 2010 | “As One Who Has Slept, the earliest work here, represents Tavener's most musically ascetic period, which, by 1996 was drawing to a close. The mesmeric use of dronelike chords behind and beyond the melodic lines reassures and comforts the listener during this portrait of Christ's harrowing of hell. He soon returned to a warmer palette and a wider range of techniques. In Birthday Sleep and The BridalChamber (1999) hymn-like tunes still predominate, but the voices move more independently, the harmonies are richer.
The 2001 setting of Yeats's The Second Coming is full of skilfully realised, dramatically startling gestures, but the mood is quizzical where it should describe fear-threaded apprehension, bombastic where it should be aghast with dismay.
Finally, a group of pieces completed in 2003. In Butterfly Dreams, a set of miniatures, form and content are better matched. Parts of SchuonHymnen, especially the writing for solo soprano (a glittering, heart-lifting performance by Amy Haworth) suggests music from 1950s sci-fi films: as with those films, it's easy to see how the effects are achieved, yet somehow the magic survives. Exhortation and Kohima achieves a Tudoresque splendour, while Shûnya adds elements of Buddhist ritual to the mix.” |
