Local navigation

Sir John Tavener

Biography

Born 1944
Tavener first came to public attention in 1968 when his avant-garde oratorio The Whale was premiered at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta. As the years progressed his music became increasingly spiritual in conception, contemplative in its idiom, and popular with audiences worldwide. In 1977 he joined the Orthodox Church which was a major inspiration on his work for the following two decades. From the late 1990s his religious interests diversified and his music embraced many different traditions: Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the spirituality of the American Indians.

Cradle Song
This new work by Sir John Taverner is the one of his first compositions completed since he fell seriously ill in December 2007. The piece, which sets words from William Blake's Songs of Innocence, is dedicated to Tavener's young son Orlando, just as his most famous choral work, The Lamb, another setting of Blake, was dedicated to his young nephew. Tavener's music is dominated by his devout Orthodox belief, characterised musically through sustained chords and minimalistic textures. Both Sir John Tavener and his son Orlando were present at this BBC Singers recording.

More like this: Edmund Rubbra - The Virgin's Cradle Song
Like Tavener, Edmund Rubbra, a composer whose symphonies were highly acclaimed in the interwar years and after, creates an unsettlingly-bare effect in his carol The Virgin's Cradle Song. Both composers create a subdued tone through static melodic lines and non-traditional harmonies.

Due to the adverse weather conditions, the premiere of this carol - which was to be given on Monday 20 December by DeChorum conducted by Jonathan Manners - has had to be cancelled. This BBC Singers' broadcast will therefore be both the performance and broadcast premiere.
More Carols