Tavener, Mother of God Here I Stand

Sir John Tavener (1944-2013) composed mostly choral music informed by Orthodox Christianity. He converted to Orthodoxy in 1977. While he remained firmly rooted in Orthodoxy, he was also drawn to other Eastern traditions and assimilated some of those styles into his music.

Mother of God Here I Stand is part of a much larger work, The Veil of the Temple, which premiered in 2003 and was described by Tavener as “the supreme achievement of my life.” The entire work consists of eight cycles, each successively more complex, and takes over seven hours to perform. Although the work has this overall formal complexity, Tavener’s writing impresses the listener with its simplicity and transparency. The composer John Rutter remarked that Tavener had the rare gift of being able to “bring an audience to a deep silence.”

Tavener gained some early attention through an unlikely route. His brother was doing work on Ringo Starr’s house and managed to get the Beatles interested in his 1966 cantata The Whale, based on the story of Jonah. It was recorded by Apple Records in 1970. His A Celtic Requiem was subsequently released on the label.

The composer was interviewed in Simon Russell Beale’s BBC series on sacred music. That segment can currently be found here. Beale, a prominent actor, is also a musician, a former chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and does a good job of highlighting significant aspects of the music.