Holy Minimalist

It's easy to give John Tavener a bit of a kicking. Eccentric ( some might say affected ) persona, relatively successful in terms of contemporary classical music and so open to jealousy from his peers, writes almost exclusively on a religious theme but is then magpie like in his allegiance to any doctrine. And I certainly wouldn't claim to be a big time supporter. Having said that, I do have a couple of cd's of his music and enjoy them both. This one has as the main item The Protecting Veil for cello and orchestra with a makeweight of In Alium for soprano, tape and orchestra. The performers are the Ulster Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa with Maria Kliegel on cello and the soprano Eileen Hulse. The Protecting Veil is mainly a long solo lament for cello with only occasional pointed orchestral interjections. It portrays the story of Christ from his mother's viewpoint and weaves a convincing atmosphere. Certain segments sound a little oriental in influence and it is a hard sustained play for the cellist, not flashy but concentrated. The elctronic tape work in the soprano piece is a field that Tavener seems to have abandoned but here it creates an interesting sonic effect.