Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele

1996; 12 tracks

This is the second album by the American post-rock/classical/instrumental group Rachel's. I found it to be simply beautiful and full of incredible passion and intimacy, the pianist and cellists especially. Favorite tracks: "First Self-Portrait Series," "Wally, Egon, & Models in the Studio," and "Promenade.

It was written for the play Egon Schiele, by Stephan Mazurek, about the life of Austrian painter Egon Schiele.

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Philip Glass - Dracula

1999; 26 tracks
Kronos Quartet

Prolific modern classical composer Philip Glass has created a live accompaniment to Browning's 1931 film Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. While the film is not a 'silent film,' there being dialogue and a few selections from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, Glass intended the score to accompany the film. Though I prefer the deathly silence of the film, its startingly bare landscape, devoid of gore, blood, and thrills, merges quite well with this minimalist score for strings.

undead, undead

John Tavener - Piano Music + others

Piano Music

2008
Ralph van Raat, piano

The Eastern mysticism that Tavener has made his own - he has been a member of the Russian Orthodox church and imbibed its colours into his music - is present in most of these works. He does a good job of using the instrument's more limited resources to achieve similar effects to those in his larger orchestral and choral works. Yet the earlier works tread the line between consonance and dissonance in a way I find quite irritating. Ypakoë, for example, has a simple, profoundly spiritual melody which is allowed to sing out towards the middle and end of the piece. To get there, however, we have to put up with all manner of meanderings that seemed quite purposeless to me. Palin, his first piano work, features many instances when one key is sounded frequently and continuously for about 10 seconds at a time. It's meant to evoke approaching thunder, but it just sounds tedious.

The lighter works on this disc, tracks 4 and 6, are dedicated to the memory of Tavener's cats, and they see a return to traditional, triadic harmonies. These portraits are affectionate and warm: we even have glissandi to represent the pets running over the keys. Mandoodles contains jazz rhythms and reference to a Chopin Prelude, and In Memory of Two Cats is simple, bell-like and appealing. As with Ypakoë, an austerely beautiful melody is allowed space to sound. It is at moments like these that the disc is at its best and these get their fullest flowering in Pratirūpa, the longest and most recent work here.

All this suggests a sense of development in Tavener's style, from overt modernism through to a more sophisticated use of harmonies in his later works. The disc - the only one of this music? - is a welcome step in plugging this gap and any of the composer's fans who want to experience his broader range shouldn't hesitate. Performances are highly committed and the sound is up to the usual Naxos high standard.

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The Protecting Veil

1992
Steven Isserlis, Cello; Gennady Rozhdestevensky / London Symphony Orchestra


The Protecting Veil is a musical composition for cello and strings by British composer John Tavener. Completed in 1988, the work was at first a suggestion from cellist Steven Isserlis and subsequently commissioned by the BBC for the 1989 Proms season. The inspiration of the piece comes from the Orthodox feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, which commemorates the the apparition of Mary the Theotokos in the early 10th century at the Blachernae Palace church at Vlacherni, Constantinople.

This CD also contains Tavener's Thrinos suite for string, and Benjamin Britten's Third Suite for Cello.

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The Best of John Tavener

2004; 11 tracks

Here is a collection of Tavener's most beautiful music. This album solidifies my admiration for Tavener - he really is one of the most amazing contemporary classical composers I've ever heard. His idea of "holy minimalism" in music is fascinating as well.

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John Tavener - The Protecting Veil [song]

This is one of the most cerebral, beautiful, and perfect things in the universe. It was played at Jhonn Balance (of Coil)'s funeral on November 23, 2004, which is part of the reason I really love this piece and respect it.

Here, Yo-Yo Ma is the solo cellist - and he is amaaaaazing. John Tavener, btw, is a 20th century (neo)classical/minimalist composer.

After listening to "The Protecting Veil" a few times, I can sort of see why they would choose this to be played at Balance's funeral. It reminds me of a soul leaving the earth, and of the journey that only the dead can embark on. The living, those at the funeral, could never know where Jhonn was, or where he was going... but we all know he is now in a better place.


Unto Geff, from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen, may there be granted the accomplishment of his True Will...
Whether he wills absorption into the Infinite, or to be united with his chosen and preferred, or to be in contemplation, or to be at peace, or to achieve the labour and heroism of incarnation on this planet or another, or in any Star, or aught else, unto him may there be granted the accomplishment of his Will;
Yea, the accomplishment of his Will.

here

Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartets 1-13

Shostakovich's String Quartets are among some of the most mature of his works. I personally LOVE them, I once heard a few of them played live at the local Symphony in my area. They are unrivalled in their technicality and beauty... The Borodin Quartet has long been known to produce wonderful interpretations of classics, and this is no exception.

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