To be sure, if John Tavener’s reputation were to rest solely on his unaccompanied choral music and nothing else, then his stature as one of the most striking and original composers working today would be little diminished. Much of Tavener’s creativity is founded on the traditions of his Orthodox faith and of Orthodox chant, and yet curiously, intentionally or unintentionally, he has also, through works such as those presented here, extended the tradition of English choral music. Through their popularity The Lamb, The Tiger and Song for Athene have become immovably imbedded in our choral tradition, but one need only listen to the splendid Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, for instance, to find a unique symbiosis of Eastern and Western traditions at work.
Many of the works presented on this CD have enjoyed wide circulation on numerous Tavener-only and compilation discs, but the performances here from the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, under the direction of Christopher Robinson, have much to recommend them and, of course, Naxos’s super-budget price makes this issue all the more desirable, especially for those seeking a survey of Tavener’s choral music for the first time. The inclusion of Svyati for solo cello and choir, with its echoes of The Protecting Veil, enhances the disc’s desirability even more, and opens a window onto Tavener’s more overtly Eastern/ Orthodox-inspired music. Tim Hugh’s serenely beautiful account of the solo cello part is worth the price of the disc alone, but it’s a winner from beginning to end, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to devotees and newcomers alike. The recording, made in St John’s College Chapel, is resplendently atmospheric.'