Eleanor Pennell-Briggs* soprano
Libby Burgess piano
Maxwell Quartet
Simon Carrington Tibetan temple bowls
John Tavener’s ethereal masterpiece for soprano, piano quintet and Tibetan temple bowls sprang from his discovery of the poems of the Swiss philosopher Frithjof Schuon, a defining moment in the composer’s lifelong quest to express beauty and truth through music. The continuous, ecstatic flow of sound achieves what the Chicago Tribune described as a “Messiaen-like state of transcendental beauty and grace”.
This rare performance of the cycle of mystical love songs and canons marks a double anniversary: 10 years since the composer’s death in 2013, and two decades of the Temple Music Foundation, which was formed to commission Tavener’s seven-hour vigil The Veil of the Temple in 2003.
The performance lasts approximately 70 minutes.
*Change of artist: We are so sorry that Aoife Miskelly is unwell with pneumonia, and is unable to appear in this performance. We wish Aoife a speedy recovery. We are hugely grateful to Eleanor Pennell-Briggs for stepping in. More information about Eleanor here.
"A major work of beguiling beauty"
The Times on Schuon Lieder"One of the most purely beautiful things – at once worldly and otherworldly – that John Tavener has created"
Stephen Johnson