Customer Reviews

The Protecting Veil / Wake Up ... And Die

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A piece composed by Tavenor to celebrate the existence of the Protecting Veil (God's mother) as mentioned in some ancient religious literature. It was originally dedicated to the English cellist Steven Isserlis who by all means gave a fantastic performance. However, I have been secretly hoping for an offering by Ma, arguably the most fascinating and captivating cellist in the world today. And I am not at all disappointed by the long wait (almost five years after the Isserlis release!). This recording captured the attention from the first long sustained note to the end where a recap of the introduction theme wrapped up the whole piece. If there is a single word that can possibly describe this piece, it has to be 'sublime'. Tonally beautifully crafted with heavy dynamic contrast, the piece flows with an emotional strength that is strong enough to seize the bottom of the mind, and this force can only be second to (maybe) The Piano Concerto by Michael Nyman. It can be exhaustive after the whole piece if you allow yourself to be drawn into it.

I enjoyed it and I hope you do, too. This is another amazing performance from Ma/Zinman and his orchestra, the other one being the Albert Cello Concerto which I believe is a 'must have' for all classical music lovers. I can't recommend these two recordings more highly.

I wrote an extensive paper for my doctorate in music on John Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" and listened to all of the current performances that were available up through 1999. I enjoyed this recording, but I also recommend the original Steven Isserlis recording or the newer one by "I Fiamminghi" which also contains the beautiful "Last Sleep of the Virgin" (instead of "Wake Up and Die" for cello choir that the Ma recording includes.) Try the "I Fiamminghi" as well as this beautiful recording. Cellist Raphael Wallfisch also plays this piece beautifully.

This is one of my favorite albums. I wept the first time I heard "Wake Up And Die" which was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. The music is profound and Yo-Yo Ma's performance is incredibly sensitive. This is the album I play when I need to re-connect with the Holy.

I have to comment on the previous review and point out that this style of music, known popularly as "holy minimalism", is quite different from the Enlightenment-era Western music that most people study in school (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven etc.). The composer is intentionally keeping it simple and somewhat directionless because he seeks to reunite classical music with contemplative spirituality. Whereas in traditional classical music you expect to hear development of musical ideas moving forward to a climactic conclusion, this music seems to go nowhere - and that is intentional. The purpose is contemplation, not activity. The music is meditative, hypnotic, and gently repetitive, as in the tradition of centering prayer one might continuously repeat a word or two from Scripture to be drawn deeper into prayer. The gentle repetition gives the music a feeling of stasis, of being suspended in time.

It is quite common for people who are unfamiliar with the genre to make comments like "simplistic," since compared to more familiar styles it might come across that way. Tavener rejects complexity in favor of simplicity. This music is transparent, austere, and serene; you could easily compare its style to an Orthodox icon. If you are open to something new, you may find that this poignant beauty and simplicity touches a deep inner reservoir of joy and sorrow.

I obtained this CD by accident. It's a long story, but I never intended to get it. Heck, I didn't even know who John Tavener was. After a couple of listens though, I really warmed up to the CD. Tavener's music is ethereal and thought provoking. The honesty and wrenching intensity won me over immediately. The music's spiritual message "encouraged" me to look at my own spiritual state, and I can say it has inspired me to do a lot of thinking and to try to change some things for the better. This is amazing music that will change you! Thanks John Tavener for writing it, and Yo Yo Ma for playing it!

You can't fault Yo Yo Ma as perhaps the greatest cellist alive; nor can you fault the man on his increasingly catholic taste. He has done everything from jazz to bluegrass to ethnic Chinese and Japanese music. Sometimes these "crossovers" seem to work for Ma and sometimes they don't. On another score, Yo Yo Ma has been instrumental in programming many cello works by modern day composers such as Ennio Maricone, John Williams and John Tavener.

On this CD two works by Tavener (a composer I have previously never heard of); The "Protecting Veil" and "Wake Up and Die" both for cello and orchestra. To my ears, each work is along the lines of having some of the "minimalist" influence stemming from Philip Glass and others, especially in that much it seems to remind me of Gorecki's "Symphony of Sorrow" (also in the minimalist style). There also seems to be a little strain that reminds me of Alan Hovhaness, in that there is a "spiritual" or "mystical" quality to this music. The music is at times expansive and bright, clam and serene, although there are times when the tension seems to mount and explode with a vitality.

Ma's playing, is flawless in that he makes the cello sing with flavor. David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony play so much as a unit, one gets the feeling that the orchestra is functioning almost as a single organism that accents the cello which is the center point. These works are more cello-centered as opposed to being a dialogue between cello and orcestra.

This is certainly not the most interesting piece of music to which I have listened. This is for the person who like contemporary music, perhaps even experimental. The performance is good, but the composition itself is the downfall. But what should I have expected from Tavener. This is go into my never listen to again pile.

Sony's liner notes state that composer John Tavener "sidesteps issues of contemporary style and offers music that is at once ancient and new" and that Tavener operates on a plane "where traditional western concepts such as linear development dissolve into an infinite spiral of contemplation."

The liner notes on the composer conclude by stating that Tavener "has given up modernity to discover antiquity, he has relinquished the moment for a glimpse of the eternal."

According to the artist liner notes, cellist Yo-Yo Ma's career "is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate and his desire for artistic growth and renewal" and that Ma "strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination."

The artist liner notes on conductor David Zinman ascribe these words to Pierre Monteaux: "I offer the world my inheritance in the person of my beloved David Zinman. In him the youth of an old maestro will live again."

The simplistic drivel of these liner notes, apparently offered in total sincerity, matches the simplistic drivel of the music. This is music for people who do not like music.

If anyone is truly curious about "The Protecting Veil", at least buy either the Isserlis recording or the Wallfisch recording. Those two cellists, at a very minimum, play in tune, which is more than can be said for Ma.