John Tavener: The Protecting Veil; Thrinos / Benjamin Britten: Third Suite for Cello, op. 87_音乐专辑
John Tavener: The Protecting Veil; Thrinos / Benjamin Britten: Third Suite for Cello, op. 87
表演者: John TavenerLondon Symphony Orchestra/Steven Isserlis/Gennady Rozhdestvensky/Benjamin Britten/John Tavener
专辑类型: 专辑
介质: CD
发行时间: 2001-02-27
唱片数: 1
出版者: Virgin Classics
专辑简介
This was the first recording of John Tavener's phenomenally successful "Protecting Veil," which made him something of a household name (once again in his career) through the world premiere at the BBC Proms, 1989. The work has provoked both acclaim and controversy amongst contemporary composers and music networks, but it remains one of the prime choices of all Tavener devotees, as well as attracting him new listeners year by year as they discover through it a remarkably expressive yet calm sound world.
At the time he wrote it, Tavener had been an Orthodox Convert for barely a decade. His choral music of the time shows that he had absorbed the ethos of Russian and Greek Orthodox music and blended it with certain traits of his earlier, modernist leanings (particularly fundamental traits of serial composition, such as note-rows in inversion and retrograde). He also appeared determined at the time that his music would only consist of vocal writing - hence it took a telephone call from Steven Isserlis, virtuosic 'cellist and lover of Russian music, to convince Tavener to try writing something for instruments rather than voices. Isserlis expected a concerto of some description; what he got was a 40-minute meditation for 'cello and string orchestra in which his solo part is unceasing, representing as it does the Voice of the Mother of God. With the orchestra as an atmospheric backdrop, the 'cello solo winds its way through various chants and melodies pertaining to the Orthodox Feast of the Protecting Veil, which commemorates a vision of the Mother of God during an ancient war - a vision that mysteriously enabled an otherwise outmatched army to defeat their enemy. Tavener turns this, as with all his work, into a musical ikon - scene upon scene of austerely pure and stylised music, very simple and very meditative. There are those who have described the work, and the first movement in particular, as music that they could listen to all day; indeed, one review of the premiere stated that it was "radiant." Others have complained that the music lacks argument or interest, which Steven Isserlis once countered by saying that attendance of a Russian Orthodox Service would shed much light on Tavener's music, composed within Orthodox tradition. Whatever one's personal views on the work are, however, there is no denying that this recording captures it very powerfully: Isserlis plays the demanding solo with exactly the right levels of ecstacy and sobriety, and he is ably supported by the LSO under Gennady Rozhdestvensky (who has conducted other Tavener premieres to notable acclaim).
The remainder of the programme is for unaccompanied 'cello. Britten's Third Suite, written very near the end of his life, is a surprising partner for "The Protecting Veil" - it is a gritty piece, suggesting the emotions of one who is weary of life and yet rejoices in all that it has had to offer. And, like the Tavener (albeit much more subtly), it quotes Russian chant as part of the musical material used to build it up. It is certainly more demanding on the player and on the listener, but in Isserlis it finds a worthy interpreter: his rendition, as with the Tavener, is spell-binding. The disc closes with another Tavener work: "Thrinos" evokes another Orthodox tradition, a lament sung over the dead in the family home before burial. This is even calmer than "The Protecting Veil," and Isserlis plays it with dignity, signing off the disc very beautifully indeed.----By Mark Swinton
曲目
1. The Protecting Veil
2. The Nativity of the mother of God
3. The Annunciation
4. The Incarnation
5. The Lament of the Mother of God at the Cross
6. The Resurrection
7. The Dormition
8. The Protecting Veil
9. Introduzione: Lento
10. Marcia: Allegro
11. Canto: Con moto
12. Dialogo: Allegretto
13. Fuga: Andante Espressivo
14. Moto perpetuo: Presto
15. Passacaglia: Lento solenne
16. Mournful Song (Under the Little Apple Tree): Molto semplice
17. Autumn: Vivace
18. Street Song (The Grey Eagle): Pesante
19. Grant repose together with the saints: Lento
