Author Description

The latest in a line of "ikons in sound," Total Eclipse stands as one of the richest, most intensely expressive of Sir John Tavener's ritualistic, spatial/metaphysical tableaux. As he notes in the score, the work is "not dramatic in the Western sense" but channels aspects of an ancient spiritual narrative via an ambitiously symbolic yet characteristically elemental musical inspiration. The sound world of Total Eclipse is as starkly evocative as the Grecian landscape that the composer holds dear. Written for the period instruments of the Academy of Ancient Music, Total Eclipse continues the collaboration documented on the 1999 album Eternity's Sunrise (HMU 907231), whose deeply moving title work for soprano and orchestra was Tavener's response to a 25th-anniversary commission from the Academy. Following the June 20, 2000, premier of Total Eclipse in the City of London's great St. Paul's Cathedral, the Academy, the Choir of New College Oxford, saxophonist John Harle, countertenor Christopher Robson, and tenor James Gilchrist convened with conductor Paul Goodwin and the composer to record the work in nearby Temple Church, chosen for its amenable acoustic and an atmosphere ideally attuned to the timeless, otherworldly address of Tavener's music. 12th-century Knights Templar are buried beneath this medieval sanctuary, with their stone effigies manifest on the round church floor. Soloists were placed in the balconies and the orchestra below to accord with Tavener's spatial plan for the work, with the timpani roiling amongst the effigies. The result was a aural theater. And piquantly juxtaposed with the chaste Baroque strings and boy treble, Harle's soprano saxophone -- the archetypal sound of which drew Tavener at first hearing -- proved a potent protagonist. - Program notes / Bradley Bambarger. Premiered in 1995 in Greece, Agraphon is a setting of verses by Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos (1884-1951). Soprano Patricia Rozario, the soloist on this recording (and in the debut), has long been Tavener's vocal ideal, the voice he hears in his mind's ear. As with Total Eclipse, the expressive compass of Agraphon charts both division and union, tragedy and transcendence, which Rozario limns with apt intensity. As Paul Goodwin points out in the following interview, the composer was present throughout the recordings, guiding and revising facets of the music to make the most of the attributes of the performers and the venue. Emphasizing this himself, Tavener says, "In recording, I'm able to re-scrutinise the material and thereby recapture what I originally aimed for... I find that this process can crystallize things about a piece so that it truly comes alive." - Program notes / Bradley Bambarger.