Best Of Tavener (Including Song for Athene & The Protecting Veil)

• The Funeral Ikos (or 'Funeral litany') dates from 1981 and is a radiant setting of words from the Greek funeral
sentences for the burial of priests. Its extreme stylistic simplicity allows the listener to immerse himself in the
beauty of the text.

• The Lamb, one of Tavener's most frequently performed choral works, is a setting of the familiar poem from
William Blake's Songs of Innocence.

• Two Hymns to the Mother of God (1985) was written in memory of the composer's mother.

• In 1987 Tavener wrote The Protecting Veil for cello and strings in response to a request from cellist Steven
Isserlis. The subject is the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, spreading her mantle over all Christians. The
work is inspired by a Feast Day in the Orthodox Liturgy celebrating a vision of Mary that was seen in a church in
Constantinople in the 10th century when the city was threatened by a Saracen invasion.

• Angels (1985) is a setting for choir and organ of a text by Keith Walker, and was composed for the unveiling of a
stained-glass window by the British mystical painter Cecil Collins. The piece reveals Tavener's mastery at
producing maximum effect by a minimum of means; bright organ tremolos conveying the Byzantine doctrin of
Angels.

• The Lament of the Mother of God for soprano and unaccompanied choir dates from 1988 and is an adaptation
of the sequence of the same name from Tavener's three-hour-long choral work Resurrection, which he
completed in 1990.

• The 'Collegium regale' setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (1986) combines Eastern and Western
elements. Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge commissioned the work. With the Dean's encouragement, Tavener interpolated the refrain 'Greater in honour than the cherubim' from the Orthodox Matins version of the Magnificat, thus adding richness to the Anglican rite.

• God is with us was completed in 1987 and, like The Lamb, has become one of Tavener's most popular pieces.

• The Song for Athene was written in memory of Athene Hariades, the daughter of a close friend, who died
tragically in March 1993; the text is from Shakespeare's Hamlet and from the Orthodox vigil service. The work
came to wider notice when it was sung as the recessional music for the funeral service of Diana, Princess of
Wales on 6 September 1997 in Westminster Abbey.