Customer Reviews

Tavener: Fall and Resurrection

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

 

 

I noticed that most of the reviews of this work are negative, and that I would probably be one of few giving this disc more than two stars (or ANY stars, for that matter). Sir John Tavener has developed a rather traditional, yet unique, style throughout his compositional career. 'Fall and Resurrection' is a seminal example of that style. The work is slow in moving forward, and many parts will seem very repetitive and, at times, maddenly so. However, one of the shining points of this work is the performance by Patricia Rozario. She and Tavener share a close association, and in fact he was written a number of pieces ('Mary in Egypt', 'Therese') specifically for her voice-including the soprano part of 'Fall and Resurrection.' Tavener's orchestration is also brilliant, as in his decision to represent the Serpent in the Garden of Eden through the saxophone. Finally, the final track closes as the great bells of St. Paul's Cathedral toll in a complicated change ringing pattern, signaling the dawn of the new Millenium. From the opening representation of chaos to the closing toll of the bells, this is a prime example of Tavener's style, although I would not recommend it to newcomers. It is slow and tedious at times, however, Tavener's unerringly brilliant compositional style, coupled with Hickox's firm conducting and the excellent vocal team assembled here, results in a dazzling recording from this British master.

(The DVD version was reviewed here) This is the first complete piece of Tavener's I have heard other than a few brief excerpts from some choral works. I approached this work with heady anticipation after learning that Tavener is currently the world's most performed contemporary classical composer. Let me get straight to the point: the piece is boring, tedious, insipid, pretentious and often ridiculous (I involuntarily burst out laughing at the "Apple" section with its absurd and tortured staccato glottal utterances). Tavener's success is deeply perplexing to me (not to mention, disturbing) as he seems to lack both imagination and craft, ingredients I previously thought were necessary for success as a composer.

As far as imagination goes, what little thematic material that makes up this sprawling 75 minute extravaganza is frightfully banal. Even a composer that I detest, Andrew Lloyd Webber, has way more melodic fluency than this guy. The presenter on the DVD solemnly informs us of how much the self imposed mathematical complexities of the "Chaos" section so taxed poor Mr. Tavener that it took him a month to write each page (!) The result? Five minutes of seemingly random quasi-aleatoric noodling by the entire orchestra that tries one's patience almost as much one's credulity that it took him so long to write it. What little imagination that is in evidence seems to be primarily in the non-musical arena: theatricality i.e. lighting, the ersatz medieval aesthetic and the choice of the inspirational setting of St.Paul's Cathedral in London. A few musical moments did catch my ear in the "Logos" section but these few morsels of interest failed to buoy the bloated and flaccid corpse that is the remainder of this work.

As for craft, there is precious little of that too. As one other reviewer mentioned, Tavener tends to substitute repetition for development and, I would add, atmosphere for melodic and harmonic invention. In one interview segment he loftily decries development as a "secular" activity while in another interview segment he takes pains to impress the interviewer with a few childish variations he manages to wring from his malnourished Ney Flute "theme". His amatuerish handling of the orchestra and criminal abuse of the singers makes one wonder if he has had any training in orchestration whatsoever. As infuriating as I found his music, the disparaging comments he makes about Bach and Beethoven really frosted me. He implies that whereas he channels the "Creative Imagination of Christ" that those great Masters were "secular" dilettantes bound by their earthly limitations. For a supposedly religious man he seems to suffer greatly from the sins of arrogance and pride in his unilateral denunciation of their divine inspiration as being inauthentic. It hard not to conclude that he dismisses their genius in order to cover his own apparent lack of it.

In short, I hated this music (and the arrogance of the man), and I am disturbed to live in a world where this poverty stricken excuse for profundity has found such a wide audience at the expense of many deserving yet lesser performed composers. The DVD wasn't a total loss however: St.Paul's looks very impressive and well worth a visit on a future trip to London.

EXOTIC, EROTIC, EXCITING TAVENER!

"This could be called Tavener's Creation, an oratorio-like account of the Biblical tale beginning with the representation of primordial Chaos. Tavener takes the story much further than Haydn....But like Haydn's, this is a warmly mature work, epitomizing it's composer's style and personality...Tavener's richly exotic textures are beautifully evoked by Hickox." GRAMOPHONE. (RICHARD HICKOX PASSED AWAY A WEEK AGO; HE WILL SURELY BE MISSED BY MUSIC LOVERS EVERYWHERE.)

This is an excellent live recording of Tavener's massive millennial cantata made at its premiere performance in St. Paul's Cathedral on Jan. 4, 2000, and captures something of the exraordinary epic atmosphere created at the performance.

'Fall and Resurrection' tries to encompass ,in brief glimpses, the events which have taken place since the beginning of time. It is divided into three parts. Part I has seven sections and procedes from Silence to Chaos to Paradise to the Serpent to The fall to Adam's Lament to the Lament of Mankind. Part II entitled 'Prediction' incorporates verses or hints from the psalmist ( the divine David) and are sung by a countertenor (Michael Chance) interspersed with dance-like music. Part III is divided into two parts and introduces the Grand Organ in all its magnificence at the incarnation/Creation.

John Tavener made the following comments about this work: 'Fall and Resurrection' is a kind of musical metaphysics, but it came to me in a vision which I hope contains a message of hope for the next millennium........This work should ideally be performed in a building with a large acoustic. The resonance of beautiful ancient instruments- the kaval, the ram's-horn and the tibetan temple bowls-brings to mind and soul something primordial, something lost, sometning innocent, something wild and untamed.'

I have both the CD and the DVD of this work. Unfortunately I viewed the DVD before the CD. I found it to be very annoying and distracting. It took my attention away from the music which needs all the listening attention when you first hear it. Let's face it! Tavener is not the usual "run of the mill" composer. I find him challenging to listen to, but I continue to follow his musical trail and have learned to really enjoy most of what he writes. Now I can enjoy the DVD because the music is quite familiar.

The performers are all very skillful and do well with the Eastern Orthodox sounds. Michael Chance was certainly a good choice for his solo part; he handled all the small sliding intervals in his usual flawless manner. And it is quite interesting to view some of the more unusual instruments and hear their strange sounds.

John Tavener is becoming very adept at producing large scale cantatas themed around biblical events- examples from the last ten years including "The Apocalypse," "Resurrection" and "Let's Begin Again." To those who have discovered Tavener through his small-scale choral works, or through "The Protecting Veil," these cantatas can seem something of a hit-and-miss affair: the general opinion amongst critics is that Tavener is at his best in small doses. "Fall and Resurrection," his most recent cantata, breaks the mould in many ways. In his biography, Tavener spends several pages discussing this work in detail, summarising it as "a message of great hope for the new millennium." I feel that he has succeeded. Using only motivic material from the Orthodox hymn, "Thy Cross we adore," Tavener has created a masterpiece that depicts chaos, the beauty of Paradise, the Fall and the consequences of it, and finally a powerful depiction of the Incarnation and the new hope it brings to Fallen Humanity, in such a way that it chills, thrills and delights. The emotions are there in the piece for all to find if they are willing to seek.

This is a great release in all respects. As live premiere recordings go, this one is all the more remarkable for being devoid of background audience noise (which has come through on similar recordings such as "Akathist" and "We Shall See Him as He Is"). Excellent.

This is the quintessential Tavener: boring in a new, as yet unknown dimension. Pretentious? Yes, absolutely. Celestial? By no means. It belongs to the kingdom of Morpheus. Go aPart if you are seeking for true emotion. Besides, we will always have the Leipzig kantor.

In one section of his sacred folly 'Fall and Resurrection', an attempt to fuse the Old Testament story of origin and Adam and Eve with the Christian crucifixion and resurrection, Sir Tavener tells us (in his liner notes) 'every single note carries with it a metaphysical significance, although because of the huge proliferation of notes, this cannot be heard by the human ear'.

This is something of a relief for mere mortals like myself, and allows us to admit our more irreverant responses, although Tavener's claim is a bit like a conjurer doing a fantastic trick with a rabbit behind curtains so the audience can't see.

For all Tavener's millenial modernity, his use of tape recorders and words like 'sophia', 'theandric' and 'monody' (as in 'it's just another manic...'?), he hasn't been able to get much further than Haydn's 'The Creation' in his representation of Genesis, opening with silence, a deep rumble, a mad cacophany and eventual respite in Paradise. This is not a Paradise of verdant plenitude, but an austere, desert-like pastoral on flute.

There follows the Temptation in Arabic warbling (in contrast to Adam and Eve's Monty Pythonesque English clarity - is there a rather dubious system of values being enacted here?), and more pipes/flute music. A horn-driven choral explosion represents the Fall, followed by the 'Catastrophe' of screechy strings, silence and a choral blitzkrieg.

For all the World Music Eastern flavours, Tavener can't quite escape unexpected Western influences like Stravinsky, Copland, Strauss' 'Zarathustra', Walton's 'Belshazzar's Feast', Orff, even some suppressed gospel, which at least makes the thing listenable.

Adam and Eve's despair is sung in what sounds like pained birdsong, and the more melodic lament almost sounds Irish (throughout, the Arabic pipes threaten to burst into a jig, attesting to the international language of cod-regionalism). There follows the lengthy section 'The Incarnation of the Logos' (a tribute to Derrida, perhaps?), complete with counter-tenor, and great rhythmic attacks as the choir shout 'Crucify him!'.

This is a Passion for a secular age, the sacred equivalent of carob chocolate. Christ's invocation of 'Take. Eat. Drink' is a brilliant allusion to the irascible Jack from 'Father Ted'. The jubilant finale, 'Cosmic Dance of the Resurrection', sounds pretty much like Chaos, with extra screeching on top. And bells.

The sound mix is very low, somewhat diluting the attempt at an all-encompassing sound, but thankfully protecting my ears from metaphysical significance.

This excellent live recording of John Tavener's massive millennial cantata was made at its premiere in St Paul's Cathedral on 4 January, 2000, and captures something of the extraordinarily epic atmosphere created at the performance. The composer writes that Fall and Resurrection "tries to encompass, in brief glimpses, the events which have taken place since the beginning of time, with reference to Christian doctrine". In order to achieve this, he evokes the spiritual world of religions other than Christianity by the use of a ram's horn trumpet and Tibetan temple bowls, as well as by telling the Christian story in condensed episodes. The singers are all superb, and navigate their way around the non-western vocal techniques which Tavener requires of them with impressive facility. Their contribution is matched by The BBC Singers and City of London Sinfonia pulling out all the stops when necessary. Tavener takes some new musical paths here (though he describes the idea of innovation for its own sake as "mindless") but also explores more familiar musical territory (long pedal notes, slow-moving harmonies and chanting). Tavener both for fans and novices