Robert Newman
Banned
John Tavener (b.1944)
Perhaps the most famous English composer for voices today is Sir John Tavener. Remarkably, Tavener attended the same London school as a child as the well known vocal composer John Rutter. One of Tavener's most popular and frequently performed works is this short unaccompanied four-part choral setting of 18th century poet William Blake written in 1982, ’The Lamb’. This simple, homophonic piece is usually performed as a Christmas carol.
It has been reported in the British press, that Tavener left Orthodox Christianity to explore a number of other different religious traditions, including Hinduism and Islam and became a follower of mystic philosopher Frithjof Schuon. While he has in recent years incorporated elements of non-Western music into his compositions, Tavener remains an Orthodox Christian though his brother, Roger, tended towards Sufi. In 2003 he composed the exceptionally large work The Veil of the Temple based on texts from a number of religions. It is set for four choirs, several orchestras and soloists and lasts at least seven hours. The 2004 premier of his piece 'Prayer of the Heart' written for and performed by Bjork, was featured on CD and incorporated as the soundtrack to Jake Lever's powerful installation 'Centre and Circumference' (2008, Wallspace, All Hallows on the Wall, City of London ).
Tavener's early music was greatly influenced by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, often invoking the sound world of the Requiem Canticles and A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer. Later prominent works include The Akathist of Thanksgiving (1987), The Protecting Veil, and 'Song for Athene' (1993) memorably performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. Following Diana's death he also composed and dedicated to her memory the piece ‘Eternity's Sunrise‘, again based on poetry by William Blake.
His recent music is more sparse, uses wide registrar space and is usually diatonically tonal. Some see a similarity with works of the Estonian composer Paart , from their common religious tradition to the technical details of phrase lengths, diatonicism and colouristic percussion effects, though the similarities between their outputs are quite superficial.Olivier Messiaen has also been suggested as a strong influence on his earlier work.
John Tavener - (b.1944)
4 Part Choir
'The Lamb' (1982)
(using words of William Blake)
The King’s Singers
http://www.mediafire.com/?glchazye3zz
