Scottish Ensemble - Tavener: Tears of the Angels - Classic FM Magazine

Is John Tavener's bubble about to burst? I don't think so, because his best works are so strong that they must be immune to the side-effects of the, nowadays, relentless attention of record companies. Even so, confronted with yet another all Tavener disc, it's hard not to wonder whether overkill is about to start deflecting listeners' appetites away from the riches of Tavener's music. 

I hope not, and if it does I hope it happens after you've heard John Tavener: Tears for the Angels. Tavener being naturally prolific, is also naturally uneven, and I can't see My Gaze Is Ever Upon You for solo violin and tape winning converts: this is a musical frieze in which just not enough of interest happens. The album's title work, with Clio Gould's solo violin trilling ecstatically and beautifully above the strings of the Scottish Ensemble, is much more impressive. But the best of the three is ...Depart in Peace. Scored for soprano (Patricia Rozario), violin, tampura (a sort of lute played with a bow) and strings, this setting in Greek of the Nunc Dimittis remarkably combines exotic oriental scales and drones, and a structure that's both simple and striking.

Tavener at his best.