John Tavener

For unaccompanied choir SAATTBB.This work was commissioned by Jonathan Manners and DeChorum who gave the first performance at the Cancer Research UK Carol Service at All Saints Church Weston-super-Mare on 20th December2010.Words by William Blake. John Tavener - A Cradle Song by musicroom

Latin Text-Missa Wellensis composed by John Tavener for unaccompanied double choir (SSAATTBB/SSAATTBB) was first performed on Sunday 18th May 2014 during the festival new music wells 74-14 by Wells CathedralChoir conducted by Matthew Owens. It was commissioned by Cathedral Commissions of Wells Cathedral.This setting of the missa brevis was written as a tribute to the Spanish Renaissance composer Victoria who inspiredTavener throughout his life. The final movement (Agnus Dei ) includes a quotation from Victoria’s O Vos Omnes from the Tenebrae Responsories.Duration: c. 13 minutes.

Tubular Bells Part-John Tavener's O Where Tell Me Where? was commissioned by The Bach Choir. It was first performed on 10th April 2014 at the Oriental Arts Centre Shanghai China by The Bach Choir conducted by DavidHill.This piece for SSSSAAAATTBB Choir and Tubular Bells is a meditation on three traditional Scottish songs: The Blue Bells Of Scotland My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose and The Skye Boat Song.

A Choral Suite in eight movements for SATB (multi divisi). The texts are taken from different sources including Chuang Tse an Acoman Indian and a poem written by a young Czech victim of Auschwitz.Scored for 4 Sopranos 3Altos 3 Tenors and 3 Basses (SSSSAAATTTBBB) a cappella.

The Whale written by John Tavener in 1968 as a documentary in music and spoken word was given its first performance by the London Sinfonietta and the London Sinfonietta Chorus conducted by David Atherton wit AnnaReynolds (mezzo-soprano) and Raimond Herinex (baritone) in the Queen Elizabeth Hall London on the 24th January 1968. For solo baritone solo mezzo-soprano speaker SATB chorus and orchestra.Large (A3) score. This is aspecial item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

This work for soprano solo and SATB chorus was commissioned by the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music.Tavener:'In the Orthodox Church the Lament of the Mother of God is normally sung on Holy and Great Friday. Inits full length it lasts about half and hour and it is intoned by the Priest or Bishop while the people venerate the Epitaphios (or Shroud of the Dead Christ) which is in the centre of the church and decorated withflowers.The Lament must be sung with an ikon-like stillness and great purity. It grows in intensity as it climbs in tessitura but without anything sudden or remotely melodramatic.For the Orthodox Church there is never thesense of absolute desolation felt by the Western Church on Good Friday. Hence the cry of the Mother of God 'Dost thou change my grief to gladness by thy Resurrection?' followed by the full forces: 'Rise O God and judge theearth.'Mother of God also features in the film Philomena starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan and directed by Stephen Frears.

A choral work commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral for the arrival of the Ecumenical Patriarch at Canterbury.This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

Commissioned by the BBC for the series 'Seeing Salvation'. For SATB Choir and Tibetan Temple Bowls.

This work for viola chorus and percussion was commissioned by the London Symphony Chorus and was first performed in October 1994 at the Barbican Hall London by Yuri Bashmet and the London Symphony Chorus conducted by StephenWestrop.The remarkable text of the Troparion written by the great Byzantine poetess-nun Cassiana was the inspiration of The Myrrh-Bearer. The text informed the architecture of the music. The viola solo represents MaryMagdalen as the cello solo represented the Mother of God on The Protecting Veil. This is where the resemblance between the two pieces ends.In The Myrrh-Bearer the Chorus symbolises ???us??? the ???sins of the world??? from???stylized dictatorships??? to ???the frivolous inane escapist vanities of the world ??? the to cries of ???help??? after the cosmic catastrophe and finally reaching an apocalyptic climax in the words ???We have no king by Caesar;??? adownright condemnation of God in the Earthly power.In a surreal way the Magdalen???s ???sin??? shines through in the viola music because she recognises the Godhead and the endless ???Kyrie eleison??? chanted by the semi-chorusrepresents her repentance and whatever is left of a ???repentant??? world.The Myrrh-Bearer explores the whole range of the viola climbing from the depths up to the highest notes and then falling again at the end after theMagdalen???s recognition of the Risen Christ ???Rabboni.???The last stroke of the gong in the viola???s final bottom C gives a deliberately ominous end to the piece.This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail ourMail Order Department for further information.

This work was commissioned by the Revd. Dr. Simon Jones for the Choir of Merton College Oxford. It was performed on 27th November 2010 at Merton College Oxford by the Choir of Merton College conducted by PeterPhilips.For unaccompanied SATB choir.

A work for unaccompanied SATB choir using text taken from various Byzantine sources pertaining to the Holy Spirit.This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

Two hymns written for unaccompanied choir by Tavener. The first is for SAATBBSAATBB double choir and is a setting of a text from the Liturgy of St. Basil. The second is for SSATBBB choir and comes from the Vigil Service of theDormition (or falling asleep) of the Mother of God. She invites the apostles to gather together from the ends of the earth to bury her body in Gethsemane and asks her son to receive the spirit.Two hymns to the Mother ofGod were first performed in December 1985 by the Choir of Winchester Cathedral conducted by Martin Neary. Mother of God also features in the film Philomena starring Judi Dench andSteve Coogan and directed by Stephen Frears.

Atma Mass was commissioned by Liverpool Cathedral for the Centenary of the Laying of the Foundation Stone. First performance on 18th July 2004 at the Centenary Eucharist by the choir of Liverpool Cathedral conducted byIan Tracey.

A setting of Tolstoy's Creed by John Tavener for SSAATTBB chorus and organ. First performance on 21st April 2013 in Washington National Cathedral by the City Choir of Washington conducted by RobertShafer.Duration: c. 4 minutes