had gone off into the jazz area,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and I was absolutely in awe of these people,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25because I could never do what they do.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28I mean, I think you're born with that gift.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Different parts of music you can learn.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33You could almost learn to be a conductor, dare I say,
0:06:33 > 0:06:38but with jazz, you've either got it or you haven't.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53Without doubt, Karl is a musician who's got a huge, huge hunger
0:06:53 > 0:06:57for searching out new and different sounds.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02He is truly a creative musical anthropologist, I suppose.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And that's been shown throughout all of his work,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08and you could see those early roots
0:07:08 > 0:07:10in those jazz fusion days of the '70s.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22It was the next step in his career which took Karl even further away
0:07:22 > 0:07:25from a more traditional route to classical acclaim,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28and also signalled the beginning of his commercial classical success.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33It was here in the '80s boom of the ad world that Karl made a name for himself,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36revolutionising the future of TV commercials
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and working with one of the most successful ad agencies, Bartle Bogle Hegarty.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Although I work in advertising, I don't live in advertising.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51I want people who aren't going to write advertising music for me.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52I don't want that. I don't want a jingle.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I want a piece of music that people go,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57"Wow! I want to go back and listen to that again and again."
0:08:18 > 0:08:23Back in sort of '83, '84, we were working on some Levi's projects,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27and we'd written this sort of script about
0:08:27 > 0:08:31a guy smuggling jeans into the Soviet Union,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and what I wanted was a piece of Soviet music to start it with that,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38when it was revealed that it was Levi's he was smuggling in,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43it resolved itself into a modern piece of music.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56And sort of talking to Karl and listening to how he spoke,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59and how he talked about the music,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03I began to realise this man was classically trained.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And you sort of stand back slightly... "Ah.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09"I think he really knows what he's talking about, John.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10"Maybe you'd better..."
0:09:10 > 0:09:13So it was wonderful work and I love working with people like that.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Television commercials then were of a pretty high standard.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20I mean, very, what became iconic film directors worked in the medium,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24and I worked on films by people like Ridley Scott and Alan Parker.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27People like this were working in the genre, really.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29So I got used to discipline then,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33cos it had to be delivered on a certain day, by a certain time, and recorded.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35If it didn't, well, you didn't work.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37You didn't get paid and didn't work again.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Great creative people are ciphers.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56They absorb all the stuff around them.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00They absorb things and it comes out of them, in some shape or form.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03And I think that's what Karl has.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06He has this ability to sense what's going on around him
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and reinterpret it as a piece of music.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13And I think that's what makes great creative people.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Karl was making a name for himself
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and creating a new style of musical soundtrack for advertising campaigns.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33He was then approached to make a commercial for Delta Airlines.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37An album based on Delta Airlines theme Adiemus was then released
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and became an instant success,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43and resulted in more than 3 million album sales worldwide.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It introduced Karl to a new and appreciative audience,
0:10:46 > 0:10:47and captured the imagination
0:10:47 > 0:10:51of many of the world's top artists and performers.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56I think I first became aware of Karl's music really through television
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and I remember seeing Adiemus
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and this word coming up so many times
0:11:02 > 0:11:05I was thinking, "What is this? What is this?"
0:11:05 > 0:11:09And then I experienced sort of clips of the music,
0:11:09 > 0:11:14and I was so intrigued by that, that I then tried to find out
0:11:14 > 0:11:17where performances might be, where recordings may be and so on.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21And to discover that this music was written, in fact,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23by a British composer...
0:11:23 > 0:11:29And that was really when I first became aware of Karl's music
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and I was really, truly intrigued by that.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36There was just something about this piece
0:11:36 > 0:11:40that just simply planted that seed of curiosity.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43The first time that I heard Karl Jenkins's music was
0:11:43 > 0:11:48when I started travelling to America from Manchester Airport.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54I always used to use a certain airline which had Karl's Adiemus
0:11:54 > 0:11:57constantly playing whilst you were on the plane,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01boarding and when you arrived at different cities.
0:12:01 > 0:12:08And I was instantly interested and curious to who had composed
0:12:08 > 0:12:14such beautiful tones, beautiful melodies, very catchy melodies.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18In a way, the simplicity was magical
0:12:18 > 0:12:25and the almost childlike progression of certain harmonies was so magical and priceless
0:12:25 > 0:12:31that you found that that was a gift you were given forever more.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33The trouble is in our culture,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37when you put the word popular with creative,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40it somehow demeans it.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44And that, to me, is a great tragedy. It's a great shame.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48And there's a terrible, terrible snobbishness about that.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And I think the creative work I appreciate is work that
0:12:52 > 0:12:58has an integrity, it has a power and meaning to it, yet it's inclusive.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02And that's what we mean by popular. It is including people.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07And, actually, I challenge people to say that is actually the hardest thing to do.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11It's very easy to write a piece of music that 40 people think is fantastic.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17It's very difficult to write a piece of music that holds onto its integrity, holds onto its meaning,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20and millions of people admire.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22That's what's very difficult.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36People knock advertising but it's such a skill to conjure up
0:13:36 > 0:13:40a mood and a picture in, like, 30 seconds.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42There's a real craft in doing that.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45There is a feeling in the classical musical industry
0:13:45 > 0:13:47that if it sells, it can't be any good.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52And people can be very snobbish about film composers
0:13:52 > 0:13:57and people who've come to the more serious side of classical music
0:13:57 > 0:14:01from pop or jingles or whatever.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I think that it's very important to realise that, actually,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06there is no merit in that at all,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10because Shostakovich, for example, was a very eminent film writer,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Walton... I mean, many, many composers have written film music,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17and they are greatly regarded today.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20So anybody, any contemporary composer,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24who can actually find an audience gets my respect,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28not just for commercial reasons, but for creative ones, too.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30As to him starting off commercially,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33or starting off in the field hat he's in,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I don't think it makes very much difference.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40He created a piece of music and the commercial company took it up, so...
0:14:40 > 0:14:43I mean, I've been in things that were commercial as well.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It doesn't mean to say I was anything different than what I am,
0:14:46 > 0:14:47just a classical singer.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49And he's a lovely composer.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Karl's career path has since followed a more traditional route,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58but has never been predictable.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01His musical collaborations and classical compositions
0:15:01 > 0:15:04read like a Who's Who of the classical world,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07from Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to Julian Lloyd Webber.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11I think Karl has a gift which...
0:15:11 > 0:15:14People kind of think it's an easy gift,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17but he can write very catchy things.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20He can write things with hooks on them
0:15:20 > 0:15:23and people instantly remember it.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25And that sounds easy, but it isn't,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29and Karl definitely has that in spades.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33I think that making a connection and communicating with an audience
0:15:33 > 0:15:35is what it's all about, essentially.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38And many, nowadays, don't do that.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40They don't make an emotional connection,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43which is possibly why I'm not liked in certain circles,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47because I write accessible music that is emotional
0:15:47 > 0:15:48and does appeal to people.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52I mean, some critic said to me once that I was emotionally manipulative,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55which I think is quite a nice thing to say!
0:15:55 > 0:15:57I'm quite proud of that, actually.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01If I actually can, you know, make people's emotions change,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03cos that's what I do.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08So, yes, making a connection with an audience is crucially important.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26One of Karl's most highly acclaimed and most popular pieces is
0:16:26 > 0:16:28The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31With its haunting cello solo, Benedictus,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35it has made Karl the world's most-performed living composer.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39The idea behind the piece was they wanted a work,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41calling it A Mass For Peace,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44that told the story and the horrors of conflict,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48but which looked forward towards a better future for mankind in 2000,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51hoping for a century of peace and, of course,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55it hasn't kicked off too well, this last 10 years, cos nothing's changed.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07The piece is actually dedicated to the victims of Kosovo
0:17:07 > 0:17:11because when I was writing it in 1999 or whenever,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13just leading up to 2000,
0:17:13 > 0:17:18that was the Iraq or Afghanistan of the day, if you like.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24Erm, and one was constantly reminded of the horrors
0:17:24 > 0:17:28that were taking place in the Balkans.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30So I decided to dedicate it to
0:17:30 > 0:17:34the memory of the victims of that conflict.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41People respond to his music,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44whether they're grieving, whether they're happy.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47All different kinds of reasons and different emotions.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52And he has amazing letters and e-mails from people. I mean...
0:17:53 > 0:17:57It makes me want to cry, thinking about it, but, um,
0:17:57 > 0:18:03a lady whose mother was murdered tragically, Christmas Day,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and she found enormous solace in
0:18:06 > 0:18:10the Benedictus from The Armed Man, the mass,
0:18:10 > 0:18:16and she just kept playing it and felt strengthened by it, really.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19I remember I was standing in a record shop,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22when they used to have record shops,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and this little old lady came up to me and recognised me.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31And she said her husband had just died and she wanted...
0:18:31 > 0:18:35She was trying to find this beautiful cello piece with a choir,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37and did I know what it was?
0:18:37 > 0:18:39As soon as she said that, I knew what it was.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42And I think there is something about Karl's music
0:18:42 > 0:18:44that touches a lot of people's hearts.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47So that's why he's an international composer.
0:18:47 > 0:18:53It's a very difficult thing to write music which has a serious purpose
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and is trying to make a serious statement,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58especially on some very difficult subjects sometimes,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01if you think about the Balkan War, for example,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05and yet to make it something that can resonate very popularly with people
0:19:05 > 0:19:07because you need melody.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09You need something that is memorable.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12You need something that stays in the mind,
0:19:12 > 0:19:13and yet you also need something
0:19:13 > 0:19:16that is going to create a dynamic, energetic impact.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Very few people can do it and Karl is certainly one of them.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39The Armed Man, with its resonance and relevance to modern-day conflict,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43played a significant role in the tenth anniversary of 9/11,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46accompanied by the UK's largest choral society.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It was amazing coincidence that
0:19:49 > 0:19:54the piece I'm performing in New York, on 9/11,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace
0:19:57 > 0:20:02was actually released on the very day of 9/11.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07When we were thinking about what repertoire to schedule for this,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09the tenth anniversary, 9/11, New York,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13we knew that we wanted to have Karl involved.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16We've done so many of his different works
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that they all would have worked, but it was just...
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It's, again, difficult to put into words,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25but The Armed Man just rose to the surface immediately,
0:20:25 > 0:20:30because of the emotion, because of the ties to strife and war,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and how that leads to peace and hope.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35And that's what we're trying to do today.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39# A shroud that mushroomed out
0:20:39 > 0:20:46# And struck the dawn of the sky... #
0:20:51 > 0:20:54# Black, red, blue
0:20:54 > 0:21:01# Dance in the air... #
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I'm very emotional about it all.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10I haven't been able to sing one of the pieces without crying,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12to be honest. But I do...
0:21:12 > 0:21:15I think the horror of what happened,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19the number of people who died in the way they died,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and the number of people who were never found...
0:21:22 > 0:21:24I find it...heartbreaking,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26quite honestly.
0:21:28 > 0:21:38# Quivering like seaweed, the mass of flames spurts forward. #
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's such an honour to work with Karl Jenkins.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Karl is actually the most-performed living composer
0:21:49 > 0:21:52of serious music alive today.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55And we are delighted to be here.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58# The trumpet's loud clangour excites us to arms
0:21:58 > 0:22:00# Excites us to arms
0:22:00 > 0:22:02# Excites us to arms
0:22:02 > 0:22:06# The trumpet's loud clangour excites us to arms
0:22:06 > 0:22:07# Excites us to arms
0:22:07 > 0:22:09# Excites us to arms... #
0:22:09 > 0:22:14One audience member - she was nearly in tears, which was lovely.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17She had seen one of the Twin Towers come down, actually,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19from her flat ten years ago.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22So she had come to this performance,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25and she said she was really moved by it and thanked us, which was nice.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29It's been something to allow us to reflect and to, you know,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31remember where we were when it happened,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and I think the slogan 'never forget' is something
0:22:34 > 0:22:37that we should try to live by, not just for things like 9/11,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41but for other really big pillars of national and international significance
0:22:41 > 0:22:44for our countries as we grow, and then also as individuals,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47as we, you know, become better people because of the circumstances.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51It was a hugely moving experience.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55It was a full house and a huge reaction at the end,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59so it'll stay with me for ever, really, that whole experience.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04And being in New York at that period as well had a...
0:23:04 > 0:23:10not strange, but it had an emotional, tangible feel to it, you know,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13to the ambience and the atmosphere, really.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25At the moment, we're in Gower, where I live when I'm not in London,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28in my studio, which is where I work.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32But I work in London and I work wherever. I can work anywhere.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36All I need is my basic materials which, nowadays,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39comprise a keyboard and my laptop.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46It's beautiful here and it's kind of idyllic kind of area.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51But that actually has no bearing on what I write.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54As long as I have these basic tools, that's fine.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59I'm very disciplined, yeah, and I also don't believe in inspiration.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02It's a job of work in one sense.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07I rise very early, usually, 5 o'clock, and do a few hours.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11I rest in the afternoon and do a couple more hours,
0:24:11 > 0:24:12and then have the evening off.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15That's usually my daily pattern, but I find if you don't do it,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17it's no good kind of wandering around,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20waiting for the muse to hit, or whatever.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23You have to do it. And the more you do it, the easier it gets, you know.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28It's like anything else creative. You have good days and bad days.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30So the good days are kind of...
0:24:30 > 0:24:36Progress is, is...kind of rapid, I suppose. You can work quickly.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And then the other days - it takes longer.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54From the land of storytellers,
0:24:54 > 0:24:59this is a story of the land itself and of the peoples who've shaped it.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05One of Karl's major projects for 2012 was composing the title music
0:25:05 > 0:25:08for the landmark BBC Wales series, The Story Of Wales.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14SOARING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
0:25:29 > 0:25:33What we want more than anything is a music which is epic in its sweep,
0:25:33 > 0:25:39which is powerful and which conveys, if you like, an arc of Welsh history.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44That 30,000 years compressed into six hours. You need that sense of power.
0:25:44 > 0:25:45Who are you going to turn to?
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Well, there is only one person, in my view, that you turn to.
0:25:48 > 0:25:49That is Karl.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Because he has the knack of making music that is popular
0:25:53 > 0:25:59but is also epic and significant in a statement he tries to make.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17The brief was it had to have slightly epic,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20convey the panorama of countryside
0:26:20 > 0:26:25and in particular Welsh countryside, I suppose.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29So I had to come up with a theme that had those qualities.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33I'm happy to say that they liked what I presented.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42What he's come up with something that is both beautiful and majestic,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44fits the bill exactly.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47And, key thing, very memorable.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52Music has always taken centre stage in the Jenkins household,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54so it was a thriving environment for Carol and Karl
0:26:54 > 0:26:56to bring up their son, Jody,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59who would also go on to forge his own career
0:26:59 > 0:27:01in the music industry as a percussionist
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and also a successful composer for film and television.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Take a seat.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08I'll play you some stuff.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11It was natural our son,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15he inherited whatever genes we have in that direction.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17He was a very successful percussionist,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19won a scholarship at the Royal Academy,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23and then changed to composition. He's now writing film music.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Growing up in the Jenkins household
0:27:25 > 0:27:30was certainly very musically orientated.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35I started having piano lessons at a very young age,
0:27:35 > 0:27:36three or four with my mother.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38It wasn't so much that I was always practising,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41it's just that music was always around the house.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45I certainly remember being a lazy teenager in bed and being able
0:27:45 > 0:27:49to hear two pianos being thumped downstairs in different rooms.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52One from each of my two parent composers.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56He has a similar outlook to me in many ways in that he also
0:27:56 > 0:28:00doesn't put music in categories or compartments, as does Carol,
0:28:00 > 0:28:01my wife is exactly the same.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04We've a very broad outlook on different musical styles
0:28:04 > 0:28:09and genres and appreciate music in different spheres, really.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13We wrote a children's opera together, which was a nightmare.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Divorce was imminent because it took three months of me saying,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19"Well, I'm not changing the words."
0:28:19 > 0:28:21And he'd say, "I'm not changing the music."
0:28:21 > 0:28:24But if you mentioned that to him now
0:28:24 > 0:28:27he wouldn't recollect that it was difficult at all.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And even Jody, I was writing some piano music one day
0:28:30 > 0:28:34and he heard one bar and said, "I don't like that bar, mum."
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Of course I said, "What do you mean you don't like that bar?"
0:28:37 > 0:28:40But of course I did change it.
0:28:40 > 0:28:46So the three of us, we listen to what the other person is saying.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Looking back, I suppose it was quite inevitable,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55but I certainly wasn't pushed into music.
0:28:55 > 0:28:56It was just that it was always around me
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and always around the house.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I think I was made to feel that it was a worthwhile thing
0:29:02 > 0:29:05to pursue at a hobby or amateur level.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08And the passion just grew from there really.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Professionally, we've worked on many great things together.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Perhaps less so now, but early on I contributed lots of percussion
0:29:15 > 0:29:18and production work to some of Adiemus project
0:29:18 > 0:29:20and some of his other albums.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22It was very gratifying.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25It was a pleasure to work with him in that way.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30We still do the occasional thing together. It's a lot of fun.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32And perhaps it's Karl's experience of collaborating
0:29:32 > 0:29:35with his closest family which may have contributed
0:29:35 > 0:29:38to the way others feel about working with him.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42He's a very quiet man. You don't have any flying saucers.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46There is not a sort of firework display at every corner.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50He's just very unassuming and very quiet.
0:29:50 > 0:29:57He's not mad, he's not eccentric I don't think. He's not a fireball.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02But he quietly does this wonderful music.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05He is very easy to work with.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09He's very charming and his family are wonderful, too.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12As for waiting an atomic bomb to go off every day,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14it just doesn't happen.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19But the stuff is all in his music, that's where it should be.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25I want to work more with Karl. He's a very astute composer.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30He's a gentleman, he's a scholar, he's very quiet.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32But yet when he has something to say to you,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35especially in the recording department when he's producing,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39he tells you what should be said.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43He has no qualms about saying, "You were flat, you were sharp,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46"you were behind the beat, you were in front of the beat."
0:30:46 > 0:30:49And the collaboration, that's what music is all about,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51people working together.
0:30:57 > 0:31:04MUSIC: FANFARA from THE PEACEMAKERS
0:31:04 > 0:31:07In 2012, a major new work by Karl, The Peacemakers,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10achieved another major commercial success
0:31:10 > 0:31:14by going straight in at number one to the UK classical charts.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19CHOIR SINGS 'FANFARA' FROM THE PEACEMAKERS
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The text is drawn from iconic peacemakers
0:31:22 > 0:31:27like Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Dalai Lama.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Even Terry Waite has contributed some text.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33I met Karl at the Eisteddfod.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38We were chatting together and he said to me,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40what are you doing now?
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I said, "I'm writing a new book, and I'm writing a book of poetry."
0:31:45 > 0:31:53Now that, his ears pricked up. He said, "Oh, that's very interesting.
0:31:53 > 0:32:00"I'm currently writing a work on peace. Are you interested in that?"
0:32:00 > 0:32:03I said I was very interested in it. I said, "I'd love to hear it."
0:32:03 > 0:32:05He said, "Would you like to contribute towards it?"
0:32:05 > 0:32:09We've got works in there from people far greater than myself,
0:32:09 > 0:32:14from Ghandi, Desmond Tutu, or whoever, Mother Teresa.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16I said, "I don't think I'm their scale
0:32:16 > 0:32:19"but I'll try and write something for you."
0:32:19 > 0:32:24# Peace is the fragile meeting
0:32:24 > 0:32:30# Of two souls in harmony
0:32:40 > 0:32:45# Peace is an embrace
0:32:45 > 0:32:52# That protects and heals
0:32:52 > 0:33:00I went away, wrote a small piece on peace and sent it off to him.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03And then I heard no more for a while.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08Then he came back and said, "It's been recorded,
0:33:08 > 0:33:10"it's been sung by a soprano.
0:33:10 > 0:33:17"The orchestra have now put the whole work together."
0:33:17 > 0:33:22Honestly, I felt so honoured by that.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28# I offer you peace, I offer you love
0:33:28 > 0:33:33# I offer you, offer you friendship
0:33:33 > 0:33:39# I see your beauty
0:33:39 > 0:33:45# I hear your need
0:33:45 > 0:33:52# I feel your feelings
0:33:52 > 0:33:57# My wisdom flows from the highest source
0:33:57 > 0:34:02# I salute that source in you... #
0:34:02 > 0:34:06I'm not a pacifist in the sense I think some wars are justified,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11like the Second World War when Europe was defended by Britain and the Allies.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16But I don't think what's recently been happening in Iraq and elsewhere is justified.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19That's my general view on it.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23But I suppose people logically would welcome peace,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26so in that sense it was important to me.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28But I wasn't on any kind of crusade.
0:34:34 > 0:34:41Karl is a remarkable man. He is remarkably modest.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44He's a great humanitarian.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48And humanitarians have a way of expressing themselves
0:34:48 > 0:34:50through words, through actions.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Karl expresses his humanitarian understanding through music.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58And his music is powerful
0:34:58 > 0:35:04because he's able to convey deep emotions that lie within all of us.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09And somehow resonate and communicate with people across a wide spectrum.
0:35:09 > 0:35:18SWEEPING VIOLIN MUSIC
0:35:25 > 0:35:31I feel that Karl's music has gained such commercial success because first of all,
0:35:31 > 0:35:36it is completely appropriate to be performed in a live performance
0:35:36 > 0:35:41or as part of a television advert or as part of film music.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45For music to be so adaptable, someone like Bach's music, JS Bach,
0:35:45 > 0:35:50he could do that, and we're doing that with his music today.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52I feel that with Karl's music,
0:35:52 > 0:35:58it will still be around for decades to come, for centuries to come.
0:35:58 > 0:36:07CHOIR SINGS SOFTLY
0:36:16 > 0:36:24CHOIR BUILDS TO CRESCENDO
0:36:30 > 0:36:35To have the experience of seeing the man who actually composed the music.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39If you saw Haydn conducting his own music,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41it's the same sort of experience.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44So that's what I'm looking forward to.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47It's his music, he's interpreting it the way he wants to interpret it.
0:36:47 > 0:36:55SOARING CHORAL MUSIC
0:36:57 > 0:36:59I feel very proud of him.
0:36:59 > 0:37:05He's a true Welshman and he is the future of classical music.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07He writes for our times.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11He writes specific music that people can react to.
0:37:11 > 0:37:18I think that's why people react to his music, and long may it continue.
0:37:18 > 0:37:26FLUTE PLAYS PEACEFULLY
0:37:34 > 0:37:37Many contemporary composers find it quite a struggle
0:37:37 > 0:37:43during their lifetime, but I think he will be remembered through his music.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48I think that he has already left a legacy which is very distinguished.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52The exciting thing is that there's a lot more to come.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56He's certainly not going to give up... Till he pops off.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Till he pops his clogs he'll be writing dots.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02I'm trying to write ideas that live beyond the borders
0:38:02 > 0:38:05of advertising but actually enter into popular culture.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08And I want to work with people who can do that as well.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11That's what, for me, Karl was able to create.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15For me, he's a composer, he's a musician.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18What kind of musician, what sort of composer?
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I don't know, but he communicates right there.
0:38:22 > 0:38:23He touches the very depths in people.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28Now, how that happens and why that happens, I don't know.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Some music floats over the top of you.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36You hear it and you don't necessarily, it doesn't touch you.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40You can't listen to Karl's music without being touched by it.
0:38:40 > 0:38:46That is a quality that he has, and all I can say is it's a gift.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd