John Tavener

Cantus Mysticus was commissioned by The Foundation for the Cuenca Religious Music Week. First performance on 22nd March 2005 as part of the XLIV Cuenca Religious Music Week by Joan Enric Lluna (clarinet) Patricia Rozario(soprano) and the Madrid Community Orchestra conducted by the composer. The composer writes: Cantus Mysticus sets a text by Goethe concerned with the Eternal Feminine: Das ewig Weibliche sichuns hinan (TheEternal Woman draws us upwards). Many of my recent works have been concerned with meditation on the Creative Feminine which according to esoteric metaphysics reveals the 'child of the soul' and thus God. The slow contemplativeand very intense opening of Cantus Mysticus leads gradually towards a 'still centre' with much use of 'silence'. This is followed by an ecstatic celebration of the Divine Feminine the Virgine Madre of Dante and Christianity theMaha Maya of Hinduism and Maha Prajavati of Buddhism. The Jazz-style passages for clarinet express Lîla or Divine Play. Cantus Mysticus is scored for B flat clarinet soprano and strings (violins and cellos only).