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Tavener - Eternity’s Sunrise | Harmonia Mundi HMU907231

Tavener - Eternity’s Sunrise

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Cat No: HMU907231

Barcode: 0093046723125

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 1st April 1999

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Contents

Artists

Patricia Rozario (soprano)
Julia Gooding (soprano)
George Mosely (baritone)
Andrew Manze (violin)
Academy of Ancient Music Choir and Orchestra

Conductor

Paul Goodwin

Works

Tavener, John

Eternity's Sunrise
Funeral Canticle
Petra: A Ritual Dream
Sappho: Lyrical Fragments
Song of the Angel

Artists

Patricia Rozario (soprano)
Julia Gooding (soprano)
George Mosely (baritone)
Andrew Manze (violin)
Academy of Ancient Music Choir and Orchestra

Conductor

Paul Goodwin

About

"Commissioned by the Academy of Ancient Music for its 25th anniversary, Eternity's Sunrise is a tour de force for superhuman soprano, handbells, and Baroque instrumental ensemble. It combines elements of new-agey spirituality and a William Blake poem with a musical setting that seems to hang and swirl in a timeless, eternal universe. We've heard some of this before, especially from Arvo Pärt, but here the focus is on a soloist who must sing effortlessly in the upper register in long phrases that sometimes seem to be delivered without a breath being taken. Patricia Rozario, who's performed Tavener's work on many previous occasions, is nothing less than astounding in her vocal control, and in her unfaltering expressive intensity...Taking the form of an extended harmonized chant or hymn, interspersed with cantorial utterances by baritone George Mosley, this 24-minute piece [Funeral Canticle] for 12-voice chorus was written in 1996 as a memorial to the composer's father. Most of the text comes from the Orthodox Funeral Service; the setting is drenched in rich, lovely harmonies, and the mood is reverential, quiet, and meditative.

Fans of Tavener will revel in this varied yet cohesive program, while newcomers to his music will find this at least an intriguing and thought-provoking encounter...the sound is perfectly satisfying, a product of the acoustics of a London church and the skills of engineer Mike Hatch, one of the world's most knowledgeable and experienced recorders of choral music.
" - David Vernier, Stereophile, recording of the month April 1999

"Eternity's Sunrise (1997), a 25th birthday commission from the AAM, is an immediately attractive piece, very Eastern sounding with its plucked strings, harp and bells. So slowly and melismatically is William Blake's text set that Rozario's exquisitely high, pure soprano line could just as well be wordless. What comes across most powerfully is the music's calm, ecstatic quality, given shape by recurring figures and an underlying strophic form. The disc which developed from this commission offers a chance to hear three other recent Tavener works not otherwise available in the catalogue, all typical of the religious simplicity that has become his hallmark. In addition, Sappho (1981), written in hospital after a stroke at the age of 36 left the composer temporarily paralysed, shows something of his earlier, more complex instrumental writing and loosely serial style." - BBC Music Magazine *****/*****

"In the words of St Isaac the Syrian: 'When we reach love, we have reached God; our road is ended and we have crossed to the Island which is beyond the world.'" - John Tavener

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