# RIP John Tavener and Pleyel



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Both passed today, 12 November 2013:

Sir John Tavener passed away this morning, aged 69.

France's last piano maker, Pleyel, announced that it would cease production. Chopin was a loyal customer.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Here is his _Song for Athene_. Incidentally, Tavener suffered many illnesses during his life, including Marfan Syndrome (a disease which causes heart defects). He converted to Russian Orthodoxy in 1977 and much of his music is deeply rooted in Orthodox tradition.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sad to see another contemporary composer go. I really love his breakthrough composition _The protecting veil_.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*RIP John*

Talk about a moldy coincidence.

I have been updating the composer database in my Classicat program.

I had just updated the information I had on Tavener and right after I entered the data I read this thread. Rats. I will now to update it again with some sad data.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

What a terrible shame. I do have a great fondness for some of John's music, especially this one:






He will be missed


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## ebullient (Sep 21, 2013)

Very sad news... 
Your music will long survive you, Sir John. Rest in peace.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Vale *John Tavener*, I just listened to his big hit in the instrumental realm, The Protecting Veil (played by Maria Kliegel, cello with Ulster Orch. cond. by Takuo Yuasa).

Reading an interview he did with Andrew Ford 20 years ago, it makes sense how he singled out Bach's cello suites as being works he admired, despite not having much time for Western music (especially that which is heavily contrapuntal) since the times of Byzantium. Speaking to that, one work that made impact on him as a youngster was Stravinsky's Canticum Sacrum. Tavener heard this on a radio broadcast from Venice in the 1950's when he was 12 and he said its an amazing piece that combines the organum, Byzantium and Webern. Messiaen, and not surprisingly Arvo Part, are two other composers of recent times who he said had impact on him early on.

It was a long time since I'd heard The Protecting Veil. I really connected with it this time, especially the soulful cadenza. There where also effects in there that sound near electronic, and its no surprise that he wrote a good deal of avant garde music before moving back to the origins of music (the coupling on this Naxos disc is from that earlier phase and involves electronics, In Spem Alium).

Now that Tavener and Gorecki are gone, Part is the only one left who made that breakthrough with this type of "holy minimalist" aesthetic in the 1970's, moving away from the avant garde trends of their earlier years. Tavener, a big fan of ancient music and a convert to the the orthodox faith, said he even considered living a monastic life in Greece, but he said he chose not to, ultimately because he wanted to communicate with people through concert hall music. He wanted to stay in the marketplace and connect with others - including audience but also other musicians and creative types - not be totally cut off in some cell.


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