Best Tavener
Song for Athene is a short unaccompanied choral work composed by John Tavener in 1993, with words assembled by Mother Thekla from Orthodox liturgical texts and passages from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Tavener wrote it in memory of Athene Hariades, a family friend who had died in an accident. Its recurrin...
The Protecting Veil is a large-scale work for solo cello and string orchestra by British composer John Tavener, completed in 1988 and first performed in 1989. Inspired by the Eastern Orthodox feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, it uses sustained lines, resonant harmonies, and a prominent c...
Svyati is a short sacred work composed by John Tavener in 1994 for unaccompanied choir and solo cello. Its text draws on the Orthodox Trisagion, whose repeated Church Slavonic invocation begins with the word meaning "Holy." The cello functions as a distinct, chant-like voice against sustained choral...
Akathist of Thanksgiving is a large-scale sacred composition by the British composer John Tavener, written in the late 1980s for vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra. It sets an Orthodox Christian hymn of gratitude traditionally associated with the Russian priest Gregory Petrov and unfolds through a...
Song for Athene is a choral elegy by British composer John Tavener, written in 1993 in memory of Athene Hariades. It combines words drawn from Shakespeare's Hamlet with phrases from the Orthodox funeral service, assembled by Mother Thekla, and is typically performed by an unaccompanied choir over a...
