Composer: Sir John Tavener
Performer: Polyphony
Conductor: Stephen Layton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67475
Release: 2004
Size: 260 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Birthday Sleep (1999)
Butterfly Dreams
02. a. Butterfly Dreams Based on Chuang Tse
03. b. Haiku by Kokku
04. c. Haiku by Buson
05. d. Haiku by Issa
06. e. Haiku, Anon.
07. f. The Butterfly by Pavel Friedmann
08. g. Butterfly Song by Acoman Indian
09. h. Butterfly Dreams Based on Chuang Tse
10. The Second Coming (2001)
11. Tavener, Anonymous: Schuon Hymnen (2003)
12. As One Who Has Slept (1996)
13. The Bridal Chamber (1999)
14. Exhortation and Kohima (2003)
15. Shûnya (2003)
Hyperions Record of the Month for September brings us some astonishingly fresh new compositions from Sir John Tavener. Moving away from the Greek Orthodox rites which have infused so much of his recent output, Taveners inspiration now embraces the metaphysicalin both text and musical responsewith remarkable results. The Second Coming, for example, sets words by W B Yeats in an outpouring of expectation and drama. The three newest worksButterfly Dreams, Schuon Hymnen and Shnya, all written in 2003are representative of a new phase in Taveners work which has reached its climax thus far in the seven-hour-long Veil of the Temple (to be performed under Stephen Layton at this years BBC Proms). Butterfly Dreams may initially appear to be a secular work, yet the composer himself regards it as sacred, butterflies in this context being seen as symbols and even vehicles for the sacred. Schuon Hymnen, setting the words of Sufi sheikh, artist and metaphysician Frithjof Schuon, is a mantra-like Hymn to the Virgin, while Shnyawritten for Stephen Laytonis an extended meditation on the Buddhist ideal of emptiness (shnya); minimal influence from Western tonality here visits the world of Tibetan monks, the sonic halo of the temple bowl (a kind of gong) invoking an ecstatic evocation of eternity. As one who has slept, an Easter anthem and the earliest work on this disc, comes from the end of that compositional phase which saw such Tavener favourites as the Song for Athene (performed at Princess Dianas funeral), and itself deserves to become a part of the core repertory. With no fewer than six premire recordings, this disc is essential listening.