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9007
Sir John Tavener
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Sir John Tavener's setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
was written at the request of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
in 1977, the same year in which he was received into the
Orthodox Church. Tavener observed at the time "I am
no musicologist, and am therefore steeped in Russian Orthodox
liturgical music. I strongly dislike the sentimental nineteenth
century harmonizations of Russian chant, so I decided to
avoid "traditional" music altogether and compose
and pray a Liturgy of my own". The result of this approach
was a setting in large part monophonic, based on various
permutations of a five-note cell, and sharing something
of the sound world of earlier works by Tavener standing
outside the Orthodox tradition, such as the Requiem for
Father Malachy (1973), which itself was a breath of fresh
air after the monumental Ultimas Ritos of a year earlier.
Russian music does indeed not play a large role in Tavener's
Liturgy, with two exceptions: the Creed, which clearly refers
to the traditional Russian style of "recitative"
settings of the text: and the final "Mnogaya leta".
Apart from this, one might perhaps detect glimpses of Greek
chant in the drone and ornaments of "O Only begotten
Son" and in the "Hosanna" of the Anaphora.
The Cherubic Hymn employs a remarkable canon in three parts,
as far as I am aware unique in settings of this text, and
a reminder of the experimental nature of the setting as
a whole. The Panikhida is also experimental, but, dating
as it does from 1986, shows the profound effect that long
acquaintance with Orthodox worship and liturgical music
had meanwhile had upon his music. It was written in memory
of the composer's mother, who died in 1985, and of Charlotte
Long, an eighteen-year |
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| N |
TRACK NAME |
LENGTH |
| 1 |
Initial Blessing and Great Litany |
4'06 |
| 2 |
First antiphon - Bless the Lord, O my soul and Little
Litany |
2'32 |
| 3 |
Second antiphon - Praise the Lord O my soul and
O Onfy-begotten Son |
2'40 |
| 4 |
Third antiphon - The Beatitudes |
3'12 |
| 5 |
The Little Entrance |
1'06 |
| 6 |
The Trisagion |
2'15 |
| 7 |
The Epistle (Philippians 4:4-7) |
1'19 |
| 8 |
Alleluia with verses and the Gospel (Matthew 7:7-11)
|
2'39 |
| 9 |
Litany of Fervent Supplication |
3'38 |
| 10 |
The Great Entrance - Cherubic Hymn |
2'42 |
| 11 |
The Peace and the Creed |
2'50 |
| 12 |
Anaphora - Mercy of Peace - We hymn Thee, we bless
Thee - The Lord's Prayer and Elevation |
9'59 |
| 13 |
The Communion: Blessed is He that cometh in the
Name of the Lord and Receive ye the Body of Christ
We have seen the true Light and Let our mouths be
filled with Thy praise
|
3'39 |
| 14 |
Litany of Thanksgiving and Prayer before the Ambo
- Blessed be the Name of the Lord |
3'51 |
| 15 |
The Dismissal |
2'08 |
| 16 |
Opening blessing and Litany |
3'26 |
| 17 |
Alleluia and verses - Blessed are those whom Thou
hast taken, O Lord |
0'54 |
| 18 |
Troparia and refrain - Blessed art Thou, O Lord,
teach me Thy statutes |
4'35 |
| 19 |
Refrains and Irmos - Give rest, O Lord and Forasmuch
as I behold the sea of life |
1'32 |
| 20 |
Kontakion and Ikos for the Departed: With the Saints
give rest |
2'02 |
| 21 |
Trisagion prayers and The Lord's Prayer |
2'31 |
| 22 |
Final troparia: With the spirits of the righteous |
2'16 |
| 23 |
Litany |
2'28 |
| 24 |
Conclusion |
2'39 |
| 25 |
Apolytikion for St. Nicholas |
1'59 |
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old actress who was tragically lolled in
a car accident. The Panikhida (the orthodox office for the
dead, for "those who have fallen asleep in the Lord")
is celebrated liturgically in the centre of the church,
in front of a movable stand upon which are placed a dish
of koliva (boiled wheat mixed with honey) and a lighted
taper, symbolic of burial and resurrection. Censing continues
almost throughout the service.
Though Tavener's is the first setting to be made in English,
(hence the composer's own description of it as "experimental"),
it is in fact closely related to the traditional Russian
sacred repertoire. This relationship is evident in the entire
musical ethos of the setting, founded upon the basic Russian
tone system and written in a simple, declamatory, chordal
style. Chant in fact pervades Tavener's music (see for example
the irmos of the sixth canticle of the Canon, "With
Thy Saints Î Christ"), but the result is a combination
of the spirit of chant with Tavener's own music to the point
at which the one is indistinguishable from the other. The
composer requests that the music be sung "with great
stillness, sobriety and tenderness, like a 'sacred lullaby'...the
music must flow out of a profound stillness, and be sung
prayerfully, with thought of the great calm in the Kingdom
to come, with great sobriety and dignity".
Artistes
Clive Wearing is one of London's leading choral
conductors and has an enviable reputation in the field of
contemporary music as chorus master of the London Sinfonietta,
and in music of the Renaissance as director of the London
Lassus Ensemble. He appears frequently at the Queen Elizabeth
Hall, for the BBC and at festivals in England and abroad.
He has collaborated with Sir John Tavener in the creation
of several works including the Requiem for Father Malachy
(which is dedicated to him), the opera Thereseand the Liturgy
of St. John Chrysostom.
He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge and was senior
tenor lay clerk at Westminster Cathedral, London. He has
now retired due to ill health.
Roderick Earle was born in 1952. He began singing
as a chorister in Winchester Cathedral, and later, as an
undergraduate, held a Choral Scholarship at St. John's College,
Cambridge (famous for its wide repertoire of western church
music). He is now a leading concert singer.
Europe Singers of London were founded by Clive Wearing in
1968 and specialise in music of the 17th, 18th and 20th
centuries. They have appeared frequently in productions
for the London Opera Centre, and their performances of vespers
music by Monteverdi have won great critical acclaim. Europa
Singers gave the first performance of Sir John Tavener's
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom at the Russian Cathedral
in London in November, 1977.
Ivan Moody was born in London in 1964. His largest
works to date are the oratorio Passion & Resurrection
and the Akathistos Hymn. He has been active as a conductor
with various groups, concentrating particularly on Orthodox
Church music from various traditions.
Kastalsky Chamber Choir
Soprano: Patricia Forbes, Sarah Langdon, Janice Waight and
Susan Winnicott
Alto: Francis Knights and Nicholas Mitchell
Tenor: Edward Hands, Peter Mitchell and Ivan Sharpe
Bass: Edward Longstaff, Christopher Vigar, Julian Walker*
and Graham Wood
The Kastalsky Chamber Choir is named after the Russian composer
Alexander Dmitrievich Kastalsky (1856-1926), who led a new
and progressive movement in Russian Church music, and was
director of the Moscow Synodal School. The choir specializes
in the performance of Eastern Orthodox sacred music.
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