Birthday Sleep
The Second Coming
Schuon Hymnen
As One Who Has Slept
The Bridal Chamber
Exhortation And Kohima
Shunya

Hyperion’s Record of the Month for September, available in multichannel hybrid SACD and conventional CD formats, brings us some astonishingly fresh new compositions from Sir John Tavener. Moving away from the Greek Orthodox rites which have infused so much of his recent output, Tavener’s inspiration now embraces the metaphysical – in both text and musical response – with remarkable results. The Second Coming, for example, sets words by W B Yeats in an outpouring of expectation and drama. The three newest works – Butterfly Dreams, Schuon Hymnen and Shunya, all written in 2003 – are representative of a new phase in Tavener’s work which has reached its climax thus far in the seven-hour-long Veil of the Temple (to be performed under Stephen Layton at this year’s BBC Proms). Butterfly Dreams may initially appear to be a secular work, yet the composer himself regards it as sacred, butterflies in this context being seen as symbols and even vehicles for the sacred. Schuon Hymnen, setting the words of Sufi sheikh, artist and metaphysician Frithjof Schuon, is a mantra-like Hymn to the Virgin, while Shunya – written for Stephen Layton – is an extended meditation on the Buddhist ideal of ‘emptiness’ (‘shunya’); minimal influence from ‘Western’ tonality here visits the world of Tibetan monks, the sonic halo of the temple bowl (a kind of gong) invoking an ecstatic evocation of eternity. As one who has slept, an Easter anthem and the earliest work on this disc, comes from the end of that compositional phase which saw such Tavener favourites as the Song for Athene (performed at Princess Diana’s funeral), and itself deserves to become a part of the core repertory. With no fewer than six premiere recordings, this disc is essential listening.



'there's no doubt about the quality of the performances. Tavener finds devoted interpreters in Polyphony who produce some of the most beautiful choral singing you could ever hope to hear. And all is captured in a glowing recording' (BBC Music Magazine)

'The power of Tavener at his best is fully unlocked by Polyphony and Stephen Layton, whose sensitivity to the sacred and human in his music communicates in every work on this disc' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Stephen Layton's superb choir, Polyphony, does wonders in bringing variety to a sequence of John Tavener's works for small chorus that might easily have seemed too slow and meditative' (The Guardian)

'for the Tavener devotee, among whose number I include myself, this disc is an essential survey of the composer's recent musical concerns, and contains some splendid new music' (International Record Review)

'performed with conviction by Stephen Layton's Polyphony. His professional choir manages to convey the hypnotic serenity at the heart of Tavener's latest works, while packing a punch in their more dramatic moments, a strategy supported by Hyperion's A-grade recorded sound' (Music Week)

'The brilliant, white, celestial light Tavener so effectively evoked earlier in the decade had a chill core. Here - if you will bear with the synaesthesiac overtones - gold seeps in, along with the deep blue traditionally associated with portraits of the Virgin' (Gramophone)

'Stephen Layton's heartfelt commitment to the composer's music brings forth shimmering performances from his excellent choir Polyphony. If you enjoy radiant choral writing and singing, then this is the disc for you' (Choir & Organ)

'Polyphony fields 25 singers for this project and for this repertory, I think you've got about a good a choir as you could possibly get. Stephen Layton directs with clarity and sensitivity. In fact, his expert pacing is the main reason for this recording's success. This is one of Layton's best CDs yet, and that's saying something' (BBC Radio 3 CD Review)

'Polyphony's singing is immaculate, captured in the resonant acoustic of the Temple Church in glorious recorded sound. It's a hard man who would not be moved by this disc' (Fanfare, USA)

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Recording details: January 2004; Temple Church, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown; Engineered by Julian Millard; Release date: September 2004;