Tavener

Angels; The Lamb; Song for Athene; Annunciation; Five Anthems From The Veil Of The Temple; The Lord’s Prayer; As one who has slept; They are all gone into the world of light Winchester Cathedral Choir/andrew Lumsden; George Castle (organ) Hyperion CDA68255 70:03 mins

Sir John Tavener’s long association with Winchester Cathedral and its choir is reflected in several items on this disc written for Winchester occasions: God is with us, an arresting Christmas proclamation; the sweetly consoling Love bade me welcome; and As one who has slept, in which sustained harmonies hang in the air like clouds high above the basses’ Orthodox-inspired drones. But the programme ranges well beyond Winchester, taking in the St Cecilia’s Festival anthem Annunciation, with its antiphonal dialogue; Angels, written for a parish choir and organ-led; and five motets from the (literally) all-night vigil which Tavener wrote for the Temple Church.

A feature of Annunciation and Angels is the participation of Winchester’s girl choristers, alongside or replacing the traditional boy trebles. The girls also share with the boys three pieces skilfully arranged for treble voices by Barry Rose, including two of Tavener’s biggest hits, Song for Athene and The Lamb. There’s a just discernible difference in timbre between the groups, but the girls are equal to the boys in secure pitching, smooth blend and ethereal projection. In fact, their quality suggests that any lingering support for all-male cathedral choirs owes nothing to musical considerations and everything to theological conservatism.

That aside, excellent performances by Andrew Lumsden’s forces, an atmospheric recording, with a fine sense of perspective in the Cathedral acoustic, and helpful notes by Martin Neary, a former Winchester organist and a friend of the composer, together make this a highly recommendable single-disc survey of Tavener’s church music. Anthony Burton

PERFORMANCE ★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★