The Protecting Veil

Tavener The Protecting Veil;

Mother and Child (arr. Barley); Pandit Sultan Khan: The Song of Separation and Waiting

Matthew Barley (cello), Sukhvinder Singh (tabla), Julie Christie, Olwen Fouéré (reader); Sinfonietta Rīga Signum Records SIGCD585 67:31 mins Cellist Matthew Barley has long been shaking up the classical scene with his bold collaborations and inventive approaches to performance. This new disc has at its heart Tavener’s much-loved work for cello and strings, but Barley adds something of his characteristic sparkle with spoken poetry (including a beautiful reading of Yeats’s The Mother of God by Olwen Fouéré) and a striking collaboration with renowned tabla player Sukhvinder Singh.

Composed in 1988, The Protecting Veil has been described by Tavener as ‘an attempt to make a lyrical ikon in sound…using the music of the cellist to paint, rather than a brush’. Barley’s playing at first feels a touch too restrained, but as the piece progresses Barley’s restraint proves perfectly judged and a performance of great tenderness and eloquence unfolds, well matched by the excellent Sinfonietta Rīga. Having uncovered a hitherto unknown Indian influence in Tavener’s score, Barley also brings a startling articulacy and spontaneity to the richly-ornamented ‘The Nativity of the Mother of God’ and ‘The Lament of the Mother of God at the Cross’, making this a powerful new interpretation of the work.

This Indian connection inspires the inclusion of Pandit Sultan Khan’s The Song of Separation and Waiting which features Singh on tabla alongside solo cello and strings. Offering a welcome foil to Tavener’s somewhat syrupy choral work Mother and Child (arranged here for cello and strings by Barley), this imaginative fusion of Indian and European music brings this fine disc to an appealing close.

PERFORMANCE ★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★