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Review: 'TAVENER, JOHN'
'The Protecting Veil'   

-  Label: 'Bella Union Records'
-  Genre: 'Ambient' -  Release Date: '19th April 2014'

Our Rating:
To mark this year's Record Store Day, Tavener's eight part composition for cello and strings is being made available for the first time on vinyl.

This 45 minute work was commissioned by the BBC for the 1989 Proms season and was released three years later with Steven Isserlis on cello accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra (The CD also included Benjamin Britten's Third Suite for Cello, and Thrinos (Lament) a short work for solo cello composed by Tavener in 1990 to commemorate the death of a close friend).

Each section of The Protecting Veil is based on an 'icon' in the life of the Virgin Mary. It was inspired by a vision of the Virgin in the Church at Vlacherni, Constantinople in the early 10th Century. The fact that Tavener converted to the Russian Othodox Church reflects his deep commitment to this story.

The cello plays almost continuously and there is no dramatic development in the formal sense. Instead the sections, for the most part, follow cycles of calm, meditative flow in keeping with the spiritual and metaphysical themes.

Violins largely match the cello's reflective tones, only occasionally bursting forth to provide a harsh contrast to the generally peaceful, even mournful, atmosphere.

The two and half minute section, The Resurrection, marks the most dramatic moment with frenetic strings striking a celebratory note.

The work ends, as it began with a mood of peace and serenity.

Tavener, who died last year, followed his own musical path. Although instrumental pieces represented only a small part of his life's work, The Protecting Veil is rightly hailed as his masterpiece. You don't have to be religious to be profoundly moved by this sublime music.

In his book The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross wrote that the popularity of Tavener's work, alongside like-minded composers such as Henryk Górecki and Arvo Pärt, can be explained by the fact that they "provided cases of repose in a technologically oversaturated culture".

The need for music fulfilling this role is even greater now than when this remarkable work was composed a quarter of a century ago.
  author: Martin Raybould

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TAVENER, JOHN - The Protecting Veil