Karl Jenkins was born in 1944 in a small village on the Gower Peninsula of Wales. His parents were Swedish and Welsh. His career has embraced several forms of musical crossing over, and his has played in rock, jazz, commercial, and classical music.

The Palladio Suite is for string orchestra. It is a three movement piece lasting fifteen minutes, and is a tribute to the 16th Century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. This leading figure of the renaissance developed a theory of mathematical harmony from measurements of the ratios of the great structures of classical antiquity. Jenkins feels that this sort of attention to mathematical proportionality is central to his own approach to composition.

The music itself is relatively light, with brilliant string flourishes recalling the Baroque era. It is in the form of a concerto grosso with a solo group of four violins. When Jenkins was engaged to write music for a world-wide commercial campaign by DeBeers Consolidated he adapted the music of the first movement of this suite, and this became one of the most famous pieces of music even used in commercials: The famous "Shadows" series of "A Diamond is Forever" spots.

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