[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Michael Reckord (Jamaica Gleaner) experiences on the Marley Symphony, which premiered at The College Chapel, Mona (Kingston, Jamaica).
What occurs when Christian meets Rastafarian? For many years in Jamaica there was hostility, violence and even demise.
However when Jon Williams, a dedicated Christian and a musician, encountered Bob Marley, an avowed Rastaman and a musician, it was the widespread part, the music, not the variations, that turned the main target of Williams’ consideration. The end result has been the magnificent Marley Symphony, which noticed its world premiere at The College Chapel, Mona, final Saturday night time.
If the enthusiastic reception given the almost 25-minute-long work is something to guage by, the symphony, like the remainder of Marley’s music, will obtain worldwide acclaim. The standing ovation lasted a number of minutes and was each bit as loud because the symphony’s closing fanfare.
Admittedly, the applause might need been for the night’s programme as an entire, together with the expert efficiency of the 40-strong Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica (POJ), performed by Franklin E Halliburton. There was rather more to the night than the symphony.
Among the many 11 principal objects, there was the Suite of Jamaican Songs for Viola and Piano, a 20-minute work composed and carried out by Williams and his son Jovani. It additionally had its premiere on Saturday night time and likewise received a lot applause.
Different objects within the splendidly wealthy programme had been the opening five-minute evocative composition Waterfalls & Pebbles by Paulette Bellamy; a percussion-filled excerpt from the Nyabinghi Symphony by Andrew Marshall; Sinfonietta No 1, Xaymaca 1494 (about Columbus arriving in Jamaica) by Theodor Alardo Runcie; Two Songs for Soprano by Peter Ashbourne, and likewise his variation for a string quartet of O’er Our Blue Mountains; and an emotional singing of the Nationwide Pledge by a mixed colleges choir. The phrases are by Victor S Reid and the association by Halliburton.
All these, besides the Suite of Jamaican Songs, had been within the first half. The second half, which ended with the Marley Symphony, additionally included the merry, energetic Festivities from Run A Boat Symphony; a hilarious, Jamaica-oriented re-writing of My Favorite Issues from The Sound of Music, sung by Ellan Neil, and Ashbourne’s Jamaican People Medley for Voice and Orchestra (sung by Neil, with the POJ accompanying her). [. . .]
The creation of the symphony demonstrated the saying, “the longest journey begins with one step”, for Williams had no grand work in thoughts when he agreed to a request from Freddie McGregor a decade in the past that he present an orchestral opening merchandise for McGregor’s live performance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The comparatively easy association of Marley’s Exodus and Redemption Music – chosen, Williams mentioned, due to Marley’s in style enchantment – was so effectively obtained that he re-worked it a bit and provided it to The Jamaica Youth Orchestra who requested him for a composition for orchestra for its launch some years later. [. . .]
For full article, see https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/leisure/20230522/magic-marleys-music-leads-symphony
For extra details about the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica’s tenth Anniversary Symphonic Celebration, held on the College of the West Indies Chapel in Kingston, Could 20-21, 2023, see https://www.fb.com/PhilharmonicOrchestraOfJamaica.