Tuesday 19 June, 7.30pm
Westminster Cathedral
Sir John Tavener has turned to Islam for his major new work,The Beautiful Names. Commissioned by HRH The Prince Of Wales, this work will be given its world premiere performance in June.
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus
Jiří Bĕlohlávek conductor
John Mark Ainsley tenor
Westminster Cathedral Choir
The Beautiful Names sets the 99 names for Allah as culled from the Qu’ran, sung in Arabic. ‘Inspiration for the piece came to me as a vision,’ says Tavener, ‘and the music just came to me immediately I saw the Arabic word’. He has worked closely with the Arabist Michael Macdonald to ensure correct pronunciation and stress - ‘the sound actually does help create the music’.
The 70-minute work is divided into eleven groups of nine ‘tonal zones’ and the start of each new section is prefaced by a magisterial calling out of Allah. Making his strongest reference yet to Islam, Tavener also calls upon Sufism, Hinduism and Buddhism in his choice of structure, instrumentation and tonality.
Tickets: £24, £20, £16, £12, £8
Barbican Box Office: 020 7638 8891
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