6 LIVES OF JACK MCBRIDE

"Commissioned by Charles Putnam and the IHS Meir Rimon Foundation, based on an old Gaelic theme from the Orkney Islands. Flipping through an encyclopaedia or perusing at a bookstore, one's eyes pass by dozens of pictures and titles of the most dramatic events in history. If one allows his eyes however to halt haphazardly and focus on the subject on which it lands, he may become instantaneously captivated by the pictures or words before him. He is for a moment transported to the time and location of the story. From Admiral Peary's conquest of the North Pole, or the slaying of Captain Cook by the Hawaiians, to the Battle of Hastings, every recorded event in history from all over the globe is at one's fingertips. It is indeed the closest we can get to time travel. The idea to write a work which deals with the notion of global-historical time travel has always fascinated the composer. To find, however, a musical medium in which to portray this concept can prove to be difficult. After reading about and viewing televised documentaries on the phenomena of reincarnation and the practice of hypnotizing individuals for the purpose of 'going back' to possible previous lives, the composer thought that this might be the best scenario in which to set the piece. We have at once a recurring, consistent character (the person being hypnotized) in Jack McBride, who being of Gaelic descent, is given an old Gaelic theme. He then gives a first-hand account of his six previous lives, which happen to be the times and places that fascinate the composer the most. The six lives in the character of Jack McBride: 1. Auschwitz - During World War II approximately 4 million people, mostly Polish Jews, were dragged from their families and homes and sent on trains to Oswiecim, the site of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. Jack McBride was among them. 2. 1850 - The great expanse of the western plains, stretching from Canada to Texas. The early settlers of this wild terrain built their farms on vast stretches of land, sometimes several days' ride from another human being. On certain Sundays the settlers from all over central Texas would come together at the church and after the service and business discussion, they would dine together and enjoy one another's fellowship. Jack McBride remembers. 3. In April, 1789, the crew of the trade ship Bounty was forced to mutiny against their captain, the notorious lieutenant Bligh. Aware of their crime against the British Crown, they sought out a remote uncharted island, where they set fire to the ship and lived out the rest of their lives. On the ship's register - Thomas Hampton, boatswain. 4. In 981, Erik the Red set sail from Iceland to explore and settle the land he called Greenland ('he said people would be much more tempted to come there if it had an attractive name.') Most of these settlers established themselves in Julianehaab (The Eastern Settlements). Because of the increasingly poor conditions, the settlers were eventually cut off from the rest of Europe. Archaeological evidence of grave finds reveals a grim story of progressive deterioration in this hardy Norse colony. It is unlikely that any of them survived into the sixteenth century. 5. According to Matthew 4:25 in the Holy Bible, 'Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan' met on a mountainside and listened to Jesus Christ preach his message to the world. A voice from somewhere deep in the past of Jack McBride's transmigrations gives an account. 6. The year 72 AD. On the eastern edge of the Judean desert, on the brim of the Dead Sea fault, 15,000 Roman soldiers laid siege to the fortress citadel of Masada, which had been occupied by the Zealots for two years. Because of its position high on a four-sided cliff, the Romans could not succeed in capturing the city. After enslaving people from the surrounding settlements (including other Zealots), they forced them to build a giant ramp up to the fortress. When they finally arrived at the top, the Romans discovered to their horror that the occupants of Masada, some 967, had committed mass suicide. This is witnessed through the eyes of one of the Roman soldiers. This piece has, over the years, become one of Kerry Turner's best loved and most frequently performed works." - Kerry Turner

• Texas on a Sunday
• The Bounty
• Greenland
• Sermon on the Mount
• Massada

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