The Whale written by John Tavener in 1968 as a documentary in music and spoken word was given its first performance by the London Sinfonietta and the London Sinfonietta Chorus conducted by David Atherton wit AnnaReynolds (mezzo-soprano) and Raimond Herinex (baritone) in the Queen Elizabeth Hall London on the 24th January 1968. For solo baritone solo mezzo-soprano speaker SATB chorus and o…

Marienhymne is a piece on a smaller scale than Tavener’s dramatic cantatas and is written for unaccompanied choir and semiChorus. Tavener was drawn to writer and philosopher Frithjof Schuon’s vision of the Virgin Mary asuniversal and primordial Woman and has used an extract from his work Maria as the libretto in German for this piece. The composer calls for ‘radiance and ecstasy’ and …