Richly endowed with musical qualities, Richard Hickox was a great champion of neglected music in general, and of British music in particular. His sudden death in November 2008 robbed the world of a most vital, industrious, and energizing musician, whose discographical legacy remains a treasure trove of the record catalogue. With the Richard Hickox Legacy Chandos wishes to express their gratitude to and appreciation of this great musical artist. This two-disc set of choral works by Sir John Tavener forms part of the new and ongoing Richard Hickox Legacy series on Chandos, leading up to the fifth anniversary of the conductor’s death in November 2013. The three works in this Tavener set reflect two major influences on the composer’s music: the culture of Greece, and the tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church. In the words of Tavener himself: ‘In everything I do, I aspire to the sacred… music is a form of prayer, a mystery.’

SWR2 New Talent is a promotion and support programme of the broadcasting station SWR aiming to help exceptional young talents to launch their career.

Tavener’s cello concerto “The Protecting Veil” is a deeply spiritual instrumental piece that puts the life and work of the Virgin Mary to music. It was premiered at the BBC Proms in 1989 with cellist Steven Isserlis, for whom Tavener had written the concerto. At the time Tavener wrote the composition he was 45 years old and had already converted to Orthodox Christian faith whose mysticism appealed to him. In “The Protecting Veil” he refers to a special type of Orthodox icon: to Maria Pokrov, the Mother of God with the protecting veil.

In John Tavener’s numerous vocal works mythical and spiritual topics play a major role. Since the 1980s the British composer has been mainly focussing on sacred choral music. One of the most important works of this creative period is “Svyati”, a composition for 12 voices and cello from 1995. The choir sings in ecclesiastical Slavonic*, a traditional liturgical language that is partly still used in the Orthodox Church.

Since 2021 the cellist Lionel Martin has been the “SWR2 New Talent”. For three years the broadcasting corporation Sudwestrundfunk is promoting him through concerts, studio productions and media presence. In 2017 Anne-Sophie Mutter accepted Lionel Martin for her foundation of young, exceptional musicians. Since then he has repeatedly performed with her on stage and has been on tour together with her and her scholarship holders throughout Europe, North and South America – there he played in big concert halls, but also for social projects in churches and old people’s homes.

SIR JOHN TAVENER: TOWARDS SILENCESIR JOHN TAVENER (B. 1944) MEDICI STRING QUARTET; FINZI STRING QUARTET; CAVALERI STRING QUARTET; FIFTH QUADRANT (5Q): SIMON HEWITT JONES, TOBY TRANASEUR, VILINS; DREW BALCH, VIOLA; JONATHAN BLOXHAM, CELLO; LOUISA GOLDEN, TIBETAN SINGING BOWL SIR JOHN TAVENER: TOWARDS SILENCEFOR 4 STRING QUARTETS AND LARGE TIBETAN BOWL

“I regard The Veil of the Temple as the supreme achievement of my life and the most important work that I have ever composed.” -- Sir John Tavener

Signum Records re-releases the landmark recording of Sir John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple. This 2-CD set captures the concert version of this 8-hour work, composed to last through the night until dawn in the manner of the grand vigils of the Orthodox Church. Combining the psalms of a number of different religious traditions, Tavener skillfully blends together a work that is truly all-encompassing in its scale and spiritual fervor. Originally released on RCA, 2003.

This release explores the works of British composer John Taverner (1944-2013). Taverner is particularly noted for his output of religious music. His "The Protecting Veil" was recorded by Steven Isserlis and became a best selling album, and his "Song for Athene" was performed at the funeral of Princess Diana. Matthew Owens is the Organist and Master of the Choristers of Wells Cathedral. Owens is responsible for the choral tradition of daily worship at Wells Cathedral, and has also toured widely and recorded extensively with the Choir. In 2011, the Choir was named by a Gramophone international jury as the best choir in the world with children, and the sixth best overall. This release features multiple world-premiere recordings, most of which were commissioned especially for the choir. Among these are the "Preces and Responses" as well as "They Are All Gone into the World of Light".

Sir John Tavener describes the Lament for Jerusalem as a mystical love song. The Lament brings together Christian, Judaic, and Islamic texts and is sung in Greek and English. The musical structure is that of a lattice whose proportions are carefully designed so that the listener is invited to focus on key points of the text which are themselves supported by transcendental melodic, harmonic, and textural devices. The simplicity of the work's form and it's logical progression through a series of seven linked, self-referential tableaux allow the Lament to grow in power and beauty during it's course. The American composer Steve Reich has described some of his own music as purveying 'a kind of dynamic stasis' and that aptly sums up the effect of Tavener's Lament for Jerusalem. The Lament is rooted in grim tradition, yet it looks longingly into the future to a time when beatific vision is restored, and, as in much of the very greatest art, form and content are inseparable.

World Premiere Recording
includes interview with John Tavener 10:45

"Gorgeous, mystical music with the power to entrance. Sir John Taverner, a follower of the Greek Orthodox faith, writes simple, repetitive compositions that embody the spiritual essence of prayer. . . Slowing down – sitting or lying in silence by candlelight would be ideal – is essential to experience Tavener's reverential universe. This is a universe that is always with us, Tavener's music suggests, if we are only willing to align ourselves and tune in. . . Captured in demonstration quality 24–bit HDCD sound by Prof. Keith Johnson, this world premiere recording is an extraordinary achievement." – Jason Serinus, Bay Area Reporter 11/27/03

"The recording, a world premiere of this piece, is beyond reproach. Individual instruments are distinct and float in space. By his own words, Tavener recommends that the piece be played in a resonant acoustic. He could have not asked for a better place. The voices echo slightly off of the walls and ceiling creating an even more metaphysical feeling. I don't think I've heard a better piece to test your soundstage. There is little else I can provide. Tavener says Ikon of Eros is "humbly offered to those who have ears to hear." I suggest you take him up on it." — Bill Brooks, 12/03, Soundstage.com

Chosen by Andrew Quint of The Absolute Sound magazine as one of the ten best classical releases of 2003.

TAVENER Ex Maria virgine. Birthday Sleep. O Do Not Move. A Nativity. Marienhymne. O Thou Gentle Light. Angels • Timothy Brown, dir; Clare College Cambridge Ch • NAXOS 8.572168 (63:46 Text and Translation)


Two of the selections are first recordings: Ex Maria virgine , the major work at 38 minutes, and Marienhymne . The other works are not widely available, for Birthday Sleep was recorded by Stephen Layton (28:4), A Nativity by Matthew Greenall (not issued over here), and Angels by David Hill (23: 2). I cannot find the first recordings of the other two pieces.


Marienhymne is sung in German, while O Thou Gentle Light is sung in Greek (the ancient hymn Phos hiláron , which Dom Lucien David also set as a neo-Gregorian chant). The earliest work on the program, Angels , dates from 1985.


The major work is a setting of nine age-old texts in Latin or English separated by a refrain, “Ex Maria virgine,” the first movement being repeated at the end. One movement has a Greek refrain, the original of “hail, Mary,” but the first word is pronounced “kay-ray” rather than “ky-ruh.” The composer has a devoted following, so these accomplished performances will delight them.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber

John Tavener describes his music as resembling ‘ikons in sound’ – a window on to the Divine world. On the album, the London-based ensemble known as The Choir sing a program devoted to Tavener's hauntingly beautiful a cappella choral music..

"The power of the performances is overwhelming and the credit goes to James Whitbourn and his vocal ensemble The Choir" - The Organ.

“Transcendent With Awesome Majesty”. John Tavener wrote these words above the opening cello notes of The Protecting Veil, immediately communicating the scale of this universal, timeless, structurally perfect and emotionally powerful work. In the composer’s words “The cello represents The Mother of God and never stops singing”. Indeed, the cello sings without stopping for the entire 46 minutes of the piece, requiring huge mental and physical stamina. Matthew Barley leads Sinfonietta Riga in this exploration of Tavener’s musical works and inspirations, interspersing performances with readings of WB Yeats and Frithjof Schuon by renowned actors Julie Christie and Olwyn Fouéré. The influence Tavener drew from Indian music in The Protecting Veil is also explored further in Barley’s performance with tabla player Sukhvinder ‘Pinky’ Singh in The Song of Separation and Waiting by Pandit Sultan Khan. Matthew Barley is known internationally as a cellist, improviser, arranger, music animateur, and as Artistic Director of Between The Notes. His musical world is focused on projects that connect people in different ways, blurring the boundaries that never really existed between genres and people.

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REVIEW:

Matthew Barley offers a magnificent performance of the title work, the premiere of which raised the composer to worldwide fame. He has absolutely unerstood that intimacy is what underlies this large-scaled piece. This beautifully and originally framed version is unreservedly recommended, even if you own other recordings of the work.

– Gramophone

John Tavener studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Sir Lennox Berkeley and David Lumsdaine. In 1968 his dramatic cantata The Whale took it's audience by storm and led to his music being recorded on The Beatles' Apple label. Since that time Tavener has continued to show an originality of concept and an intensely personal idiom, making his a voice quite separate from those of his contemporaries. Over the years, the contemplative side of his nature has led him in more spiritual directions and his commitment to the Russian Orthodox Church, which he joined in 1977, is now evident in all his work. In an interview published in his recent book The Music of Silence, Sir John Tavener wrote. "If you listen to the music of the East, somehow the divine is already there. It is - which is a parallel with the eternal 'I am."' What this means in practical terms is that Tavener, in aiming at writing music suitable to convey the theology and the spirituality of the Orthodox Church, to participate in some way in that "eternal 'I am"', creates music of what one might call "dynamic stasis". In other words, the long phrases of eastern chant (of various traditions), the harmonic transparency and the stillness of his work runs counter to what the composer sees as the more "active" spirit of western sacred music; nevertheless, Tavener's western background inevitably and naturally plays it's part, and the unique sound of the fusion of these two is characteristic of all of the works on this disc.