Karl Jenkins’s latest composition, Gloria, premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 11 July 2010 by The Really Big Chorus, with the English Festival Orchestra and student vocal soloists conducted by Brian Kay, is performed here in its first studio recording, taken the following day. It is paired with Jenkins’s Te Deum featuring the composer conducting the National Youth Chorus of Great Britain and the London Symphony Orchestra with soloist Hayley Westenra.

Hayley says: "I first came across Karl's work when I was still living in New Zealand. This led me to recording "Benedictus" for my first international album "Pure" seven years ago. For many people it soon became the stand out track and I performed it live for my PBS Special U.S. TV show. Karl's work is so rewarding to sing as he writes such dynamic and beautiful melodies for the voice, and I jumped at the chance to not only perform his music again, but to actually record his Gloria with Karl himself directing."

Gloria is the first commission by The Really Big Chorus (TRBC), Britain’s largest choral society, which is made up of singers from hundreds of different choirs all over the UK, as well as thousands of individuals.

Jenkins’s Gloria is in five movements and takes as its main text the Latin version of the hymn of praise to God from the traditional Christian Mass.

Jenkins says: “Gloria in excelsis Deo (Latin for Glory to God in the highest) is the title and opening line of an ancient hymn that begins with the words that the angels sang when the birth of Christ was announced to shepherds in Luke 2:14. Other verses were subsequently added; the Latin translation from the original Greek is thought to date from the fourth century CE. In its present form the text forms a part of the Mass. In addition to its inclusion in innumerable mass settings the Gloria has been set, in isolation, by many composers such as Handel, Vivaldi and Poulenc.

“In my setting of the Gloria the traditional Latin text is set in the first, second and fifth movements, these being entitled The Proclamation, The Prayer and The Exaltation. Further to this I have extended the parameters by incorporating additional text in two further movements: movement III, The Psalm sets Psalm 150 in Hebrew, and movement IV, The Song, is my own adaptation in English of Deuteronomy 32:2, Psalm 144:9 and 1 Chronicles 13:8.
“In between movements, I have selected readings from various ancient religions, each expressing their own concept of the divine or a deity. The detachment of Buddhism, and the paradoxes of Taoism are both alternative ways of perceiving ultimate reality, and they therefore stand as a kind of counterpoint to the Abrahamic religions:
     - Hinduism: In Sanskrit, a section from the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Blessed Lord), the classic Hindu scripture.
     - Buddhism: Also in Sanskrit, the last section of the Diamond Sutra, the text in the world's oldest dated printed book.
     - Taoism: In Chinese, the opening lines of the main Taoist scripture, the Tao Te Ching (The Classic of the Way and Virtue).
     - Islam. In Arabic, the beginning of the Qur'an, the section known as Al Fatiha (The Opening), recited in Muslim daily prayers.”

The second work on the studio album is Jenkins’s Te Deum, composed in 2008. Sometimes known as the Ambrosian Hymn, the Te Deum is an early Christian Latin text praising God. The title is taken from the opening line, Te Deum laudamus, which translates as We praise you, O God. The text has been set to music by many composers, including Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Bruckner, Dvorák, Britten, Byrd, Tallis Purcell, Handel and Elgar. After the premiere of Karl Jenkins’s Te Deum in Liverpool, the Liverpool Echo described it as “a joyous, theatrical piece of music.”

Contents:
Gloria
1. I. The Proclamation: Gloria in excelsis Deo
2. Reading from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita
(The Song of the Blessed Lord)
3. II. The Prayer: Laudamus te
4. Reading from the Buddhist Diamond Sutra (Sanskrit_Prakit)
5. III. The Psalm: Tehellim – Psalm 150
6 Reading from the Taoist Tao Te Ching (The Classic of the Way and Virtue) (Chinese)
7. IV. The Song: I’ll make music *
8. Reading from the Qur’an: ‘Al Fatiha’ (The Opening) (Arabic)
9. V. The Exaltation: Domine Deus

Te Deum
10. Te Deum laudamus
11. Te ergo quaesumus
12. Aeterna fac
13. Miserere nostril
14. Te Deum laudamus (reprise)